Software quality management in turbulent times - are there alternatives to process oriented software quality management?

There is a widely accepted paradigm of successful software development, called process oriented software quality management (PSQM). The proponents of PSQM claim that it has a significant impact on some essential parameters of a software producer's competitiveness. However, case studies of some well known software producers reveal a rather different management style. Since the management style is a means to influence the essential parameters of a company's competitiveness, which are influenced by the competitive conditions, two questions arise. 1. Do the investigated software producers employ a different management style by accident or is their management style an appropriate answer to their specific competitive conditions? 2. If their management style is an appropriate answer to their competitive conditions, what is specific about these conditions and about the appropriate management style? It is argued, that their management style is a form of concurrent engineering, which rather conforms the needs of a software producer in a turbulent environment, while PSQM on the other hand rather conforms the needs of a software producer in a placid environment. This means, there is no universal process management and environmental dynamics is a contingency factor to be considered in the configuration of process management. 0963-9314 (C) 2000 Kluwer Academic Publishers.