ABSTRACT
In the past two years, there has been considerable interest in Total Quality Management (TQM). At the level of local government, interest is shown by the increasing number of TQM initiatives in such services as garbage collection, street maintenance, welfare services, police protection, emergency services, and other areas (Sensenbrenner, 1991; Galloway, 1992; Walters, 1992; Pfister, 1993; Lusk, Tribus, and Schwinn, 1989; Penzer, 1991; Kline, 1992; International City and County Management Association, 1993). Applications vary from administrative cost savings to strategic reorientations of agency objectives to meet the needs of citizens more effectively. In general, the objectives of these applications are to increase customer orientation, timeliness, and service performance, while reducing costs. Also, many of these applications apply TQM concepts loosely; that is, they do not necessarily follow strict or orthodox TQM concepts.
