Advances In Management ^

Vol. 4 (4) April (2011)

Implementing total Quality Management in Professional Educational Institutes in India

Agarwal P.K.*, Pradeep Kumar, Gupta Swati and Tyagi A.K.
IIMT Professional College, Pocket O, Ganga Nagar, Meerut (U.P.), INDIA *direct;orprofessionaliimt@gmail.com

Abstract
One of the emerging philosophies in quality and management concepts is Total Quality Management, (TQM). TQM has been applied to business and industry and recently has been experimented and implemented in professional education institutions to provide high quality and standards for both industry and professional education institutes. Total quality management (TQM) is a management strategy which is aimed to embed quality awareness in all the organizational processes. Principles of Total Quality Management (TQM) have been successfully adopted and applied in the field of professional education by developed countries such as Japan, USA and UK. In India, TQM has been successfully implemented in some Professional Education Institutions (HEIs) and it has improved the quality of professional education in those institutions. TQM has become the most important concept because the quality, of the student makes the difference between success and failure of any institution. TQM can serve as a paradigm for improving every aspect' of collegiate functioning from fiscal administration to classroom instruction. Keywords: Total Quality Managenient (TQM), Quality, Professional education. Customer, Stakeholders. ;

educational institutions in their attempt to satisfy various stakeholders including students, parents, industry and society as a whole. In any organization, there are workers, investors, producers, distributors, sellers and customers which form a kind of supply chain. Here, they are conceived as servers and customers. However, when TQM philosophy is applied, all participants become servers and customers at the same time. Total quality management has generally been recognized as a major innovation in management thought and has gained widespread acceptance in business and industry.

Quality in Professional Education

The phrase "quality of education" is a difficult one to discuss in a concrete way, since it is almost always related to some specific goals and can involve a related argument about whether such goals are legitimate or not. Quality is also a difficult word because it evokes a wide range of attributes and the usual way of acknowledging the existence of quality is to appeal to observation and experience of a range of possibilities. The philosophy behind the quality movement is to convey the message that customer satisfaction is paramount and that through a process of continual improvement involving every member of the organization; quality outcomes can be achieved with a structured, wellmanaged system. There is no doubt that quality plays an important role in today's professional education.' Feigenbaum^ believes that in "invisible" competition between Institutes the quality of education is the main and important factor and this is because quality of products and services is defined by. the action, decision-making and thoughts of managers, engineers, workers and faculty members in the quality work. Like other businesses, in today's market, education and in particular professional education has entered to commercial competition which is due to economical forces.* Identifying what does the quality mean in professional education as the first phase of quality work seems to be essential. However, still there is no one unique definition about the quality of professional education, there are plenty of these explanations > that in somehow have industry perspective. Campell and Rozsnayi** have defined the concept of quality of professional education in several ways related to industry: Quality as excellence: This definition is considered to be the traditional academic view that holds as its goal to be the best.

Introduction
The importance of education for the develophient of excellence, expertise and knowledge leading to overall development in economy cannot be undermined. This has necessitated a sound strategy for the developnient of professional education in almost all countries of the world. Establishing leadership in the world is possible only when we have a developed system of professional education in which efficiency remains the sole criterion to evaluate performance. The system of professional education is found efficacious in making available to the society a dedicated, committed, devoted and professionally sound team of human resources to decide the future of any nation. This is possible only when the principles of quality management are inculcated in the system of professional education. \ Total Quality Management (TQM) is inevitably common factor that will shape the strategies of professional *Author for Correspondence (18)

Advances In Ma/fag-eme/i/ Quality as zero errors: This is defined most easily in mass industry in which product specifications can be established in detail and standardized measurements.,pf uniform products can show conformity to them. As the products of professional education, the candidates are not expected to be identical, this view is not always considered to be applicable in professional education. Quality as fitness for purposes: This approach requires that the product or service has conformity with customer needs, requirements or desires. Quality as transformation: This concept focuses firmly on the learners: the better is the professional education institution, the more it achieves the goal of empowering students with specific skills, knowledge and attitudes that enable them to live and work in the knowledge society. Quality as threshold: Defining a threshold for quality means to set certain norms and criteria. Any institution having these norms is deemed to be of quality. Quality as value for money: The notion of accountability's central to this definition of quality with accountability being based on the need for restraint in public expenditure. Quality as enhancement or improvement: This concept emphasizes the pursuit of continuous improvement and is predicated on the notion that achieving quality is central to the academic ethos and that it is academics themselves who know best what quality is at any point in time.

wm Vol. 4 (4) April (2011) answer to this question precisely, that what should a good education provide for learners? Tribus' believes that the objectives of every school, or university, should be to give each student opportunities to improve in knowledge, know how, wisdom and character. The first concept enables students to understand and the second one facilitates them to do accordingly, the third one enables students to set priorities and finally the character provides the''possibility for them to cooperate, to persevere and to become respected and trusted members of society.

Customer of Professional Education

As per the research of Owlia and Aspinwalf, "From different customers of professional education, students were given the highest rank. The remainders, in rank order, were employers, society, faculty and families". The philosophy behind ranking was that since needs/ expectations of different groups-of customers may differ or even oppose each other, giving a priority to them is essential. No university or Institute wants to have a specific definition of customer in professional education, while they see it even worse to define students as customer of professional education. Most faculties do not agree with the point to define students as customer of education, since it refers to assumption that "customer is always right". Quality of education does not mean necessarily to give students whatever they want. In fact, their point of view comes from the point that students are mostly engaged with short-term satisfaction and students are just concerned about result and degrees, which is in the contrast of real learning and long-term purposes of education. According to Venkatraman', customer in professional education must be regarded as stakeholders'which in this case we take into consideration both internal stakeholders like employees and external stakeholders such as students and society.

Despite of these different definitions on quality of education, quality of output and reputation in academic research is most likely to be valued in Professional Institutes. However, according to Mizikaci*, quality systems adapted from business and industry operations need to be reoriented and reinstalled for professional education conditions to turn the focus from the management-based to the education-based practices. In this circumstance. Tribus' believes that we must keep in mind some differences between education and businesses, which are as follows: The school is not a factory. The student is not a "product". The education of the student is the product. Successful cnipletion of the product requires the student to participate as a worker, co-managing the learning process. The differences between education and industry are in four ways, objectives, processes, input and outputs. For industries* the measure in which they use as an indicator of the effectiveness of organization is the profit, while the objectives in education are not simple. In fact, the objectives of every professional education institution should cover the (19)

Model for management

implementing

total

quality

Though a synergistic unison of all the parts is vital for the institution's survival, faculty and students do have a decisive, dynamic role to play in the system. They are the core factors in the teaching-learning activity. They also touch upon other segments such as co-curricular work, research work and social-extension work. That does not mean that the management or the principal have no visible role. They provide the right leadership, with the declared vision and mission of the institution and they project the enduring values of the institution which harmonize themselves vyith the society to which it is rooted in. In our professional education system, as we have in India, the customers are varied and diverse which includes students, faculty and society as a whole. The needs are as follows: 1. Students: Knowledge, skill and abilities to pursue personal and professional goals, joy in learning.

Advances In Management
2. 3. 4. Faculty: Continuous personal growth, security, ! joy in work, information and input. | Employers: performance. Competent ' employees, productive I

Vol. 4 (4) April (2011) the highly experienced and trained faculty, with great concern to satisfaction of state holders, producing professionals to accept millennium challenges. The quality of students passed out also needs to be accepted nationally/globally by industries. The quality infrastructure availability with unlimited free/open access must be provided to students without any blockage/reservations. The process must penetrate deeper to students, alumni, parents, faculty members and society. This can achieve goals like public image elevation, attracting meritorious students and faculty, effective teaching learning process. Measures for Students: Total quality needs to be inculcated in professional colleges' right from admission to results; at every stage and by all involved. If there is no voluntary participation in this process by all elements at all level, its effect will not be complte. During admission process, all the seats in centralized process, institutional level and in vacancy rounds should be strictly filled by meritorious students. Strict implementation of academics schedules, need to be followed by faculty members and ensured by HOD/Director, with 100% attendance of students in all lectures and practical. The lectures must be made more and more interesting by using latest teaching aids/tools such as power point presentation/video conferencing/question answer sessions. Proper dialogue needs to be established with students. The senior and experienced faculty may be assigned for difficult subjects in which concepts and the fundamentals need to be cleared. A proper feedback system may be devised to ensure effective and quality Teaching Learning process. The HQD should monitor proper progress of syllabi of all the subjects so that the balance study is feasible for the students. Also the multidimensional development of students be ensured encouraging them to participate in sports; cocurriculum and extra curricular activities by extending the proper guidance from skilled faculty members available. The guidance must be extended to the students for exchange of their soft skills, communication skills and interrelationship among the group, group discussion capabilities and administrative skills to get better placements in good companies carving their career. An alumni must be formed, which will establish a good bond between the Institute and students and also dialogue between present and past students with better knowledge of Dos and Don'ts. This will appeal every year to maintain rapport with past students, facilitate placement of our students, in the companies with proved performance of our past students, who are present manager/Recruiters. Proper placement records be maintained, indicating no of students placed with percentage, list of companies, packages offered, track record of passed out etc. The students should be encouraged to participate in paper presentation competition, quiz contents etc. in other colleges. (20)

Community: Competent work force, leaders and followers, volunteer in community service, politically active citizens.

In the present century, there is a clear cut shift in demands from the conventional ways of thinking in professional education. The new paradigms are: i Shift in the objectives of professional education from transmission of knowledge to skill and capacity building. Change in the curricular transaction from a teachercentered approach to a student-centered approach. Moving away from rigid curricula to a flexible cuiricular structure. Growth in the non-traditional modes of educational provisions. Replacing the traditional academic skills by computer fortified skills. ] Introduction of new forms of educational delivery.
I

Moving away from career specific quaHfieatlOftS towafds more general training. Increasing leaning towards private providers and private sources of funding. Change in the general perception of education as public good to education as a tradable service. Shift from a non-competitive ambience of professiotial education to a competitive environment. . Shift from national focus to International focus.

Hence, in the present system thfe is a need to concentrate more at the fundamental level of a professional educational system for improving the conditions prevailing and gearing up the institutions to take up responsibilities at a professional level. With the advent of TQM approach, the emphasis has been on "quality culture" among all employees. TQM aims at continuous improvement, by anticipating and changing, to meet the needs of the customer. Further, the stress is on team work. If TQM is implemented, then the conventional style of thinking changes.

Making total quality management implementation successful

Total quality management in Professional Education, is ensuring quality in imparting education to students, through

Advances In Management t
Measures for Faculty/Staff: A best teacher is one who creates interest of one's subject in students mind initiating proper thinking process sequentially. The involvernent of students must fully be ensured during conduct of practical by individual attention and random data generation so that calculations are done individually by all the students which enable them to perform well during Semester End Examination in practical and orals. The faculty must be capable by giving them all facilities as per University/AICTE/State Directorate norms such as scales, allowances. All types of leave vacations, proper deputation to seminars/conferences at all levels be ensured, keeping abreast of latest developments. Even some additional facilities, such as Medical assistance, Holiday/Travel assistance. Remote place allowance etc., may be given to ensure retention of best faculty. A routine practice of developing a small presentation before all faculties by the deputed faculty member be inculcated, so as to make others also aware about the recent developments. . For maintaining academic healthy environment, in college, the staff seminar scheme be implemented, so as to evaluate the positives and negatives of individual, to get the feedback in time for the corrective action by the individual based on this assessment; students feedback, self appraisal and review by the Principal/Director, Expert team etc. The best performer must be awarded in the form of cash prize/membership of professional body and appreciate certificate. The weightage should be given to publication of books, presentation of papers in International/National Conferences/Journals, conducting seminars/conference in the department/college, delivery of keynote address/invited lectures in other colleges/chairing sessions, in seminars and conferences etc. An inter disciplinary R & D cell be formed so as to take up the collaborative, research from industries and R & D agencies to suit their needs and cater projects and requirements. This will enhance the confidence among the junior faculty members and students under expertise of senior and experienced faculty. The research/consultancy projects undertaken by the faculty, grant obtained for this purpose, utilization of grants, completion of the projects in schedule time be taken into consideration. Extra efforts taken by the faculty member for below average and above average students, efforts taken by the individual' for establishing interaction with industries; singing of M,O,U,/agreements programs per year should be considered. Autonomy in deciding and implementing better practices should be given to the departments. Co-operation, co-ordination, involvement and team efforts of every one concerned should be ensured. Willingness of superiors, in specific well defined objectives, indication for effective implementation by follower group will assure Total Quality in the Teaching Learning process; which is back bone of TQM! Measures for Offlce StafC^Administration: A proper (21)

Vol. 4 (4) April (2011) procedure, job specifications with clear cut duties defined, standardization of procedures with least movements and lead times is needed to be set in the office. Positive attitude and proper motivation and involvement of all elenients in the system are most important. Starving for excellence to achieve the quality at individual/departmental/institutes level must be ensured. Appropriate goals/benchmarks should be set which must be revised periodically. It should be ensured that the goals are attained with zero defects/deviations. Periodic progress reports should be taken to ensure corrective actions in time. Each element in the system like teaching staff, non teaching and office, laboratory, department. Institutes be given Score/points on the basis of their performance, communicate them yearly, transparently, so as to ensure scope of improvement. Injecting self discipline/self quality and its maintenance should be ensured, in place of imposed discipline /quality standards. Proper appreciation, motivation, recognition of professional performance/scores should be ensured with clear-cut instructions to lower performers/scorers. The accountability with ranked performance will definitely fetch the expected results.

Epilogue
TQM need to be implemented in all colleges and universities even if there is no accreditation or certification, to take the bull of internationalization by the horns. The faculty and staff will be experiencing the pleasure of working in tight time schedule, whether accredited or not. Let us wait and watch to see whether TQM is a Panacea or Placebo, TTtie leadership must not only "talk the talk" but also "walk the' talk". Though many educational administrators believe that quality in education is a function of high quality infrastructure and technology, this is not borne out by evidence. Both infrastructure and technology are instruments in the hands of humans in the system. Within the given infrastructure and technology human efforts can create wonders. Thus, two principles viz. 'focus on clients' and 'involvement of all' can be the effective tools of TQM for professional education. Application of TQM will result in; Meeting the expectations of stake ho}dersstudents/parents/industries and authorities i,e. University, Continuous improvisation in imparting quality education, with timely corrective measures, Efficient and effective Teaching Learning process. Consistency in improved performance with in-built professional eligibility, Refined and tuned monitoring at all stages ensuring expected levels of quality results in bridging the gap between expectations and outcome.

Advances In Management -^i

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Vol. 4 (4) April (2011)

Achieving the targets through strategic, stepped periodic approach and synchronization. Best team efforts, without reservations of all concerned and proper motivation/ co-ordination. Reward sharing and optimum use of Global Recourses. Education available at reduced cost for tailor made courses in large numbers.

Unesco-CEPES, Bucharest (2002) 5. Feigenbaum, "Total Quality Control: Engineering Management", McGraw-Hill, New York (1993) and

6. Mizikaci, "A systems approach to program evaluation model for quality in higher education". Quality Assurance in Education, 14, 37-53 (2006) 7. Owlia and Aspinwall, 'TQM in higher education - a review". International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, 14, 5 (1997) 8. Seymour, "Ort Q: Causing Quality in Higher Education", Macmillan, New York (1992) 9. Tribus, "TQM in education: the theory and how to put it to work". In Quality Goes to School: Readings on Quality Management in Education, American Association of School Administrators, Arlington, VA (1994) 10. Venkatraman, "A framework for implementing TQM in higher education prograitis". Quality Assurance in Education, 15 (1), (2007) 11. http://esu-online.org/index.php/documents/policy-papers/187policypapers/306-policypaper- quality-assurance-and-accreditationq. (Received 6* January 2011, accepted 10* March 2011 )

Integrated quality performance.

to attain professional

leyels of I

Establishing a bond between alutnni, institute and present students.

References
1. Gnanam A. and Stella Antony, "Making the niost of Accreditation", Concept Publishing Company, New Delhi (2003) 2. Deming W. E., "The new economics", 2nd ed., MIT Center for Advanced Engineering Studies, Cambridge (1997) 3. Crosby, "Quality is Free", New American Library, Ne^ York (1979)
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4. Campell and Rozsnyani, "Quality Assurance and the Development of Course Programs", Papers on Higher Education,

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