QUALITY MANAGEMENT

Quality Management

Quality Management

Question 15

Research on Quality: Research a literature to find a paper or an article that describes how an organization uses one (or more) of the quality concepts, tools or techniques. Write a summary of the article and critically comment on it.

Discussion

The paper titled “Total quality management in UK higher education institutions” presented by Gopal and Malek is the center of this discussion. The author maintains that quality is directly related to the value that is perceived by the customers. In this specific article, the customers are the parents and the students that are directly affected by the quality of the education that is imparted in the academic institutions. The British educational system is celebrated for its high standards in education. There are a number of quality assurance bodies that have been established by the government. These educational institutions have realized the importance of implementing Total Quality Management due to the large number of complaints that were received from parents and students. The educational institutions have been slow in adopting the techniques and tools of the TQM in the United Kingdom (KANJI & BIN 1999, 129-153). The author conducts an evaluation of the level of success that higher education institutions (HEIs) have enjoyed as a consequence of adopting TQM in the United Kingdom.

The author discusses the various factors that impact the total quality that is delivered to the end users. The customers in the educational sector comprise of internal and external sources. The teachers and other clerical staff that perform their functions to provide quality education comprise the internal customers. Similarly students comprise an integral part of the internal customers as they provide valuable feedback that can be used to improve the education system (KANJI & BIN 1999, 134). The internal customers are the one that are a part of the educational institution and are the direct recipient of any change in the educational procedures in the HEI. The internal customers strive to achieve and excel the expectations of the external customers. The external customers comprise the students that are studying in the institutions as well as the regulatory bodies that are responsible for overseeing the compliance of institutions with the established quality standards.

Figure 1: Organization's Scorecard

The organization scorecard is an approach that has gained increased recognition in the recent times for achieving quality and excellence in processes. The foundation of the pyramid is based on the critical success factors like achieving the benchmarked passing rate etc. This provides a strong foundation for the various critical departments of the institution. So, if quality is introduced at the very basic level of the organization, the chances for the whole organization can be reduced to a bare minimum. There are various TQM models that can be used to achieve varying quality goals depending on their applicability of these HEIs in the UK. However, the authors debate whether the various TQM models could be transferable on other type of organizations depending on the requirements (Lawrence 1998, ...