AbstractThe failure of government productivity efforts to improve the quality of public service bas prompted calls for the complete overhaul of management procedures. Increasingly, elected and appointed officials recognize that productivity enhancement efforts alone do not lead to improved service quality. Past government efforts have proven to be ineffective in motivating employees to continually improve quality. Total Quality Management (TQM) is a theory‐based option that allows public managers to reward truly exceptional individual performance, yet increase the capacity for agency‐wide cooperation and process improvement. The current interest in applying TQM techniques to public services provides a promising model for launching a Total Quality Management (TQM) improvement strategy for the American public sector at all levels. This article examines the origins of TQM, describes bow the philosophies of leading quality theorists apply to the public sector, suggests ways to overcome barriers to implementation, and presents a brief overview of current Federal government total quality improvement efforts.