A new institutional approach towards quality assurance and quality development in services for persons with intellectual disability

Recent European Disability Policy provides a framework for political action for all member states of the European Union. Even though European countries are confronted with different starting points in their disability policy all countries face the challenge to implement changes that affect existing structures and routines of service provision. This article describes some of the difficulties of implementing reforms in the field of intellectual disability in Germany. The New Institutional Approach in Organisational Analysis is used to explain why a reduced understanding of quality assurance does not lead to modernisation of service structures. It is outlined how quality assurance and quality development can be conceptualised as a knowledge‐based approach to evaluate and improve institutionalised routines in services organisations and local organisational fields.