The care for the elderly in the municipalities has recently seen the need for a formalized system for quality assurance. Under increasing demands for monetary efficiency while bound by law to retain acceptable standards in health care, there is need for efficient and at the same time quality-assured management. The municipalities often solve this puzzle by introducing systems and standards influenced by theory-clusters such as NPM (New Public Management), TQM (Total Quality Management) or other quality management theories.This essay focuses on how the public administration in the municipalities defines quality and designs and implements system for formalized quality assurance. Our basic view of organizations is institutionalist and our theoretical framework includes theories about quality, NPM and TQM..

Quality Assurance in Service Procurement --- Total Quality and Total Quality Management refer to popular management philosophies in organizations these days. The purchasing department has an important part in the strive for organizational quality as several studies show corporate spend is significant and increasing. In this master thesis I study the actions companies take to ensure quality in service procurement. I argue that managing quality when sourcing services is particularly tricky, because of the special characteristics that belong to services. The purpose of the study is to examine whether different actions are taken to ensure the quality of different kinds of services.

Quality can be defined as the ability of a business to satisfy their customers? needs and expectations. Total Quality Management is defined as the way to prevent, appraise and improve the entire organization to increase the product quality. In order to systematically increase quality in an organization, there are different quality systems in use. One example is process management, which is to divide the activities of processes.

The purpose of the study was based on scientific literature to describe the quality of life of persons who have undergone a total hip replacement. The method was a descriptive literature review. The results showed that pain was the most obvious change after surgery. Mild pain before surgery was strongly associated with mild pain after surgery. But despite less pain were experienced early, it took 1 year to achieve the full benefits of improved physical function.

Introduction: Sex and education level has demonstrated effects on health status.Osteoarthritis is a widespread disease that causes reduced health-related quality of life and isthe most common reason for total hip replacement. Osteoarthritis was ranked as the 11thhighest contributor to global disability as reported in the Global Burden of Disease 2010.Aim: The aim of this study was to explore how sex and education level together affectedhealth-related quality of life after total hip replacement. The aim was also to examine whatdimensions of EQ-5D that changed.Methods: The study is a prospective observational study with a quantitative approach. Dataconsisted of education level, obtained from Statistics Sweden (SCB) and health-relatedquality of life before and one year after total hip replacement from the Swedish HipArthroplasty Register (SHAR). Health-related quality of life was measured with astandardised instrument, the EQ-5D, and the study population consisted of 39,141 patients.Results: Womens? EQ-5D-value, before and one year after surgery, were lower in alleducational categories compared with men.

This paper seeks to investigate whether there is a positive relationship between bonus as a part of total executive compensation and lower accounting quality among Swedish companies. In this study, accounting quality is defined as the degree by which a company's earnings are subject to earnings management. To detect earnings management accrual-based modified Jones model is applied to companies listed on the Large-, Mid- and Small-Cap lists on the Stockholm stock exchange during 2011. We find a statistically significant positive relationship between bonus as a part of total executive compensation and lower accounting quality. Thus, in line with prior research, our results suggest that managers, interested in maximizing their bonus, will select income increasing accruals to manage earnings upwards.

Sustainability issues have become increasingly high-profile and important in recent decades. In addition, quality issues have come to play a central role in corporate marketing, strategy and management. The word quality can be defined differently in different contexts. This paper focuses on the concept of quality, based on the Total Quality Management perspective, which in Swedish has come to be known as Offensiv kvalitetsutveckling. Offensiv kvalitetsutveckling has been described as a theoretical framework in which an organization continually strives to meet and preferably exceed customer needs and expectations at the lowest cost through continuous improvement, and in which all members of the organization are committed and focused on the organisation's processes. The purpose of this study was twofold. First, to clarify the applicability of the theoretical model Offensiv kvalitetsutveckling as a theoretical explanatory model. Second, to explore how Max Hamburgerrestauranger AB performs according to the values in Offensiv kvalitetsutveckling. A multiple case study was conducted in order to explore these topics. The results showed that Max Hamburgerrestauranger AB is working in a dedicated and value-driven manner, aligned with the values ??that form the basis for Offensiv kvalitetsutveckling. The results also showed that the model for Offensiv kvalitetsutveckling could serve well as a theoretical explanatory model, but that the model would benefit from being developed, enriched or integrated with other models.

The purpose of this Master Thesis is to investigate whether the technical service available in the "Reading and Writing Corner" has an influence on the Total Quality of service in a public library. This service is intended to give sensory/print-handicapped persons access to information. The title KOM LOSS is a Swedish expression for "come on" and LOSS is short for reading and writing support. I have chosen to study three libraries in the region of Västra Götaland, Sweden. The thesis examines Total Quality from the aspects of goal steering, accessibility, education and marketing.

This study is based on interviews with heads of unit, care staff and senior representatives from a total of six people. We have in this study directed our focus on care quality in the elderly as a concept in development. It appears, when the elderly do not have any dependents, it is even more important that staff supports some extra where no relatives are involved.Quality of life is the broader concept of good quality care and where a good quality of care is a necessary condition for a good quality of life. According to the social services care is the target that older people will live a good life and be allowed to live in a safe environment, which we intend to investigate in this study. Opportunity for greater influence should now be given to older people and their families on how interventions should be designed and implemented.

This study is based on interviews with heads of unit, care staff and senior representatives from a total of six people. We have in this study directed our focus on care quality in the elderly as a concept in development. It appears, when the elderly do not have any dependents, it is even more important that staff supports some extra where no relatives are involved.Quality of life is the broader concept of good quality care and where a good quality of care is a necessary condition for a good quality of life. According to the social services care is the target that older people will live a good life and be allowed to live in a safe environment, which we intend to investigate in this study. Opportunity for greater influence should now be given to older people and their families on how interventions should be designed and implemented.

AbstractThe aim of this literature review was to describe the quality of life in stoma patients after stomasurgery. Different combinations of the keywords ?stoma?, ?Quality of Life?, ?stomasurgery? were used when searching in the databases Medline, Cinahl, Academic Search Elite and PubMed. A total of nineteen articles were used in the result. Fifteen studies had comparing design and four studies had describing design.

This study investigated how banner ads, depending on its quality and placement,can capture a user's attention while searching for editorial content in an online newspaper. Furthermore, the user's search strategy was also studied to see whether it varied depending on the placement of an ad. An experiment was conducted where 20 subjects searched for articles in a Swedish online newspaper while their eye ovement was recorded with a headmounted eye?tracker. In each search task the online newspaper contained either a low quality ad or a high quality ad.

This paper analyzes the auditor choices for a sample of 300 predominantly small Swedish firms, all located in Umeå. Our hypothesis was based on the complexity of a firm, the need of external financing, leverage, and the need of extra consultance from the auditfirm. Our definition of auditor quality is based on prior studies, and is frequently used by authors in this area. The assumption is based on that the auditor quality increases with the size of the auditfirm and the degree of the auditor. The auditor quality is therefor depending on the choice between an auditor from the group ?Big 5? or not, and the choice of an auditor with an higher degree.

Since the 1980s, companies have taken a larger interest in quality and it´s economic impact within the company. Having the knowledge that it´s not quality that costs money, but it´s rather the lack of quality. The work immerses itself in the field of cost of poor quality and the development of key performance indicators.The thesis is performed at Bufab Holding in Värnamo. Bufab Holding is a trading company which mainly buys and sells C-parts. C-parts include fasteners, other small metal-, rubber- or plastic parts such as wires, springs and electronic fasteners.The aim of this thesis was to make a survey of the cost of poor quality and to find key performance indicators (KPI) for cost of poor quality that can be continuously monitored.

The role of the quality manager has evolved from being a quality controller to work with a more global business. Within many organizations in Sweden, however, the traditional role of the quality manager's remains and the tasks categorized as quality control still takes up most of the quality manager's time. The survey conducted as part of this master thesis shows that the quality manager in most businesses has multiple roles in addition to the role of quality manager, which can create a role conflict. One consequence of this is that each improvement is not given priority due to time constraints. Although the importance of a clear and committed leadership is the key for succeeding as the quality manager.