• Setting quality standards. • Evaluating conformance to these standards • Taking proper actions

* Total quality management (TQM): This model is concerned with the performance of all processes in an organisation, and the products and services that are the outcomes of those processes. It seeks continuous improvement and will involve everyone in the quest for quality.

In a TQM effort, all members of an organization participate in improving processes, products, services, and the culture in which they work” (ASQ, 2016). TQM can be used based off eight (8) key elements that most if not all companies use. The key elements are customer-focused, total employee involvement, process-centered, integrated system, strategic and systematic approach, fact-based decision making and lastly communication. The first element of TQM is the most important element, which is the customer.

Despite these problems, e-learning has already established a strong foothold, albeit as an adjunct to traditional, instructor-led teaching. The main success in e-learning, is the improved standard of support that students receive. [Sydney

TQM refers to the broad set of management and control processes designed to focus an entire organization and all of its employees on providing products or services that do the best possible job of satisfying the customer. Employee performance is a set of behaviour, outcomes, actions and practices that contribute towards organizational goals.

The impact of TQM on higher education institutions. On top of that, Lewis and Smith (1994) reported that over 200 higher education institutions throughout the U.S.A. were involved in practicing TQM. This number has grown from 92 in 1991 to 220 institutions in 1992, and is expected to increase substantially in the future. These surveys also showed that TQM was credited with helping to boost the morale, reduce costs, and improve performance among higher education institutions. ( Kim,M & Iwao,

Perhaps the most important characteristics of TQM are that it empowers front-line workers to solve problems and it focuses attention on solving problems rather than on finger pointing.

If an organization has a track record of effective responsiveness to the environment, and if it has been able to successfully change the way it operates when needed, TQM will be easier to implement. If an organization has been historically reactive and has no skill at improving its operating systems, there will be both employee skepticism and a lack of skilled change agents. If this condition prevails, a comprehensive program of management and leadership development may be instituted. A management audit is a good assessment tool to identify current levels of organizational functioning and areas in need of change. An organization should be basically healthy before beginning TQM. If it has significant problems such as a very unstable funding base, weak administrative systems, lack of managerial skill, or poor employee morale, TQM would not be appropriate.5

Total Quality Management (TQM) is an improvement tool that is widely used in many companies. It consists of many aspects including Managing people as well as business processes in order to maintain customer satisfaction. With TQM, Businesses starts to do the right thing from the start and to ensure zero error. Therefore, it is important to learn the principle of TQM and how it acts in organizations with its advantages and disadvantages.

In supporting the second objective, the questionnaire on barriers of TQM implementation was conducted. The research findings is taken together the various literatures had been discussed in Chapter 2 on the unfavourable circumstances that become hindrance to the TQM practices that summarised as following:

exploring the perceptions of experienced and novice online learners. Centered on the idea that students who have taken several courses would have different perceptions than those students who had only taken a couple of online courses. More than three thousand online learners participated in a survey regarding student success, developed from the Quality Matters rubric. The results suggest a difference in student perceptions based on their limited or greater levels of experience in the online environment. Students with little experience focused on different expectations than experienced online students. And vice versa, experienced learners had factors associated with online learning that were more important to them. Experienced learners

The learning process starts and ends with the learner. The knowledge, curriculum, content, pedagogy and outcomes are networked around the Leaner. E-learning has evolved as a system that provides learner-centric learning services. The future quality in developing future e-learning systems in the, the quality considerations should be directed towards the learners’ needs and circumstances (Ehlers 2004). Hence, this research focuses on learners as the unit of analysis.

Truly quality is something that relates to both performance and value from the customers perspective (Barfield 304). TQM is about building quality in from the beginning and making quality everyone 's concern and responsibility. Consumers are willing to pay a premium for higher-quality goods and services. Organizations that employ TQM (or a similar philosophy) work on the premise that any product or service can be improved upon and this improvement equals reduced cost, better performance and higher reliability. The basic goal of TQM is simply understanding and meeting the customers ' expectation every time. Understanding and meeting customer expectations is a challenging proposition and requires a process that supports continuing progress toward the goal of meeting customer expectations the first time, every time. A TQM program also has the goal of instilling confidence to management the intended quality level is being achieved and will continue to be maintained. The process employed must demonstrate repeatability and consistent results time after time. Finally, the customer must have confidence that the intended level of quality will be achieved in the delivered product or service (Barfield 313).

TQM has invaded countless industries and is a favorite “buzz word” of top executives and managers, TQM concepts are rarely fully implemented other than posters, memos, and press releases. While the basic concepts of TQM are inherently internal to each of us, the moniker of TQM continues to be an elusive goal that everyone in business “loves to talk about” but never successfully implements. This approach involves guaranteeing that an organization functions with a commitment

"TQM is a management approach for an organization, centered on quality, based on the participation of all its members and aiming at long-term success through customer

For TQM to be successful, all workers in the organization have to be clear and focus on its vision and intentionally align themselves with the TQM strategies to produce quality products and services that satisfy their client’s needs and requirements. Some of the benefits gained from successful TQM implementation include fewer customer complaints, cost reduction in the long term, elimination of waste and mistakes, and boost in employee morale by empowering them by encouraging their participation in decision making and communication.