As I started it I will answer the initial post. When I studied Quality Management many moons ago, the standard definition of quality was basically "making sure you are doing things how you want to do them". So quality is not a matter of cheap v expensive, or Mercedes v Kia, for example, it is the degree to which you provide the, in our case, service you intend to provide and advertise as providing. So an improvement in quality means greater consistency.

I appreciate this is not necessarily the kind of definition most people think of, but I think it is a good starting point, because it is no good trying to be Mercedes if you only achieve it 50% of the time.

The trite answer to 4 is, of course, everybody. However, in my opinion, every problem is a management problem, so ultimately it is management.

Telling when quality has improved, or for that matter, what quality is being provided at any given stage, is extremely hard in this business. What do people think?

Regards,

Kevin

Chris is talkng in his article about in-company training and about how "quality" is perceived differently there by the students, the teachers, the training managers (in the firm) and the academic managers (of the language school). 

This reminds me of another discussion on this forum where I referred to the two different types of managers involved   http://iatefl.britishcouncil.org/2009/forum/managing-conflict#comment-921.

I can answer the question about the effect of the economic downturn from my own experience. My in-house training was for a small German firm making wires and cables for car components. As automotive suppliers are particularly badly hit, their turnover has gone down by 40% in the first two months of 2009. The directors of this firm are planning to reduce their German workforce of 4300 by 10 per cent. At present all employees are working enforced reduced hours for reduced pay.

Our language training has been hit, too. The budget for any type of extra training paid for by the company has been put on hold. No new courses may begin and the current courses are only allowed to run until the students take their scheduled telc business exam.

So the answer to your question, Chris: the quality of the service hitherto offered, the success of the training, the importance of learning English particularly in a crisis - all these are irrelevant as long as the company is cutting costs. We English teachers obviously think that it is a case of cutting off its nose to spite its face, but that's business , I suppose.

Diana