The Challenges and Obstacles of Tqm Implementation in the Higher Education Institutions

Arumugam, V., Chang, H., Ooi, K., and Teh, P. (2009). "Self-assessment of TQM practices: a case analysis", The TQM Journal, 21(1), 46 – 58. Retrieved from http://www.emeraldinsight.com.ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/journals.htm?articleid=1766744&show=abstract#sthash.TkDGZoZ7.dpuf

The Total Quality Management ( TQM) can be defined as the holistic approach for the long term success which can be visible in the ongoing development in every aspect of the organization process. The overall transformation of the organization can go through various changes in different systems, structures, practices and the attitudes.

According to Total Quality Management (TQM) (2013, pg 1), “Total quality management (TQM) can help a school monitor and evaluate its effectiveness. There are various TQM models, but they all have a common focus on customer satisfaction and continuous service improvement toward excellence. For schools, the customer is the student.” When a Total Quality Management (TQM) is implemented in an institution it can set it apart from the other institutions. It formulates task teams to manage the institution compared to having a chain of command. An effective Total Quality Management (TQM) institution “Mission Statement” is the foundation of the education process.

The concept of total quality management (TQM) has been applied to education, most notably by Edward Sallis. In attempting to apply quality management to education, however, Sallis proposes a compelling reason for why TQM should be applied to education, and that is, accountability”.

Although TQM was originally intended for the industrial sector, Deming (1986) pointed out in the preface to his book “Out of the Crisis” that his management principles could be applied equally well in service industries. The service industries, he emphasized, “include government provisions, education and the delivery”. In fact, whenever an organization has a series of activities directed towards a clear final result, it has business processes which can be examined and developed by TQM techniques.

Yasin and Alavi (1999) conducted a quantitative study to determine if Total Quality Management (TQM) can produce quality improvement

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.

Harrogate Borough council has been using TQM with reasonable success and the fact that this has been coupled with benchmarking for performance management shows that the council takes performance seriously. Total quality management is now one of the most important concepts of the modern strategic management (Shewhart, 1980). TQM is about making incremental improvements in the processes and their flow is generally from bottom to top as opposed to other concepts regarding bringing about radical changes in the process designs where the flow is generally from top to bottom. Generally, in a management scenario operations level is avoided and TQM inculcates a strategic view at the operations level as the improvements in the processes can only be brought about if departments interact with each other. In the absence of this strategic interaction among departments, failed projects could be produced for example technological advancement brought about by the R&D department can be of no use if the firm does not have or cannot acquire the capabilities to produce or implement it. Hence, inter-organizational collaboration is one of the requirements of successful process improvement utilizing organizations resources and capabilities. Furthermore, TQM should not be considered as ends instead of means to achieve overall strategic goal. Overall strategy should be the guiding force behind TQM because without overall strategy managers cannot decide which operations are

3. The implementation of the TQM program is not being properly clarified for the other groups of management. The managers haven’t had proper training or guidance of what the expectations of the team to attain the desired results to improve the quality throughout the company.

First of all, the ineffective TQM model, Total quality management are having problems both theoretically and practically (Mosadeghrad, 2013). Some complementary management theories must be integrated with TQM to refine and develop it further to achieve competitive advantage. An intensive knowledge of sociology, psychology and change management helps introduce, institutionalize and manage the TQM change successfully. There is a need for an empirically sound and comprehensive model of TQM to assist managers

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,

In this study, the Total Quality Management Scale was developed to measure quality practice in higher education institutions. This scale consisted of 7 sub-scales of TQM practices which had to be empirically tested and validated. Many methods are available for empirically assessing the reliability and validity of a measurement scale. This section addresses how the reliability and validity of this scale is evaluated to determine the efficacy of TQM Scale in measuring the total quality management practices in higher education institutions.

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.

Anjard (1995) argues that it is no longer a luxury or a question as to whether Total Quality Management (TQM) philosophy should be adopted. He states that “unless we adopt the concepts of continuous improvement, we are guaranteeing organizational obsolescence”. TQM is a visionary movement which represents a final recognition of a management philosophy that encourages employees to share responsibility for delivering quality services and products. Commitment from the top as well as a willingness to transform an organization from the bottom up is essential for effective implementation. More importantly Anjard (1995), goes on to say that effective TQM managers lead, coach and mentor amongst other things and that managers must train everyone and provide them with the knowledge, skills and tools needed for continuous quality improvement.

The 90s mark the starting point of empirical research on critical factors in TQM, although different studies have yielded different sets of TQM factors (Saraph et al., 1989; Flynn et al., 1994; Powell, 1995; Ahire et al., 1996; Black and Porter, 1996; Zhang et al., 2000; Antony et al., 2002). As a result, there is no single measurement instrument to evaluate TQM implementation. Furthermore, evidence concerning the impact of TQM on business performance is also based on a wide range of indicators that differ across studies and are in some cases contradictory, especially regarding financial performance, which is measured in terms of ROA –return on assets- or ROI –return on investment. Some research has found a positive effect of TQM on the latter (Easton and Jarrell, 1998; Hendricks and Singhal, 2001a, b); whereas other research reports a negative incidence of TQM on these measures (Chapman et al., 1997). In some cases, TQM’s effect on these financial outcomes is even deemed inexistent (Adam, 1994; Powell, 1995; York and Miree, 2004). Improper implication of total quality management will hinder the improvement in customer satisfaction, quality of product or service rendered, employee performance, quality of work life, market share and competitive