QUALITY MANAGEMENT

QUALITY

•       We all know quality when we experience it, but describing and explaining it is a more difficult task

•       We often only recognize the importance of quality when we experience the frustration and time wasting associated with its absence

•        “Quality involves doing many other things well, but unless an institution puts its customers first the preconditions for developing quality will not exist.” -Alex Trotman (Executive Vice-President Ford Motor Company)

There are plenty of candidates for the source of quality in education. Amongst these are:

• outstanding teachers;

• high moral values;

• excellent examination results;

• the support of parents, business and the local community;

• plentiful resources;

• the application of the latest technology;

• strong and purposeful leadership;

• the care and concern for pupils and students;

• a well-balanced and challenging curriculum.

Total Quality Management is both a philosophy and a methodology. It can assist institutions to manage change and to set their own agendas for dealing with the plethora of new external pressures. Considerable claims are made for TQM.

There are those in education who believe that TQM properly applied to it can complete a similar transformation.

However, TQM does not and will not bring results overnight; neither is it a panacea for all the problems that beset education. Rather it is an important set of tools that can be employed in the management of educational institutions.

THE FOUR QUALITY IMPERATIVES

    IM·PER·A·TIVE  (noun)

1.a mood that expresses an intention to influence the listener's behavior        syn: imperative mood, jussive mood, imperative form

2. Some duty that is essential and urgent

1.    MORAL  IMPERATIVE

It is the duty of educational professionals and administrators to have an overriding concern to provide the very best possible educational opportunities

2.    PROFESSIONAL  IMPERATIVE

Educators have a professional duty to improve the quality of education and this places a considerable burden on teachers and administrators to ensure that both classroom practice and the management of the institution are operating to the highest possible standards.

3.    COMPETITIVE  IMPERATIVE

Educationalists can meet the challenge of competition by working to improve the quality of their service and of their curriculum delivery mechanisms.

Competition requires strategies that clearly differentiate institutions from their competitors.

4.    ACCOUNTABILITY  IMPERATIVE

Schools and colleges are part of their communities and as such they must meet the political demands for education to be more accountable and publicly demonstrate the high standards.

TIMELINE OF QUALITY MANAGEMENT

CONTRIBUTIONS OF DEMING,

SHEWHART AND JURAN

HAWTHORNE EFFECT

      They demonstrated that the factors that contributed most to increased productivity were not changes in the physical conditions at work but the style of leadership and group cohesiveness.

STATISTICAL CONTROL

      These were a series of techniques for removing the sources of variability from industrial processes, so enabling them to be made more predictable and controllable.

Deming’s initial contribution was to develop and advance Shewhart’s methods. The statistical methods of Shewhart and Deming are now known as 

Statistical Process Control (SPC).

Taken together, the combined insights of the human relations movement associated with Mayo and his colleagues and SPC are the theoretical underpinnings of TQM.

REFERENCES:

Edward Sallis, 2002. “Total Quality Management”, Third Edition. Taylor and Francis publication. Stylus publishing Inc. 22883 Quicksilver Drive Sterling VA 20166-2012, USA

Goldhill, D. 2009. “How American Health Care Killed My Father.” Atlantic Monthly 304 (2): 38–55.

Graeme Knowles, “Quality Management”, 2011, bookboon.com

Griffith, J. R., and K. R. White. 2005. “The Revolution in Hospital Management.” Journal of Healthcare Management 50 (3): 170–90.