The purpose of this study was to understand how the concept of quality as an idea was spread to and translated in municipal elderly care. A central question was: How does literature, policy documents and key people describe the function and meaning of the concept of quality? The method of analysis was a qualitative case study with a critical discourse. The theoretical framework of the study is mainly what is known as institutional theory and a line of thought describing how ideas are transferred and spread. The theoretical focus is on how original ideas are interpreted and why they gain a foothold in new contexts. With the help of empirical material in the form of literature, documents and interviews the study shows how the idea of quality was spread from industry to elderly care.   An essential discovery is that the concept of quality has uncritically been implemented to the municipal care of the elderly, correlating to organizational changes, limited resources and the concept of quality becoming a part of the Social Services Act. The municipal care of the elderly tried to apply a quality control system not designed for a human service organization. In order to succeed it tried to make the idea concrete and intelligible by using various system and manuals. The results show that the process has created conservation rather than a change. There is a paradox between quality as a subjectively created value and quality as a quantitative instrument used to create efficiency.

Six Sigma was developed in 1980s in manufacturing industry and became popular as a process improvement method. However, the adoption of this concept is new in construction industry and the aim of this study is to evaluate Six Sigma as a process improvement method within construction context. This thesis includes Literature Review and three interviews. Literature Review had discussed process improvement methods used in construction industry and analyzed the basic features and principles of Six Sigma. Three interviews were conducted about the basic principles of Six Sigma and Quality Concept. Interviewers are a Project Manager, Field and Cost Engineer. The approach of the interview to Six Sigma is based on quality, performance and management aspects. This study defends that there is no doubt about the positive effects of Six Sigma on construction projects. Particularly, Six Sigma can provide a broader quality concept, detailed performance measurement, coordinated and repeatable process/performance improvement. It has increased quality directly/indirectly and has positive effects on production efficiency. As a 2 management approach, Six Sigma is discussable within construction context due to differences of manufacturing and construction industry. Since construction industry includes lots of unrepeatable tasks and different process design techniques, Six Sigma does not seem applicable as a whole management approach in construction industry. Furthermore, it can be integrated to the existing management procedures of companies. Taking everything into consideration, it is obvious that Six Sigma has a lot in order to accelerate fundamental and cultural challenges construction industry needs.