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Quality Management on the European Agenda
Patrick Staes and Nick Thijs
Quality Management on the European Agenda
Patrick Staes and Nick Thijs
Introduction
Quality thinking has undergone an entire evolution, from the mere inspection of products to an integral part of the organisation strategy. Its rise in the private sector was followed by a similar emergence in the public sector. This trend has been evident in many Anglo-Saxon countries and in Western Europe for a number of years now. In recent times, the same tendency has been felt in Eastern Europe . Does Europe have a strategy? Is this coincidence or are these individual initiatives, and are those involved at least learning from one another?
The setting up of the Common Assessment Framework (CAF) provided an initial impetus for a common European reference framework. �The main purpose of the CAF is to provide a fairly simple, free and easy to use framework which is suitable for self-assessment of public sector organisations across Europe and which would also allow for the sharing of best practices and benchmarking activities.� In the second part of this article we will look at the CAF and the application of the CAF as a European quality tool in more detail.
An important trend in quality thinking and the exchange of best practices within the public sector was set in motion by the organisation of quality conferences specifically intended for the public sector. These conferences will be dealt with briefly in the third part.
Finally, in part four, we highlight the European strategy in the field of quality management and the role played therein by the European Institute for Public Administration (EIPA).
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