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Quality initiatives demand that management and staff share a mutual interest in improving the quality of customer service through continuous improvement. These demands are currently being pursued against a background of organizational restructuring, redundancy and pressures on staff to increase productivity that are inconsistent with promoting a shared interest in improving service quality. Argues that management needs to reflect on the consistency of its actions in relation to the underlying rational of quality initiatives.

The banking industry in Hong Kong plays a significant role in the international financial arena. Because of increasingly competitive pressure from domestic and overseas banks, Hong Kong banks must improve service quality and care about customer demand. They must tightly control cost and improve the quality and efficiency of operations in order to maintain profitability. This study surveys the entire population of licensed banks in Hong Kong on their quality management initiatives. It not only analyzes the current status of quality management initiatives in Hong Kong, but also compares the results with those from UK financial institutions in 1994.

The purpose of this paper is to shed some light on the utilization of quality improvement initiatives in healthcare operational environments. In the process, environmental changes and strategic responses are examined for a sample of healthcare organizations.

A survey‐based research methodology is utilized in this study. Factor analysis is used to extract relevant factors representing environmental changes and strategic options relevant to healthcare organizations. In addition, simple percentages are utilized to assess the extent of implementation and effectiveness of quality improvement initiatives.

In general, the findings appear to indicate that the studied organizations have achieved both operational and strategic benefits due to the effective implementation of quality improvement initiatives. The implementation of quality improvement initiatives appears to be in response to environmental changes and challenges faced by healthcare organizations.

Based on the findings of this study, decision‐makers are encouraged to commit organizational resources toward the effective implementation of quality improvement initiatives. Investing in quality improvement not only is justified, but also appears to be very much needed in a changing competitive environment.

This study contributes to enhancing one's practical and theoretical understanding of the competitive impact of quality improvement initiatives in different operational settings.

The purpose of this paper is to present a description of the Irish national clinical governance development initiative and an evaluation of the initiative with the purpose of sharing the learning and proposing actions to activate structures and processes for quality and safety. The Quality and Patient Safety Division of the Health Service Executive established the initiative to counterbalance a possible focus on finances during the economic crisis in Ireland and bring attention to the quality of clinical care.

A clinical governance framework for quality in healthcare in Ireland was developed to clearly articulate the fundamentals of clinical governance. The project plan involved three overlapping phases. The first was designing resources for practice; the second testing the implementation of the national resources in practice; and the third phase focused on gathering feedback and learning.

Staff responded positively to the clinical governance framework. At a time when there are a lot of demands (measurement and scrutiny) the health services leads and responds well to focused support as they improve the quality and safety of services. Promoting the use of the term “governance for quality and safety” assisted in gaining an understanding of the more traditional term “clinical governance”. The experience and outcome of the initiative informed the identification of 12 key learning points and a series of recommendations

The initial evaluation was conducted at 24 months so at this stage it is not possible to assess the broader impact of the clinical governance framework beyond the action project hospitals.

The single most important obligation for any health system is patient safety and improving the quality of care. The easily accessible, practical resources assisted project teams to lead changes in structures and processes within their services. This paper describes the fundamentals of the clinical governance framework which might serve as a guide for more integrative research endeavours on governance for quality and safety.

Experience was gained in both the development of national guidance and their practical use in targeted action projects activating structures and processes that are a prerequisite to delivering safe quality services.

This paper examines the practice of total quality management (TQM) philosophy within companies operating in Ireland. The main objective of this study is to establish whether, or not, TQM philosophy is suitable for adoption by organisations in Ireland. The study is quantitative in nature and is based on the findings of two research questionnaires. Data from the research indicate that TQM activities are practised throughout Irish industry. Many organisations have adopted a TQM approach in a comprehensive manner and are committed to TQM activities for the long term. The majority of respondents indicated that their TQM programmes were successful. This bodes well for the continuance of TQM activities within these organisations. It is concluded that TQM philosophy is suitable for adoption by organisations operating in Ireland and that a TQM approach offers these organisations a platform for developing strategies that guarantee competitiveness and success.

Evidence from a survey of the Irish Q Mark companies suggests that there are implications for both the human resource (HR) function and for human resource practices where organizations are involved in the implementation of quality intiatives. In some cases the HR function has taken a role in strategic decision making and responsibility for the communications, training and involvement measures necessary to support the quality programmes. HR practices have also changed in some organizations, with a revision of selection, training and appraisal methods. From the employee’s perspective, quality programmes appear to lead, through teamworking and communications mechanisms, to increased involvement. However, the reporting and control measures allied to quality have the potential to increase the monitoring of work and there is little evidence that reward structures have been revised to take account of changes in work practices.

Previous surveys on quality management have shown that increasingly firms in Australia are adopting and implementing quality control tools and a total quality management philosophy. This paper attempts to determine the effectiveness of quality initiatives that have been implemented and integrated within Australian manufacturing firms. The authors used a combination of questionnaire surveys and interviews to gather information from quality professionals about the different types of quality tools being implemented by firms. The findings of this study are compared with other national and international surveys. A major finding of this study is that the trend of quality initiatives being implemented has been increasing since the early 1980s and the increase is observed in all functional areas of manufacturing. In addition, it reported that manufacturing firms are more conscious about quality and customer satisfaction than ever before. This paper attempts to establish relationships between the adoption of quality initiatives and its benefits with respect to reducing rejects and labour disputes, and increasing revenue.

Various quality initiatives seem to have successful implementation in some healthcare organizations yet fail in others. This paper sets out to study the literature trying to understand drivers and challenges facing quality initiatives implementation in healthcare organizations then compare findings from literature with those of a structured questionnaire answered by 60 representatives from 18 hospitals. Finally it proposes a framework that mitigates challenges and utilizes drivers to ensure best implementation results.

Literature regarding implementing various quality initiatives in the healthcare sector was reviewed. Representatives from several healthcare organizations were surveyed. Results from both approaches are compared to highlight the key challenges and drivers facing implementers.

This research reveals that internal factors related to leadership and employees greatly affect quality initiative success or failure. Design and relevance play a major role in successful implementation.

This research offers healthcare professionals greater success when implementing certain quality initiatives by taking success/failure factors into consideration. A general framework for successful implementation in the healthcare sector is provided.

This article uncovers reasons behind success or failure in a comprehensive and practical way. It also explores how most popular quality initiatives are applied in hospitals.

The variety of possible quality management (QM) and continuous improvement (CI) initiatives and their various possible permutations can make it difficult for a company to choose the best approach for their requirements. This paper aims to address the selection issue by presenting a method to compare popular QM and CI initiatives from the perspective of the pay‐offs, or expected benefits, to an organisation which successfully adopts the approach.

The relevant QM and CI literature was analysed, examining key initiatives and their reported pay‐offs to the organisation. A matrix diagram approach is introduced which presents the extent and credibility of arguments advanced for these initiatives, in seven categories of pay‐off. A system of assessment is proposed, which quantifies the extent and weight of empirical evidence and estimates the strength of the claim for each pay‐off.

The pay‐off matrix summarises the claims in each of the pay‐off categories, assesses their credibility, and displays the similarities and differences for six key initiatives: total quality management, six sigma, ISO 9000, business process reengineering, lean and business excellence. Graphical pay‐off profiles are presented. Significant differences between the claimed pay‐offs for these initiatives are identified, analysed and discussed.

The proposed matrix and assessment system attempts to support a comprehensive and rational approach to assess the pay‐offs of QM and CI initiatives. As with any analysis of literature, there is inevitably an element of selection, but this approach consciously attempts to avoid omission and promote objectivity. The analysis is based on articles published between 1990 and 2005. Hence, new research and additional evidence may change the weight and credibility of claims.

This paper suggests a way in which evidence from the literature might be most effectively used by managers for decision support in the choice of quality and improvement initiatives. A similar approach might also be used for other areas, where businesses face choices and a considerable body of evidence exists to assist the decision‐making process.

Quality assurance (QA) at one University has evolved over the past 15 years through emerging National and European standards, various leadership initiatives and through the engagement of key stakeholders in co-designing and implementing internal QA processes. In 2000, the QA process was focussed mainly on quality review (QR) that involved extensive reporting of information. It was characterised by stakeholders as a largely reactive culture, treated with scepticism by faculty staff and that struggled to convince both management and faculty that QA provided value. In 2016, QR is now leaner, more evidence based and focussed around creativity and enhancement. In addition to QR, additional QA processes now incorporate a variety of activities including benchmarking, structured policies and procedures and research assessment. QA is also part of a tripartite approach that links quality, strategy and performance together, with quality focusing on assuring an appropriate standard of excellence, strategy guiding faculty towards a vision of the future and performance providing evidence of quality enhancement and strategy execution. The paper provides a case study of the transformation of QA at the University.

The research uses a case study approach. It documents a methodology used to engage a wide number of stakeholders in a self-evaluation process and the results of that process, i.e. enhancements to the internal review process and various policies and procedures.

There are early indications that the University’s internal QA has migrated towards a more responsive culture and is increasingly endorsed by the various internal and external stakeholder groups.

This paper presents the evolution of QA and potential lessons for the wider Higher Education Institutions (HEI’s) sector.

This paper provides a case study of changes to QA processes at one university that has risen significantly in various university rankings since. Some evidence is provided to show that quality initiatives have contributed to overall performance.