ABSTRACT
The control of quality lies at the heart of the notion of professionalism. Most of the many sociological and economic texts which debate the concept of professionalism emphasize that autonomy to set entry and practice standards is a distinguishing feature of those occupational groups, such as lawyers and doctors, which are most widely accepted as ‘professionals’. One good reason for managerial intervention would be if managers knew more about quality than most of the professional service deliverers. The first requirement for successful management/profession cooperation in developing QA may be attitudinal. The advocated separation of QA and the judgement of individuals for career purposes has implications in terms of both procedures and organizational levels. For very good reasons, ‘quality’ is a term which has recently come to the fore in British debates over how the health and education services are run.
