Experiences of working with in-company quality awards: a case study

One way to stimulate total quality management (TQM) efforts in an organisation is to work with a quality award. This paper presents a case study, based on both interviews and document studies, of a unit within the Swedish National Road Administration that has worked with an in-company quality award. The purpose of the case study was to study how a unit experiences and is affected by the work connected with an in-company quality award. Some positive experiences and effects were recognised, such as a perceived improved customer orientation, a comprehensive view of the business, a degree of participation by everyone, systematic improvement work and an increase in the average score from the examiners. The perceived main disadvantage is the amount of work that the in-company quality award requires, especially in the phase of description of activities