Total quality management in government

"By adopting Total Quality Management (TQM) strategies, business and industry have learned to work smarter and gain a competitive edge in the new global economy. Now, the same principles of Total Quality Management used in private industry are creating a quiet revolution in the public sector. Government is under constant pressure, the authors remind us, to deliver more services with fewer resources. To improve quality of service, increase productivity, and reduce waste, more and more government managers - from Little Rock to Washington - are turning to TQM." "This book sheds light on applying TQM in the real world of government organizations - showing how to introduce TQM, overcome barriers to change, and make TQM a success story for any government agency. Drawing on extensive research and their own "school-of-hard-knocks" experience implementing TQM in a unit of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Steven Cohen and Ronald Brand present straightforward, practical advice on utilizing TQM in government settings." "Total Quality Management in Government offers case examples that detail what organizational changes need to be made when TQM is introduced in government agencies. The authors discuss TQM successes in specific government agencies - including the U.S. Air Force, the Treasury Department, the Patent and Trademark Office, the New York City Department of Sanitation, and Blount Memorial Hospital in Tennessee - to reveal how the principles of TQM can be put into practice at all levels of government. And they provide selected charts and diagrams that show concretely how to apply the concepts and techniques of TQM within any governmental unit."--Jacket.