Quality management systems and performance measurement in a public sector organisation

Hamali, J

Abstract

Two of the most important issues concerning public sector organisations (PSO) all over the
world today is the need to reduce their operating cost whilst at the same time they are
required to improve their services. Most countries of the world are looking at quality
management, competition and performance measurement as elements that they could
explore to achieve the objective of reducing cost and increasing public satisfaction with the
services offered.
The local authority in Britain is one of the most heavily targeted public sector organisations
to be subjected to competition. Compulsory Competitive Tendering (CCT) was introduced
by law to ensure local authorities embrace competition. In response to this regulation, the
majority of the local authorities adopted a quality management system in order to cope with
competition. Associated with the quality initiatives and competition is the legal requirement
for local government in Britain to publish in the local newspapers their performance on a set
of indicators determined by the central government. The aim of this research was to explore
and describe the link between quality management and performance in a PSO . A case study
investigating two departments consisting of engineers, surveyors and architects at Salford
City Council, Manchester was conducted to determine the effect of quality management
system (QMS) and competition and the nature of performance measurement undertaken in
a P SO.
The research findings indicate that there was no structured system that monitors
performance of the organisation. The research also highlights that the performance of a city
council in general was determined by a simple set of indicators. It was also found that the
implementations of QMS in a PSO needs to incorporate features that can detect how well
the departments are improving due to practising the system.

Citation

Hamali, J. Quality management systems and performance measurement in a public sector organisation. (Thesis). University of Salford

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: Sep 19, 2011
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 19, 2011
• Award Date: Jan 1, 1999