Quality measurements: who is using the sums and for what purpose?

This article by David Preece and Michael Wood examines the deployment of quality measurements in organisational and inter-organisational contexts. Four main issues are addressed: i) the arguments for measuring quality; ii) the managerial objectives which inform quality measurement utilisation; iii) the processes of introduction of quality measurements; and iv) the implications of all of the above for the orientation of the quality measurement (and quality management, where relevant) programme. the article draws on data from case studies of quality measurement adoption, implementation and usage and from empirically-based secondary material – in particular the emerging sociology of work and organisations literature on TQM. the findings point to the importance of locating the analysis of quality measurement utilisation within the wider organisational regimes of adoption and implementation. Issues relating to social control and organisational change are found to be of particular significance.