Progress of quality management practices in Australian manufacturing firms

Purpose – This paper aims to identify changes in quality management practices that occurred in Australian manufacturing firms between 1994 and 2001.Design/methodology/approach – This study used two sets of data drawn from two separate surveys. The first survey was conducted in 1994 by the Australian Manufacturing Council (AMC) and the second survey was conducted in the early 2001 among the members of Australian Organisation for Quality (AOQ). After screening both data sets, 336 and 101 responses were usable for analysis using MANOVA.Findings – In the year 2001, Australian manufacturing firms were investing less in training and development of employees, and saw themselves as needing to provide greater levels of leadership in pursuing best practice than in 1994. In addition, maintaining a high‐quality of working environment and managing customer relationships were considered far more important in 2001 than previously, and less emphasis was placed on the standardising and documenting of internal procedures. ...