Purpose
Currently, upcoming as well as mature industries are facing pressure as regards successfully managing operational excellence and continuous improvement, and at the same time driving and managing innovation. Quality management concepts and practices’ ability to tackle this challenge have been questioned and previous research even suggests that quality management initiatives can impede firms’ abilities to innovate and quickly adapt to changes. It has also been suggested that there is a need to provide and promote an updated/changed, and even re-branded, version of the Total Quality Management (TQM) concept, merging quality and innovation management. Such a shift would indeed be a fundamental and groundbreaking shift in the history of Quality Management so far. Can such a shift then actually be spotted? The purpose of this paper is to explore and see if there are any signs suggesting that quality and innovation management actually are about to merge.
Approach
The study is based on literature reviews, document studies, and interviews.
Findings
The paper highlights three signs indicating that quality and innovation management indeed are approaching each other, and that it is a movement driven from both sectors, e.g., in the work with new ISO-standards and the Toyota Kata framework.
Relevance/contribution
The indicated development has fundamental and extensive practical implications. It will for example have to be followed by a similar merging of the two fields in the educational system, and in the competences of future managers.