Mehrdad Mohammadi - Management Consultancy Office, Tehran U of Medical Science

Quality management (QM) has successfully been applied in private manufacturing and service industry. A relatively new challenge is its appearance on the agenda of many public organizations. Can it solve some of the problems of these organizations or be viewed as an opportunity? Taking a systems approach to management (Cortada and Woods 1995) QM focuses on interrelationships within the organization and outside with the environment and provides some formulae to manage them. Recognition of consumers' right for choice in one hand and already operating in a context that has recognized suppliers' right for ownership (creating a win-win situation) is in fact the basis of QM success in private sector. Absence of natural feedback (arising from right for choice in the competitive arena) and low level of ownership and not enough motivation are obstacles to improvement and change in the public sector. Although QM can see and manage interrelationships, it per se cannot compensate for weak ones.

public organization, quality management