- Commitment to quality improvement throughout the organization.
- Attack the system rather than the employee.
- Strip down the work process.
- Identify your customers and satisfy their requirements.
- Eliminate waste.
- Instill pride in teamwork.
- Create an atmosphere for innovation and continual improvement. (as cited in O'Banion, 1997, p. 97 - 98).
I think O'Banion's purpose in addressing TQM is to say that it is insufficient to transform community colleges. " ... the basic teaching and learning approaches of traditional education have remained fairly impervious to TQM" (p. 98). Only his approach, the "learning college," is the answer. I'm not sure why. Perhaps it is because the learning college principles are specifically tailored to education.
What's more confusing is the first "case study" in the book. While it's refreshing to get into actual examples of learning colleges, Sinclair Community College cites -- you guessed it -- TQM as " ... the primary strategy for making further progress toward becoming a learning college" (p. 109).
Honestly, while Sinclair's case study is laden with education-ease, its effort seems truly to be one of turning values into action (p. 113).
So, my questions are:
- What has your experience with TQM been?
- Would you agree or disagree that it is appropriate for educational settings? Why or why not?
Views will be different throughout a community college! I work in student services, so yes, elimate the waste, work together to make the process for the students much easier and less complicated. I don't agree 100%, but I do think some thoughts would work. Improving your area is always a work in progress. Not one area is perfect, so take those inperfections and tweak them.
ReplyDeleteStephanie:
ReplyDeleteI can see where student services would be especially aligned with a TQM model. Do you find you are given enough resources to actually improve quality?