ABSTRACT
The key themes of change, culture and quality affect the management of operations, as well as one another. Many leading management theorists over the last forty years have written about the limitations of 'traditional' organisational structures and styles to deal with turbulence and uncertainty. It has been recognised that bureaucracies may be suitable as a form of organisation to cope with stability and routine, simple structures and standardised jobs and skills. They are less able to adapt, however, to rapid and unpredictable change, to the diversity of skills required and to more participative management styles. In describing different organisational structures and styles, Burns and Stalker differentiated between mechanistic and organic management systems. Almost all college strategic plans make reference to 'quality provision' but few attempt to define it. In the commercial and industrial world, quality is usually taken to mean that which best satisfies and exceeds the wants and needs of the customer.
