Quality improvement: it's an attractive concept on paper. So why do the vast majority of quality improvement efforts fail?

William Roth knows from experience: as a Ph.D in systems theory, an ex-corporate manager, a professor-and the designer (with the AQP) of a national program to deliver training for quality credentials in the systems approach. His belief: enduring quality improvement is an "all or nothing" situation-requiring a systemic approach, with all the key components and integrations in place and fully integrated right from the start.

Quality Improvement: A Systems Perspective explains the sometimes surprising historic roots of the quality improvement movement, and outlines the systems theory on which successful models must be built. Readers then gain access to the hands-on, nuts-and-bolts, how-to-get-it-done details of the five critical phases. Three case studies (two in industry, one in health care) support this traditional but currently shunned model.

Along with his unique unified view of quality improvement, Roth explains why it is shunned, and why alternative approaches usually do not produce the desired results. Key obstacles to success are directly identified-top-level management, local union leaders, management education. The ultimate culprit, though, is culture-to which Roth suggests how to move organizations in the right direction, from a systems perspective.

With one of the most comprehensive overviews of quality management essentials in one volume, Quality Improvement: A Systems Perspective balances theory and modeling with the details of real-life implementation and success.