Introduction and conceptual frame of referenceThe period 1990 to 1993 saw a profound transformation within Swedish industry. This transformation took place in response to the deepest recession experienced in decades. Companies responded by searching for different methods to increase their competitive power. One approach in these efforts was to increase efficiency through the use of different comprehensive quality concepts. Different advocates propounded different approaches, e.g. total quality management, different quality awards or ISO 9000. In Sweden, a widespread debate regarding the suitability and potential of the different concepts arose. The debate concerning the ISO 9000 system soon became polarized: one group in favour of the system and one group who saw the system as an inadequate tool for increasing the competitiveness of companies. Whatever the standpoint taken in this debate, it seems today to be an indisputable fact that ISO 9000 is a powerful instrument which cannot be disregarded; no previous change concept has been able to show, in such a short time, an equally large number of companies having implemented, or being on the point of implementing, such a system.From the general perspective of organizational theory, the introduction of a quality system involves a major change. There are several driving and restraining factors influencing such a change. In view of the extent to which companies are today implementing the ISO 9000 system, it is extremely important to study and analyse different aspects of this change work from a societal macro-economic perspective as well as from a micro-economic company perspective. Additionally, there are a number of issues that need to be highlighted and treated from the viewpoint of different social perspectives to increase our understanding of ISO implementation in companies.The introduction and implementation of a new quality system makes changes necessary in the companies concerned. These changes usually involve a change in behaviour, in turn creating a need for information and communication [1,2]. Within "forcefield" theory, Lewin[3] regards every change behaviour as a result of the balance between driving and restraining forces. Factors acting against change in this respect are: group norms, fear of change, ingrained behaviour and member complacency. According to Lawrence[4], there are three general sources of resistance to change: uncertainty about the

It is probably safe to say that today it is universally accepted and often common knowledge that cooperation between product development and the market functions is crucial for the ability of companies to develop market oriented products. Likewise, there are some strong indications that well functioning cooperation between production and product development is crucial for the development of products that are efficient to manufacture. However, no satisfactory solutions have yet been found to the issues of integration and cooperation. Although there is a consensus of opinion among companies that the need for cooperation is very great, a number of issues still remain to be solved. It is, for example, not clear on which issues cooperation should take place, nor which functions should be involved, nor yet how this should be done. This paper tries to answer some of these questions.

Interest in comprehensive concepts, such as lean enterprises, time‐based competition and total quality management, has increased significantly within the engineering industry in recent years. Successful implementation of those concepts can to a large extent be explained by the ability to get information across to the employees and to make them involved and committed. Earlier research has shown that one of the key factors behind the successful implementation of changes in the quality area is to create clear goals that can be understood by the employees, combined with a culture that enables changes to be carried through. At the same time, it is probably safe to say that communication strategy is one of the least understood and most poorly managed aspects of the implementation of total quality management. As a step towards an understanding of how total quality is implemented and diffused in the engineering industry, the concept of quality consistency has been formulated. Quality consistency means the ability of an organization to bring about, based on a business concept and strategy and from a holistic, dynamic quality perspective, harmonization among all employees in terms of strategy and operations, so that they share a common and uniform view of the most important areas for the company's quality programme. The investigation was carried out in two phases. A broad study of more than 1000 white collar employees in 20 Swedish engineering companies investigated the overall attitude to the quality concept. In‐depth studies were subsequently made in three of these companies in order to map in detail the level of quality consistency. The results show that top management do not seem to have been very successful in communicating information about the quality programme. Moreover, they seem to have been still less successful in creating a common understanding of the concept to be introduced and the way in which the work to implement it is to be carried out. The studies have clearly shown that there is a substantial divergence in attitude to the quality concept. This divergence can be assumed to have an adverse effect on the possibilities of efficiently carrying out quality programmes in companies. Consequently, it is reasonable to assume that all forms of company development in terms of quality ought to be based on a standardized approach to the concept. In addition, the studies show very low values with regard to quality consistency in the companies investigated. This indicates that there is a strong need for creating a uniform attitude to the quality concept and its implications for the employees as well as to its practical implementation both on an overall strategic level and on an operational level, to aid the individual in his daily work. Hence, the need for educational efforts to raise the employees' level of knowledge about how the quality work is to be carried out, e.g. which tools are available, and how they can take part in the implementation work, is extremely great. In the long term, education in schools...

No abstract

No abstract