Transcript Repositioning quality culture in Higher Education

Abstract
Total quality management, a collection of principles,
methods and best practices was aimed reducing waste and
increasing the quality of the product. Based on the
success of Lean Production and TQM in the manufacturing
industry, it was implemented in the service industry such
has healthcare, human resources, telecommunication and
so on. But there were some service categories where the
application of TQM was more difficult than others - the
field of higher education being one of these categories.
Abstract
• The first step in quality assurance is identifying the
criteria that determine the quality of the service. There is
a general perception among staff that the fulfilment of
the HEQC criterion is an addition “burden” on the already
heavy workload of staff. In addition to this notion, the
fulfilment of the HEQC quality criteria by institutions
seems to focus on the “quality audit” and not changing
the perception of quality among staff.
Abstract
• This paper however, attempts to rekindle
the notion of quality and the value that
TQM can establish within an organisation,
through secondary literature surveys. It
provides an overview of the changing role
of higher institutions worldwide and
organizational dynamics impacting on
them.
Background
Education has become a primary focus for the
SA government as the country grapples with skill
shortages. Government policy since 1994 has
strongly focused on repositioning higher
education in terms of global technological and
economic competitiveness. However there has
been tension in terms of sector prioritization.
Background
The dual challenge that higher education
institutions face is firstly to contribute to
economic growth of the country and secondly to
improve the quality of life of its citizens. A
number of institutions have been merged to form
Comprehensive Universities and Universities of
Technology (UT) which had an impact of quality
service delivery.
Cont
HEI’s currently implement the quality imperatives of the
HEQC with a primary focus on teaching and learning.
The drive to satisfy the criteria of the HEQC of which the
outcome is the accreditation of programmes does not
satisfy customer expectations within a higher education
landscape. HEI’s should move a step forward, by
creating a quality culture within Higher Education, thus
eliminating the “burden” of being accredited to offer
quality programmes.
Cont
Globalisation, the government funding formulae
and the scarcity of resources are forcing higher
education institutions to use business
improvement methodologies and quality models
to survive in the increasingly global market. It
has become imperative that universities must
adopt business models such as business
process reengineering (BPR), lean techniques
and total quality management (TQM) to improve
the quality that is rendered to students and
industry.
Cont
The implementation of quality assurance initiatives in
higher education in South Africa is neither new nor
unfamiliar. A range of internal and external formal and
informal quality assurance arrangements have been in
place for many decades. What is new in relation to
quality assurance in South Africa is the need to embed
total quality management principles as a culture within
Higher Education, thus responding to the rapidly
changing landscape that now constitutes higher
education. There is no clear indication from the
authorities on how the required quality improvements
can be achieved. Institutions are left to their own
devices to find and implement improvements.
Cont
The Higher Education Quality Committee
(HEQC) ensures academic quality as a means
of quality assurance by the implementation of
institutional audits on teaching and learning,
research and service learning at higher
education institutions. There is a much greater
need, in that customer satisfaction is still a
matter of concern. Institutional quality, through
the implementation of the ISO 9001:2008
requirements, also including aspects of the
SAEM model, would together improve the status
of quality in HE’s
Cont
Institutional quality is addressed by adopting
quality principles and institutional selfassessment approaches where issues like
leadership, policy and strategy, people
management and satisfaction, client/customer
focus and satisfaction, resource and information
management, processes, impact on society and
organizational results are analyzed to determine
the institution’s strengths and areas to improve.
TQM in services
Total quality management entails the development of a
quality culture from the onset of the organisation which
strongly recommends people involvement. However,
critics of TQM claim that the implementation requires
unwarranted training and retraining costs, demands the
commitment of all employees, consumes excessive
amounts of time from all stakeholders, increases the
amount of paperwork through formalizing all processes
and procedures, and places emphasis on process over
results (Caldwell 2006, 96-98). In the recent past an
evolution of TQM has resulted in the development of an
improved methodology known as lean six sigma where
the principles of lean production and TQM were
combined.
Cont
Thus, TQM and every other available
improvement methodologies require substantial
investment in terms of finance, technology, and
human resource development over numerous
years before the desired results could be
achieved. The result is that in sectors where
resources are restricted, shortcuts are followed
where failure is practically guaranteed
cont
Important factors to consider about the TQM
programme is the fact that success is
determined predominantly by intangible
practices such as management commitment and
leadership, employee empowerment,
relationship building in an open organisation
instead of features associated with TQM such
as, quality training, process improvement and
benchmarking and quality costs
Cont
From a South African perspective, there are
major issues regarding the cultural
understanding and the political connections of
people that hinder the success of the country.
Human resource management is a key feature
in that the understanding of people and the
building of morale through employee
empowerment would determine the success of
TQM.
Cont
Although the quality criteria are in depth, there is a lack
of provision of standards whereby each process is
defined in a value-adding context for the provision of
services. Departments within the organisation continue
to work in “silos” and communication across departments
is problematic. The departments that support the
academic function do not have clearly defined
procedures whereby academics can access information
about procedures. Therefore teamwork becomes very
important. Teamwork would minimise the silo effect and
in many cases it would annul the silo effect
Service quality dimensions
Tangibles – the physical appearance of the service facility,
the equipment, the personnel, and the communication
materials
Service reliability – the ability of the service provider to
perform the promised service dependably and accurately
Responsiveness – the willingness of the service provider to
be helpful and prompt in providing service
Assurance – the knowledge and courtesy of employees
and their ability to inspire trust and confidence when
dealing with customers.
Empathy – from service provider that the customer
deserves caring, individualised attention from the service
organisation.
ISO principles
Principle 1 Customer focus - Organizations depend on their
customers and therefore should understand current and future
customer needs, should meet customer requirements and strive to
exceed customer expectations.
Principle 2 Leadership - Leaders establish unity of purpose and
direction of the organization. They should create and maintain the
internal environment in which people can become fully involved in
achieving the organization's objectives.
Principle 3 Involvement of people - People at all levels are the
essence of an organization and their full involvement enables their
abilities to be used for the organization's benefit.
Principle 4 Process approach - A desired result is achieved more
efficiently when activities and related resources are managed as a
process.
ISO principles
Principle 5 System approach to management - It is important to
identify, understand and manage interrelated processes as a system
that will contribute to the organization's effectiveness and efficiency
in achieving the objectives of an organisation
Principle 6 Continual improvement - Continual improvement of the
organization's overall performance should be a permanent objective
of the organization.
Principle 7 Factual approach to decision making - Effective
decisions are based on the analysis of data and information
Principle 8 Mutually beneficial supplier relationships - An
organization and its suppliers are interdependent and a mutually
beneficial relationship enhances the ability of both to create value
South African Quality: Where are we and where do we need to be?
To attain superior quality products and services
organisations have two important aspects to
consider (1) provide the right tools for workers to
do the job and (2) make available the right
people to do the job including providing
education and training.For management to attain
a workforce with a positive attitude toward
quality and a positive quality culture the
following should be kept in mind:
Cont
Educate and train workers to be experts in their jobs.
Management must share its vision of quality and where it wants to be by
communicating with employees.
Disseminate information regarding policies, procedures and targets set by
management
Expect from workers a high degree of quality in their work. Expect zero
tolerances to work non-conformances and you will get there eventually or
come very close to it.
Empower people to do their jobs to the best of their ability. This means breaking
down barriers in the work through the different levels of management so
that workers can feel free to express difficulties in their jobs and to express
things that hinder them from producing quality work.
Motivate people. Motivation is innate and comes from the person. However
management can create an environment at work where people can become
motivated. Consider Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs in relation to how could
contribute to providing positive motivation
The Three Critical Processes for Quality Management
Quality Planning
The logical place to start is quality planning. Quality
planning consists of a universal sequence of events - a
quality planning roadmap. Firstly identify the customers
and their needs. Design products (goods and services)
which respond to those needs. Design processes which
can produce these goods and services. Finally, turn the
plan over to the operating forces. Through processes,
goods and services are produced to satisfy the
customers.
cont
Quality Control
Build the quality control system to ensure that quality
performance is at least as good as planned. What the
operating forces can do is minimize waste. This is
achieved through quality control. Quality control relies on
five basics: a clear definition of quality; a target, a clear
goal: a sensor, a way to measure actual performance, a
way to interpret the measurements and compare these
with the target: and a way to take action, to adjust the
process if necessary.
cont
Quality Improvement
All of this activity only keeps quality at the planned level.
Deliberate, specific actions need to be taken change this
level of operation to a higher level. Control puts the
process back to where it should have been in the first
place. The quality improvement process is directed at
long-standing performance levels. The quality
improvement process questions whether this is the best
that can be attained
Manage quality costs
Internal failure costs
External failure costs
Prevention costs
Hidden costs
The Seven Service Wastes:
Delay - on the part of customers waiting for service, for delivery, in queues, for
response, not arriving as promised..
Duplication - having to re-enter data, repeat details on forms, and copy
information across, answer queries from several sources within the same
organisation.
Unnecessary Movement - queuing several times, lack of one-stop, poor
ergonomics in the service encounter.
cont
Unclear Communication -and the wastes of seeking clarification,
confusion over product or service use, wasting time finding a
location which may result in misuse or duplication.
Incorrect Inventory - out-of-stock, unable to get exactly what was
required, substitute products or services.
Opportunity Lost – to retain or win customers, failure to establish
rapport, ignoring customers, unfriendliness and rudeness.
Errors - in the service transaction, product defects in the productservice bundle, lost or damaged goods.
Recommendation and Conclusion
Literature abounds with examples of astonishing
improvements. These improvements are being made in
manufacturing companies, hospitals,
telecommunications companies, government agencies at
every level, all types of service companies, and in
schools
Total quality management is an energetic activity--that of
continuous process improvement. The five important
factors for continuous process improvement are honesty
and integrity, shared vision of all stakeholders, patience,
commitment, and TQM theory.
Knowledge exploitation. It is surprising to find that HEI
do not use their knowledge base to improve processes.
For example, engineers do not use engineering
principles, statisticians often do not use statistics, and
scientists often do not use the scientific methods.
cont
Also, most people within an organization have
knowledge of where the problems exist and can
resolve them, but often policy and procedure
inhibit improvement. HEI’s need to interrogate
their knowledge base to improve the
organisation. HEI’s understand the importance
of people, creating knowledge, and striving for
continuous improvement. It is imperative that
HEI’s practice what they preach by staring today
what should have started decades ago. This
should provide significant improvements in our
endeavour for excellence