Book excerpt: Drawing on the enormous experience and expertise of the contributors, who are all renowned in their fields. The third edition has been reorganized according to the well-known quality concept of Plan-Do-Check-Act, reflecting the way in which businesses should, ideally, be working if they are to achieve quality excellence. The text has been developed from its original leaning towards engineering to make it applicable for businesses in general.Each chapter provides sufficient information to enable managers to gauge the importance and usefulness of the subjects covered. The additions have made the third edition of the Gower Handbook of Quality Management even more useful than its predecessors.