ABSTRACT
The relationship between quality management and public attitudes is very close. Quality frameworks can certainly play an important role but there is also research evidence to indicate that it does not take sophisticated quality management systems to improve in a real and tangible way the quality of services experienced by citizens across Europe. Many European countries have embarked upon public service modernisation and development programmes that have sought to alter fundamentally the ways in which citizens are served. In more modern times, and thankfully for public administrations across Eastern and Western Europe, as well as the citizens they serve, Lord Palmerston's advice has also been ignored. Flexibility and commitment are key here in helping to support innovation and change at the organisational level. In reviewing experiences to date again at the local authority level, Tonnisson focuses on the development of Total Quality Management in the Estonian public service.
