Rodrigues, Pedro M.Miguel-Dávila, José Ángel2012-09-142012-09-142010Rodrigues, Pedro; Miguel-Dávila, José (2010). Quality management in sport tourism organizations: empirical study proposal. In ACEDEDOT Workshop in Operations Management and Technology. Granadahttp://hdl.handle.net/10198/7556The tourism industry has a growing importance among those activities that create wealth. This trend is recognized by political agents, business managers and the academic community. Sport and tourism seem to assume a symbiotic relation: On the one hand, Sport promotes Tourism through sport events, seminars, congresses and tourist destinations. On the other hand, Tourism promotes Sport by increasing the participation rate, facility building and infrastructure construction (Bouchet, Lebrun, & Auvergne, 2004; Gammon, 1997; Higham & Hinch, 2002; Pigeassou, Bui-Xuan, & Gleyse, 2003; Standeven & Knop, 1999). Global growing competition and ever-increasing customer’s expectations impel organizations that offer Sport Tourism services in the quest of higher quality and cost reduction. Total quality management (TQM) is a management system based on human resources, which aims the continuous progress in the service to the client at a lower cost (Hodggets, 1993). The concepts associated with the quality of service were not developed the same way as of those associated with the quality of tangible goods production. Literature based on the vision of the founding authors of the TQM is prolific in product quality management and nearly non existent in service quality management. Nevertheless, the theoretical base and the methods of the TQM allow its application in both industries, products and services (Anderson, Rungtusanatham, & Schroeder, 1994 ; Bell & Keys, 1998; Deming, 1986; Waldman, 1994). Quality management is a widely studied subject. Edwards Deming, widely accepted amongst his pears, is one of the most renowned authors in this area of knowledge. Despite global practical evidences of the efficiency of his methods and practices, empirical investigation on Deming’s model is still scarce (Fisher, Barfield, Li, & Mehta, 2005). Anderson et al., (1994) proposed a management model based on the methods and practices advocated by Deming (figure 1).engconference object