Driving ‘Soft’ factors for sustaining quality excellence: Perceptions from quality managers

Organisations which achieve high levels of performance against quality and business excellence award criteria still face challenges in sustaining their efforts. This paper has therefore set out to identify and analyze the driving `soft´ factors affecting sustaining quality excellence within the United Arab Emirates business environment. The paper uses survey data from 138 Dubai Quality Award recipient companies engaged in manufacturing and services industry and sector in the UAE. The managing directors, quality directors and managers representing at the each organization made the unit of analysis of the study. Eight `soft´ dimensions were found as critical factors for the sustainability of quality excellence. The results of this paper can be used by managers to prioritize the implementation of the `soft´ factors for long-term sustainability towards higher quality levels.