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Describes the experiences of several public hospitals which have implemented quality methods and management and lists some of the lessons they learned that could be usefully adopted by other services. Asks: how do you introduce a quality programme into an organization whose employees are already empowered, and who view themselves as the sole arbiters of quality? Is a quality programme doomed if the preconditions proposed by the “quality gurus” are absent ‐ such as top management commitment and constancy of purpose? Which type of quality programme is feasible when there is no time and money for quality investment, and customer satisfaction is only one of the many determinants of organizational survival in a political environment? Concludes that generally, the hospitals which had a greater success found ways to involve different professions and adapted the methods to their particular circumstances.

The purpose of this paper is to describe how different stakeholders (society, managers, employees and clients) can together ensure the quality of care.

Qualitative data were collected from four focus group interviews conducted in three countries. All interviewees were pursuing a master’s degree in social and/or health care management and had begun working in their field after completing their bachelor’s degree. The data were analysed using inductive content analysis.

The society and managers are responsible for the care system as a whole and must apply system-oriented, rather than sector-oriented, thinking. Employees are responsible for ensuring the continuity of client services in their work, and managers and employees share the responsibility of achieving the organisational goals and quality standards. The clients are responsible for acting as responsible service users and providing the required information to obtain care. Communication was strongly emphasised in the data, and it necessitates cross-professional and organisational boundaries, professional and political boundaries, as well as boundaries between the professional and the client.

Since the interviewees were all pursuing a master’s degree in social and/or health care management, when reflecting on their work experience, they may have also been reflecting what they had learned in university.

This study emphasises the importance of collaboration and communication between stakeholders in ensuring the quality of care. Unpredictable economies, the ageing population and the ongoing integration and reorganisation of health and social care services in Europe highlight systematic and strategic approach in quality of care.

This paper claims that communication between different care stakeholders gives a more systematic and coherent framework for the quality of care. Quality of care is a strategic choice and part of the strategic decision making at the societal, political, organisational and managerial levels.

The term “lifelong learning” is used for combining formal, informal and non‐formal education and training, with a reconsideration of professional recognition and quality assurance processes. The objectives of the article are to demonstrate the need of cooperation in quality assurance and recognition between higher education institutions and vocational education and training accreditors, with particular focus on exchange of models and methods of accreditation, which have been adopted in LIS, as well as common criteria and principles.

Present LIS criteria, standards and guidelines are examined together with a documentary and literature review, looking to quality assurance and individual recognition focus and process.

The emergence of common themes between quality assurance and individual recognition is outlined, with the learning outcomes focus as the driving force for integration. The European Qualification Framework, Europass and ECVET are discussed as the way in which learning outcomes and recognition of competences can be linked to the European Bologna process.

There are some assumptions in this research: the author believes that there is enough room, within the fundamental concept of the quality of LIS education, to incorporate most of the emerging theories and philosophies of learning, based on reflective practice and lifelong learning.

Further studies are needed in some problematic areas such as control of evaluation criteria and procedures, internationalisation common reference tools, quality assurance as a stimulus for continuing change and innovation.

The need for a re‐definition of the relationship between higher education and continuing professional development in LIS is outlined.

Interest in the total quality (TQ) concept has been gaining considerable momentum within North America. Total quality, which is founded on the belief that organizations can succeed by meeting the needs of their customers, traditionally has been a concern of line management. However, specialists in the area of human and industrial relations have been espousing some of the concepts touted by total quality converts for many years. Participation by these individuals in the implementation of a total quality approach can only help in this regard.

The purpose of this article is to examine some of the considerations in the preparation of professionals for service quality and organizational excellence.

Effectiveness, rather than academic principles, is the basis of methodologies for quality excellence.

The conventional approach to quality is rooted in manufacturing which has served its purpose, but is not necessarily effective in modern days.

The work is not based on empirical data, but on the rationale behind quality management.

Reasoning of this paper would have important implications on the way education and training of future professionals are trained, especially those for quality of service.

The concept of “customer satisfaction” must be viewed in a different context vis-à-vis the new realities of globalization and importance of service industries.

This is a subject that has not gained sufficient attention before, though the implications of education and training are far reaching.

The purpose of the chapter is to contribute to the discussion as to whether some sort of regulation of professional accountants is warranted, by analysing whether professional qualification of accountants affects the provision of accounting services.

A survey method is used. From a sample of 96 accountants providing accounting services in Slovenia, we estimate the structural equation model and measure competences, knowledge, service mix, customer loyalty and litigation risk.

We find that professional qualification is positively associated with competences. Competences, in turn, are positively associated with knowledge and wider service product mix, but not with customer loyalty and litigation risk.

The respondents are practicing accountants. Their self-evaluation of their knowledge should be treated with caution in terms of the absolute values of assessed knowledge as they are inevitably subjective. For other variables, more objective measures are used.

In the absence of accounting profession regulation, the quality of financial reporting may be particularly vulnerable in micro companies. Although answering the question of whether provision of accounting services should be subject to regulation is not straight-forward, the results of our study provide some guidance for regulatory decision making.

The purpose of this study is to challenge bridging the gap between the problems of the existing quality profession and the existing and emerging challenges of quality with regard to people, organizations and societies, hence broadening the traditional coverage of quality from the organizations to these three hierarchial societal levels.

Through professional involvement with researching, developing and practicing quality principles, methodologies and solutions in practice for decades, the authors became convinced that the prevailing conceptual thinking of quality is not based on the valid scientific basis and contains the problem of superficiality. Hence also the practical quality applications are fragmented and vague. As a reaction to the situation, the authors clarify the conceptual essence of quality, its historical background and usage in today’s everyday and professional contexts.

In this article, the authors present a solid scientific baseline for the ontological fundamentals of the quality discipline, on which also the epistemological pondering can be built, hence establishing the robust foundation for the practical quality management applications.

This conceptual article is an original research and review paper, contributing to the revival process of the quality profession in its entirety, including quality research, education and practices. The study is based on the authors’ multidisciplinary experience, theoretical reflecting and recognized references.

The most important problem for higher education in the post-COVID period is the production of highly qualified specialists for the labor market. The purpose of this study is to determine effective criteria for assessing the quality of training of future specialists and the adequacy of their readiness to solve real problems of the future specialty.

A study was carried out among students in order to determine some of the most important characteristics of them as future specialists. Based on the survey results, non-academic indicators were identified that participants perceive as significant for a highly professional employee. The empirical study included 300 undergraduate students from four universities (66% women and 34% men aged 20–21). All participants represent full-time training.

The survey showed that the participants identified the ability to learn and personal development as the most significant personal qualities.

Many criteria for assessing the quality of training of specialists in different professional fields have not been precisely defined. Several ways of solving this problem can be proposed: developing criteria for assessing quality in hiring; revising the methods of work of universities; presenting to students the criteria for development in the profession or adopting international criteria for assessing pedagogical quality.

The main purpose of this study is to revisit Dr. Ishikawa's statement: “95% of problems in processes can be accomplished using the seven quality control (QC) tools” from his book “What is Quality Control?”. The authors are interested in critically investigating if this statement is still valid nowadays. It involves the analysis of the usage of the seven QC tools in the manufacturing and service sectors and the benefits, challenges and critical success factors (CSFs) for the application of the seven QC tools.

In order to evaluate Kaoru Ishikawa's statement and how valid his statement is for manufacturing and service industries nowadays, an online survey instrument was developed, and data collection was performed utilising a stratified random sampling strategy. The main strata/clusters were formed by senior quality professionals working in operational excellence, quality consultants, quality directors, quality engineers, quality managers and quality supervisors working in both manufacturing and service sectors from South American companies. A total of 97 participants from different countries in South America responded to the survey.

The main finding of this study is that only about 20% of respondents felt that the original seven basic tools of QC can solve above 80% of quality related problems in their businesses. This is quite different from the findings reported by Dr Ishikawa in his work in between 1970 and 1980s. Another relevant finding presented in this paper is that Pareto analysis, histograms and cause and effect analysis are the most used tools in both manufacturing and service sectors. This paper also revealed that the seven QC tools proposed by Dr. Ishikawa were least used by human resources (HR), information technology (IT) and finance functions. This work presents a list of critical success factors required for the proper application of the seven QC tools.

All data collected in the pilot survey came from professionals working for South American companies. So, this paper does present limitations in terms of generalisation of the results. Also, data were collected at an individual level, so parameters such as the inter reliability of judgements on a particular survey item could not be evaluated. It is important to highlight that n = 97 is a low sample size, enough for a preliminary survey but reinforcing the limitation in terms of generalisation of the results.

Authors understand that this is the very first research focused on challenging Dr. Ishikawa's statement: “95% of problems in processes can be accomplished using the seven quality control (QC) tools” from his book “What is Quality Control?”. The results of this study represent an important first step towards a full understanding of the applicability of these tools in manufacturing and service industries in a global scale.

Total quality management (TQM) promises much for service industries yet it has been little used in European healthcare. Of those hospitals and services which have implemented TQM, few have had great success and many have found difficulties sustaining their programmes. This paper defines TQM in healthcare and considers examples and results of TQM in European healthcare. It distinguishes between team projects using TQM methods and organization‐wide TQM programmes, and finds more evidence for the success of projects than for programmes. The paper discusses whether the differences between healthcare and many other industries explain the mixed results, and considers the prospects for future TQM programmes in European healthcare.