ABSTRACT
For quite a while, the quality discussion found its way into the area of elderly care. Quality, quality assurance, quality control... all these terms can be read in nearly every article or heard in many conferences and seminars. Most of the quality approaches discussed can be classified into two main approaches: professional and business (Pollitt, 1996). The professional approach includes peer review by colleagues, as well as standards and ethics given by and controlled within a professional association. This model is closely linked with welfare state development, being supportive of professionalizing Personal Social Services (PSS) (Evers, 1996). The “inspectorate approach” is seen as a model flourishing alongside the welfare state as a provider of universalistic services. Hence, “the inspectorate approach is very much about processes of laying down what is seen as a general standard and about guidance concerning quality control” (Evers, 1996). Pollitt includes in his discussion of business approaches such concepts as Total Quality Management (TQM), ISO 9000, Business Re-engineering and Benchmarking. These approaches or concepts, all derived from a special view on PSS, differ from the professional and inspectorate approach to the degree in which they address the whole firm or organization. They create a high level of collective readiness and commitment to question inherited structures and routines, as well as the otherwise prevailing individual perspectives (Evers, 1996).
