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The purpose of this paper is to examine gender differences regarding the experience of workplace health and quality management. In this context, we include some factors of work environment that have previously been shown to be related to health such as workplace learning, stress, flow and sense of coherence.

A questionnaire based on previous research was constructed. It was delivered to a population of Swedish upper secondary school teachers. Three hundred eleven responses were returned. They were analysed for gender differences with t-tests and chi-square tests.

The results show that women's experience of their health is worse than men's despite having a generally better experience of the quality management values, workplace learning and flow. Moreover, women experience more stress, and they are more often subjected to sexual harassment while men more frequently had been exposed to physical violence.

The study has implications for research in that it indicates that although women have better experiences of many of the factors that previous research has shown to be related to workplace health, their health is actually worse. A limitation is that the response rate was low.

The findings should be useful for managers attempting to improve the workplace health of their staff. The finding that women report less health than men even though experiencing quality management values more, means that women's health need a particular focus in secondary schools.

The connection between health and quality management has not been previously studied from a gender perspective.

The purpose of the paper is to examine variables to be included in a measurement instrument which measures workplace learning related to recent research into quality management and brain functioning.

A literature review was conducted, investigating measures of workplace learning as well as the connections between brain functioning and management. Further studies will use the brain integration scale to compare levels of brain integration with measures of workplace learning.

The variables “empathy”, “presence and communication”, “continuity”, “influence”, “development”, “work-integrated learning” and “flow” were found to be relevant from the literature review to be tested for inclusion in the measurement instrument. A measurement model with these variables included has been developed.

This paper is conceptual in its nature. Empirical studies are needed to validate the propositions.

The proposed measurement instrument can be used by managers to gain insight into underlying mechanisms in the organizational culture that influence employees’ learning and potential for development. Thus, it can aid managers to achieve profound learning in their organizations, which is necessary for continuously maintaining high quality of products and services.

For society, the implementation of the proposed measurement instrument in companies could lead to better health and higher job satisfaction among employees.

Traditional ways of measuring working environment are rarely connected to brain functioning of the employees. Only requiring small resources, this approach adds to an understanding of underlying mechanisms.

In previous research, quality management practices have been found to be related to better health for employees. Dimensions of health-promoting quality leadership have been defined. The purpose of this study was to identify dimensions of workplace health in the wellness industry and relate them to the dimensions of health-promoting quality leadership.

An empirical study involving seven leading spa-hotels in Sweden has been carried out. The first part of the study consisted of quality cafés carried out at each of the hotels. The quality café is a novel method, which has the World Café-method as its basis, combined with quality management techniques. Based on the findings from the quality cafés, an employee survey was developed.

The findings from the study include a definition of five major health dimensions for the employees, namely, happiness, kinship, respect, physical health conditions and control. The dimensions were found to be statistically consistent and correlated with the self-reported health of the respondents.

The findings are related to health promotion theory and the dimensions of health-promoting quality leadership. A framework for health leadership in the wellness industry is proposed. The study was only carried out in one country.

The framework and the findings should be useful for managers, particularly in the wellness sector, when designing their operations and health promotion activities.

Workplace health in the wellness sector, which is growing worldwide, is very scarcely researched.

An innovative technology called consciousness-based education (CBE) is being introduced in schools worldwide. The approach includes both an experiential and an intellectual component. However, research studies exploring learning in CBE are rare. The purpose of the paper is to explore how organizational learning takes place in schools, which adopt CBE in addition to their ordinary curriculum. Moreover, the ambition of the approach regarding quality is examined.

A multiple-case study has been carried out. Four schools using CBE have been studied: a private school in Fairfield, Iowa, USA; a governmentally funded free school in Skelmersdale, United Kingdom; an independent school in Melbourne, Australia, and a primary school in Lelystad, the Netherlands. In total, 26 in-depth interviews have been performed, mainly with teachers and students but also with principals and experts in the CBE pedagogy. In addition, three focus-group interviews with primary school pupils were conducted and observation during classes was included. The data were analyzed by the constant comparative technique from the grounded theory approach.

Categories characterizing organizational learning in the CBE schools have been identified. These findings are related to theories of the learning organization, resulting in a framework depicting different components of learning.

The study provides a framework illustrating organizational learning in schools that utilize CBE which affords an overview of the technology and can serve as a vantage point for further research. Since this is a qualitative case study, the effectiveness of the CBE approach and its impact on learning outcomes were not assessed, and the possibilities to generalize the findings are limited.

CBE has not previously been studied from an organizational learning perspective.

The purpose of this study is to explore dimensions of customer perceptions of factors important for a quality experience in the SPA industry and to assess service quality implications for these dimensions.

The empirical study involved seven Swedish SPA hotels. The first part was qualitative, consisting of seven focus-group interviews with hotel guests. In addition, service providers’ perceptions of customer quality were collected through seven quality cafés. The qualitative parts were analysed with the constant comparative technique from the grounded theory approach. Based on the findings from the interviews, a questionnaire was delivered to 400 randomly accessed women. The responses were analysed with exploratory factor analysis and cluster analysis.

The focus-group interviews showed that the customers’ perception of quality could be expressed in the following dimensions: physical effects, mental effects, pleasure and flexibility. The dimensions for customer quality seen from the staff’s perspective were treatments, climate and the SPA facility itself. The exploratory factor analysis defined the following underlying factors: enjoyment, treatments, practicality, fitness, cost and calm. The cluster analysis resulted in four groups of customer profiles: the more of everything group, the enjoyers, the savers and the fitness freaks.

A limitation is that the study has only been carried out in one country. The main implication for research is a better understanding of quality dimensions and perceptions of service quality in the SPA industry.

The study provides a comprehensive insight into the dimensions of quality for SPA visitors. Moreover, four distinct groups of customers have been identified. This knowledge should be useful for SPA managers.

Only limited amounts of research have previously been carried out in the SPA industry. The paper provides a framework depicting perceptions of quality dimensions in SPA hotels.

The purpose of the paper is to discover quality dimensions for the health‐and‐fitness industry and to examine the salient aspects of the quality‐management practices of organisations in this industry.

The research in this paper uses a grounded‐theory approach to a multiple case study of 15 companies in the Swedish health‐and‐fitness industry. Qualitative methods in the form of in‐depth interviews and observation are utilised for data collection.

The paper finds that a framework for fitness quality management is developed and presented. The quality dimensions are found to be “pleasure”, “mental change”, and “physical change”. The main enablers are defined as “relational competence” and “technical competence”. Other indirect enablers are also identified and described.

The paper shows that because the framework is based on qualitative data collection, the relationships are not quantified. This could be an objective of further research.

The framework presented in this paper is useful for managers of fitness companies when designing and managing their activities.

The paper presents a novel framework of the salient features of quality in fitness services – an industry that has received little scholarly attention in the past. This research also contributes to the general understanding of service quality, and demonstrates the usefulness of inductive qualitative methodology in this regard.

The purpose of this paper is to develop an approach to measuring health‐related quality management based on earlier research on the connection between quality management and employee health.

A questionnaire was developed and a research study was carried out at a manufacturing company. The constructs were tested for internal reliability using Cronbach's alpha tests. The dimensions’ correlations with employee health were checked using Pearson correlation.

Three of the dimensions were correlated with the perception of employee health: “presence/communication” and “integrity” derived from leadership commitment, and “influence” derived from everybody's participation. These findings substantiate earlier studies indicating a relationship between visible, clear leadership and employee health. They are also in line with earlier findings of how the possibilities to influence their own work promote employee health and work ability. The paper provides a proposal as to how managers can proceed in the measurement and evaluation of quality management efforts related to employee health.

The research is conducted as a single research study in one industrial manufacturing company. Further research should be conducted in other organizations from different lines of business with the same conditions and in organizations with different conditions.

This approach can be used by managers for gaining insight into underlying mechanisms in the organizational culture related to employee health from a quality management perspective. This could lead to improved employee well‐being, satisfaction and motivation. It could be used as a first step for improvements when implementing health‐related quality management “to break the ice” and it could be followed up by qualitative methods.

Traditional ways of measuring health are rarely connected to quality management. Only requiring small resources, this approach to measuring health‐related quality management can add to an understanding of underlying mechanisms.

The purpose of this paper is to examine relationships between quality management health dimensions, employee health, flow and work integrated learning in primary schools. Previous research has indicated relationships between quality management and health. In this study, the role that work integrated learning plays in the connection between quality and health is investigated.

The study object has been a number of schools. A quantitative survey has been carried out. A random sample of 20 primary schools, of which 13 (65 per cent) agreed to participate, was selected. Questionnaires to their 301 employees were delivered and 229 (76 per cent) were returned. The reliability of the items were analysed with Cronbach’s alpha test. The statistical relationships between the items were studied with Pearson’s correlation test.

The results show that the items are reliable. Moreover, statistical correlations between work integrated learning on the one hand and employee health, quality management health dimensions and flow on the other hand are found.

One limitation is that the research has only been carried out in schools and the possibilities of generalising the findings to other sectors are uncertain. Research implications are the relationships that have been identified between work integrated learning and the other factors.

The knowledge that has resulted from the study should be useful for organisations in their attempts to improve the health status of the employees.

The relationship between work integrated learning and employee health has not been studied in any other major study.

The purpose of this paper is to describe health promotion activities accomplished within a project and to measure the conditions for sustainable health within the case organizations. Also, the purpose is to test a previously developed measurement approach, which measures health‐related quality management.

A health promotion project currently being carried out at eight Swedish elementary schools has been studied. In earlier research a measurement approach was developed to measure health‐related quality management. The approach was handed out to the co‐workers at the eight different schools in the initial stage of the project. The leaders at the schools were informed of the results of their own school and the mean value of all the eight schools. The consistency and reliability of the statements within the approach was tested.

A description of health promotion activities accomplished and planned within the project can be found. The results from the measurement of the health‐related quality management in the eight schools are presented, together with the mean score of all schools. The test of the measurement approach is presented and discussed.

A description of health promotion activities can help managers and project leaders to plan and carry out valuable health promotion activities in their striving for both sustainable health among the co‐workers and efficient organizations. This measurement approach can help managers and project leaders to measure the effects of the health promotion activities.