Quality Management in the Lithuanian Public Administration: Main Initiatives and Their Application

Abstract

This article analyses the development of quality management in the Lithuanian publicsector and identifies major structural and institutional factors that influence the application ofquality management initiatives in public administration institutions. It is emphasized thatquality management has been introduced to both national and institutional levels in Lithuaniajust recently, therefore the number of institutions applying quality management is rather small.The authors argue that more mature institutions, which have experience in applying otherinnovative performance management techniques, are also more likely to apply qualitymanagement initiatives. Such factors as duration of existence of the institution, its size, numberof staff and budget size have a direct impact on quality management application in Lithuania.On the contrary, the lack of quality management experience may determine the formalisticapplication of quality management models and raise unnecessary administrative burden.