Performance improvement is important for any organization in Europe. In the early 1990's the Productivity Measurement and Enhancement System (ProMES) was introduced in Europe. ProMES can help to define performance indicators for work groups. Feedback and goal setting are the crucial elements that operate in the use of this system in practice. In this issue we have brought together the experiences of European researchers in implementing the ProMES system. The first three articles cover these experiences and try to give an answer to three fundamental questions: -- In what way can people contribute to the effectiveness of the organization?-- What kind of motives do people have to contribute to organizational effectiveness?-- How can people actually improve performance?The last two articles focus on the subject of improving quality in particular. The fourth article illustrates that a gap exists between quality management practices and a more scientific approach. The model that is used by the European Foundation for Quality Management requires a better methodological and conceptual underpinning. The fifth article presents the results from a European Study about the social impact of the implementation of a quality policy in organizations. It shows that a quality policy can have impact on commitment, job security and upward communication.