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The purpose of this paper is to present findings from a qualitative research study that was designed to examine the application of the management index (MI) to support effectiveness among management teams. Specifically, the research was twofold: to examine the usefulness of the MI as a tool to enhance effectiveness in management teams; and to identify conditions necessary for successful use of the MI.

A three-year multi-site qualitative case study was conducted with five medium- to large-scale organizations, from public and private sectors, to apply and examine the use of the MI. Data were collected from participants during a series of workshops designed to examine the ways in which the tool was used to enhance effectiveness in management teams, and conditions that were determined supportive or a hinder to using the tool.

Findings from the qualitative data demonstrate four primary uses of the in which the MI: pulse reader, navigation, systematic dialog, management team development. It is, however, not clear yet if the use of the MI contributes to improvement in efficiency and effectiveness. The degree of maturity within the organization and teams, as defined by open and transparent communication and clarity of purpose of direction, appear to be key factors for how well teams benefit from the MI. Furthermore, the tool appears to benefit from longer term usage rather than quick-fix usage, although this claim has yet to be validated by further investigations.

The MI was developed by Swedish Institute of Quality to provide a simpler performance measurement tool for management teams to support quality improvement processes in organizations in Sweden. The MI was developed to provide management teams with access to vital information that could serve as the basis for prioritizing areas of needed improvement, while reducing time and complexity associated with traditional business excellence models.

This study contributes to an ongoing dialogue about how to support quality management through the use of performance measurement tools. In particular, the study supports the need to develop understanding about the importance of dialogue and process combined with the use of measures to achieve results.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the differences between public and private organizations in the paths of business excellence models and to identify the key drivers for creating business results and customer satisfaction.

The partial least squares structural equation modeling technique is used to compare the path coefficients and to identify the key driver constructs for creating business results.

The variation in endogenous constructs is found to be more difficult to explain or predict for private organizations than for public organizations, despite the fact that the performance of private organizations is almost always higher than or equal to the performance of public ones in all criteria. The effect of “leadership” on “management of processes” is significantly higher in public organizations than in private ones. However, “management of processes” in public organizations does not seem to translate into “results.” The effect of “strategic planning” on creating business “results” is negative for public organizations and remains inconclusive, due to insufficient evidence, for private organizations.

The results may not be generally applicable to other countries. However, they do support the move toward more tailor-made models for specific sectors.

It is necessary to review the national business excellence model in order to fit specific sectors.

This is the first study to investigate the differences between private and public organizations in the Swedish business excellence model.

One way for organisations to support total quality management, and hence try to increase customer satisfaction is to participate in a quality award process. The purpose of this study is to explore the organisational value of participating in a quality award process. The study is based on interviews at 29 organisations that have participated in the process of the Swedish Quality Award. The main conclusion is that most of the organisations consider the process orientation, customer orientation and improvement work to have been improved as a result of the participation in the quality award process. However, there are also obstacles to surmount in order to benefit fully from the process: difficulties in finding resources within the organisation to perform mandatory work and implement identified improvements, and difficulties in applying the circumstantial model used in the quality award process.

The purpose of this paper is to describe differences among public and private, manufacturing and service and SMEs and large organisations regarding the outcome of quality management (QM) practices.

This study looks at the scores for different criteria (or practices) from quality award applicants in Sweden between 1992 and 2010.

The service industry outperforms the manufacturing industry. Furthermore, and perhaps unsurprisingly, large organisations are ahead of small and medium enterprises in the race for quality progress. In general, when comparing public with private organisations, private organisations do better, and the practice of process management seems to be easier for private firms.

This study suggests that process management, as it is currently described and evaluated, needs to be revised and improved to better fit organisations.

Organisations, in general, score worse on business results than in all other criteria. This study proposes that quality managers must focus even more on how to achieve results and improve results in order to justify QM.

This study proposes that researchers and managers need to change their mind-set regarding service organisations in relation to manufacturing organisations, and that manufacturing organisations in particular need to see how successful service organisations work with leadership aspects, information and analysis, and business planning; how they obtain committed co-workers, and how they work with their customers.

The purpose of this paper is to identify and explore important quality-related challenges facing organizations, and investigate how current excellence models incorporate these challenges.

The paper is based on a Delphi study of Swedish organizations. Forty-nine challenges were generated and ranked according to importance and the ten top-ranked challenges were compared to the principles of four excellence models.

The excellence models still seem to be relevant since their content matches many of the identified challenges. The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award and the Swedish Institute for Quality models were found to have the most comprehensive coverage, while the International Organization for Standardization model had limited coverage.

Three areas for further research were identified: first, how quality management (QM) can evolve in different contexts that have varying needs in terms of adaptive and explorative capabilities; second, the interfaces of QM and sustainability, and ways to understand how customers and stakeholders can be active contributors to improvements; and third, the roles of the owners and board of directors regarding QM, and how to organize and distribute responsibilities of the QM work.

There are three important challenges that future revisions of excellence models could address: first, making QM a strategic issue for company owners; second, involving customers in the improvement activities; and third, developing processes that are robust yet still easily adaptable.

The Delphi study identified upcoming challenges in the QM area based on input from 188 quality professionals.

The question of whether an adoption of total quality management (TQM) improves the financial performance has been discussed for several years. Various studies have been conducted to examine the impact of TQM on financial performance, but there is still disagreement concerning the effectiveness of TQM. This paper presents a study of Swedish quality award recipients, which are compared to branch indices and to identified competitors. The comparison concerns the development of different financial performance indicators. The study indicates that the award recipients as a group outperform the branch index and their identified competitors on most of the studied indicators.

This article has been withdrawn as it was published elsewhere and accidentally duplicated. The original article can be seen here: 10.1108/13683040210451714. When citing the article, please cite: Jonas Hansson, Henrik Eriksson, (2002), “The impact of TQM on financial performance”, Measuring Business Excellence, Vol. 6 Iss: 4, pp. 44 - 54.

The purpose of the study is to describe the activities initiated based on participation in a quality award process and with the intention to improve performance.

This study presents a case study of three organisations that have participated in the Swedish Quality Award process. The cases were selected in order to clarify how this award process could be used to improve organisational performance.

Several examples of activities on how to improve organisational performance are provided. Specifically, the areas of customer orientation, process orientation, continuous improvement, committed leadership and participation by everyone have been improved due to the initiated activities. Furthermore, the studied organisations have been successful in their development and communication of visions, and in their empowerment of employees.

An interesting area of further research would be to compare different methodologies for performance improvement with one another.

Findings from the case studies, and of importance for organisations applying for quality awards, indicate that, if the goal is to get lasting results, it is not sufficient to participate in a quality award process only once. Instead one should participate in the process several times, with enough time in between the applications in order to complete as many as possible of the improvement projects resulting from the evaluations.

It is the authors' intention that the guidelines presented in the paper might be helpful for organisations considering a participation in a quality award process.

One way to stimulate total quality management (TQM) efforts in an organisation is to work with a quality award. This paper presents a case study, based on both interviews and document studies, of a unit within the Swedish National Road Administration that has worked with an in‐company quality award. The purpose of the case study was to study how a unit experiences and is affected by the work connected with an in‐company quality award. Some positive experiences and effects were recognised, such as a perceived improved customer orientation, a comprehensive view of the business, a degree of participation by everyone, systematic improvement work and an increase in the average score from the examiners. The perceived main disadvantage is the amount of work that the in‐company quality award requires, especially in the phase of description of activities.

Few studies have been conducted into the contextual and relational aspects of male caregiving that include analysis by gender and family relationships. The aim was to gain understanding of the experience of older men as caregivers for an ill spouse. A narrative approach was adopted for this study. Interviews were conducted with three older men between 65 and 78 years, who had been caring for their wives for between one and 12 years. Two main categories emerged: taking on a new and unfamiliar role, and learning to live with the new role. The results also show how the men seek to maintain continuity in their relationships with the wives they are caring for. The findings can be understood in the light of a major life transition of how older men providing care for a spouse create new roles and how they cope with the changes in the marital relationship. A sense of continuity in the process of caring is important for men to help them find the strength to continue as caregivers.