‘Managing’ for ‘Total Quality’ – The case of HEIs

Introduction

Quality can be introduced to onboarding students as meeting the planned requirements in a consistent manner. Any unintended deviation is bad from a quality perspective. Making ‘almost’ still falls short of the goal as in the famous ‘jumping over the well’ example. Crossing the well by 99% means, one is deep in the well. Converging around the quality with the processes and required mindset takes us to Total Quality Management (TQM) concept. Inputs and technology are made available, and the customer needs to drive ‘what needs to be done’. The process ensures delivery, and measuring along the way tells us whether any course correction is required. This is a simple way of broadly depicting the total quality management process. HEIs are higher educational institutions, and currently it is an industry under transformation.

Importance of pillars of TQM for HEIs

1.?????? Customer Focus – Clarity on who the customer is required. In the Indian context, is it the student or the parents who are paying the fee? What about Industry that shall engage the ‘finished products?’ As truly said, whatever is the target, it must have built in ‘Customer Focus’. Simple understanding is, without the customers, no business has any ‘raison d’etre’ (purpose for existence). For driving the importance, we hear that ‘customer is the king’. The customer being the paymaster and having multiple alternative options for enrolments, customer creation and retention are the two important activities for the HEIs. Customer retention helps one to reduce future customer acquisition costs as alumni refer based on their experience. Total customer satisfaction ensured shall help one gain future customers. Referred customers are an indication of the measure, and referrals need to be tracked by HEIs.

2.?????? Leadership – Most of the leadership in government sector HEIs are political appointees. In the private sector HEIs, the executive authority is mostly with the ‘promoters.’ As we are aware, all the important initiatives in the organizational context are ‘top driven’. In HEIs organizations, both the institute priorities and resource allocation happen from the ‘top’. Market information and reality check often happen from the ‘bottom’ level through boundary spanning positions. When quality initiatives are taken up, the mandate, direction, enthusiasm, resource allocation all must happen from the real leadership. Else, it shall become ‘another initiative’.

3.?????? Stakeholder engagement – For HEIs the important stakeholders are students/parents, faculty, regulators, and companies that hires. Forced engagement in terms of student activities takes away the time and interferes with serious learning. Parents may grudge. Stretched on-campus engagement may add value but only if hostel facility is around. Else activities are not ‘at the cost of’. Any ‘for namesake’ and notional announcements or inaugurals won’t bring any serious traction benefit for the HEI. The initiative around quality must have partnership of the faculty and employees with leadership’s genuine facilitating. Mechanical confirmation of the defined calendar or task-sheets makes it perfunctory approach. Reductionistic approach won’t make the total quality management happen.

4.?????? Process orientation – Process can’t be perfunctory adherence to steps but an active engagement in the operations of HEIs. One time action and throughput may ensure quicker accomplishment of some goals. However, ‘going concern’ based of operational continuity need process orientation. Process steps must be defined clearly, explained in detail, engaging employees must be trained deeply, and stepwise compliances need to be tracked holistically for needed course correction (if any). Often the senior student batches ‘transfer’ the process knowledge (along with the shortcuts that ‘work’!) Process-based initiatives ensure that dependency on individuals is minimized. Continuity shall be in place, irrespective of who is in any department or a desk. Hence, the process-based approach helps HEIs in the medium to long run.

5.?????? Targeting improvements – Improvement means becoming better at what one is doing. How do we ensure that HEI is improving. Research or Rankings or placements? There are two approaches to improvement. First is a macro change done suddenly, one time. Western approaches of ‘restructurings’ come under the first type and involve huge organizational, and people costs during the ‘change’. On the other hand, there are continual and small improvements that keep happening.? The second approach is Kaizen way of improving. Incremental improvements in HEIs on a continual basis will add to bigger improvements that are noticed later. Small and continual improvements are easier to facilitate and handle. The costs for the organization and people side are less. Wasted efforts and reduced cost of ‘operations’ need to happen for the institute with attempted improvements.

6.?????? Evidence based decision making – Evidence based, data driven decision making is very important for HEIs. Instead of gut feel or thumb rules (which may not be useful in changed context), one needs to define the problem clearly (firmly embedded in present) and develop evidence-based decision making. Then the probability of ‘going wrong’ shall be lower. Data sensitivity must be promoted throughout the entire HEI and necessary information systems must be put in place. Data flows in terms of academic performance must be seamless. Based on the evidence (can be from program/area/course contexts or marketplaces) one may generate options, and the decision making may happen in terms of PO/CO accomplishments, shortfall in the attendance and performance, and efforts for ‘making up’ for individuals and ‘makeover’ for the HEI. ?

7.?????? Relationships – Ideally education should not be seen as ‘business’ as it is about nation building. Academics need to be beyond reductionistic contracts and give-and-take transactions. When holistic, process based, systematic approach towards capturing the educational needs, making the required available with customer focus, long term relationships get built. These shall reduce the future transaction costs. When current contract executions happen with ‘relational lubrication’, these ensure better value deliveries. Then relations shall develop among both internal and external stakeholders. Thus, process continuity and people succession planning are important activities in HEI’s context.

On an educational closing note

As we often hear ‘quality is free’ and get cautioned about the ‘cost of poor quality’, TQM is a holistic initiative which should not be reduced to ‘tick in the box’. Formats, filling datasheets, maintaining documentation should not become an end. The purpose should not be lost. Replicability by ‘competitors’ is desirable, and the whole ‘academic industry’ shall improve with such.

Isomorphism happens in HEIs due to faculty and other employees shifting their jobs, consultants advising on the ‘best practices’, and asking different HEIs to work on ‘benchmarking’ and accreditations. Aspirationally getting into higher orbits is desirable. Overall customer value generated shall be much better with TQM. As they say in the industry, preventing is hundred times better than any correction which is atleast an order higher than the wasting/ losing /suffering.

As the ‘double loop’ learning teaches (learning to learn!), quality in implementing total quality management systems shall help HEIs derive ‘value for money’. This shall result in lowering transaction costs. More efficient and less acrimonious shall be routine operations. Engaged employees and other stakeholders shall derive better work-related satisfaction. From a sustainability perspective too, lower shall be the consumption of time and resources due to improvements.