08832323.2011.649311
Journal of Education for Business
ISSN: 0883-2323 (Print) 1940-3356 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/vjeb20
Level of Total Quality Management Adoption in
Qatari Educational Institutions: Private and SemiGovernment Sector
Noor Fauziah Sulaiman , Nick-Naser Manochehri & Rajab Abdulla Al-Esmail
To cite this article: Noor Fauziah Sulaiman , Nick-Naser Manochehri & Rajab Abdulla AlEsmail (2013) Level of Total Quality Management Adoption in Qatari Educational Institutions:
Private and Semi-Government Sector, Journal of Education for Business, 88:2, 76-87, DOI:
10.1080/08832323.2011.649311
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Date: 11 January 2016, At: 20:56
JOURNAL OF EDUCATION FOR BUSINESS, 88: 76–87, 2013
C Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
Copyright
ISSN: 0883-2323 print / 1940-3356 online
DOI: 10.1080/08832323.2011.649311
Level of Total Quality Management Adoption
in Qatari Educational Institutions: Private
and Semi-Government Sector
Noor Fauziah Sulaiman
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Qatar University, Doha, Qatar
Nick-Naser Manochehri
Community College of Qatar; and Qatar University, Doha, Qatar
Rajab Abdulla Al-Esmail
Qatar University, Doha, Qatar
The authors evaluated the level of Total Quality Management (TQM) adoption in Qatari
educational institutions within private and semigovernment institutions. To accomplish these
objectives, a literature review was done of TQM adoption in higher education institutions,
followed by a survey questionnaire. Data were collected from Qatari educational institutions
with SPSS used in performing the analysis. It assessed awareness, understanding, benefits,
and progress of TQM implementation based on the 11 critical success factors (CSFs) or
essential elements developed in the revisited model of leverage points for a total quality culture
transformation. The strongest driving force toward TQM was teamwork while the strongest
restraining force was lack of knowledge of TQM principles and its associated tools. The
analysis concluded that although there was a low level of TQM implementation, the dominant
perception of TQM in general was positive where a culture toward collective consciousness
or teamwork was beginning to be accepted within private and semigovernment educational
institutions in Qatar. The findings would be of a particular interest to private and public
educational institutions; especially those that intend to initiate TQM and accreditation within
their institutions in the Middle East.
Keywords: educational institution, Middle East, Qatar, quality culture, TQM adoption
INTRODUCTION
The future of the industry depends on how successfully it
adapts to change and, more proactively, how it creatively
changes to its own advantage. Consequently, the drivers
for change have influenced the way day-to-day business
is carried out in academic institutions and many of these
institutions began to adopt Total Quality Management
(TQM; Bolton, 1995; Hides, Davis, & Jackson, 2004;
Sahney, Banwet, & Karunes, 2004a; Yeo 2008). TQM offers
Correspondence should be addressed to Nick-Naser Manochehri,
Community College of Qatar, P.O. Box 63211, Doha, Qatar. E-mail:
nm8133@hotmail.com
increased quality and efficiency, less waste, higher productivity, enhanced customer satisfaction, and an improved
image of educational institutions (Biehl, 1999; Hides et al.;
Hwarng & Teo, 2001; McCormick, 1993; Singh, Grover, &
Kumar, 2008).
Brookes and Becket (2007) reviewed TQM issues and
practices throughout higher education (HE) environments
across the globe in three key geographic areas: the Americas;
Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA); and Asia Pacific
between 1996 and 2006 in 34 countries. Their study categorized environmental forces for change into three groupings
(Table 1).
Particularly for the EMEA region, Brookes and Becket
(2007) noted the drivers for quality provision were considerable changes regarding sources and level of funding due to
LEVEL OF TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT
TABLE 1
Environmental Forces for Change
Political forces
Government initiatives to widen access
Government development of more higher education institutions (HEIs)
Strict governmental control over HE curriculum and management
No unified or centralized system for government control
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Economic forces
Reduced or limited funding per student
Reliance on private sector funding
Reliance on tuition or international student fees
Rising costs per student
Increase in number of private HEIs
Greater emphasis on internationalization
Sociocultural forces
Greater demand for student places
Greater diversity of student populations
Greater diversity of provision
Consumer pressure for greater accountability or value for money
the increasing number of private institutions or the reliance
on private sector funding, a commonality in terms of government initiatives to increase access to HE, and a significantly
diversified student market as a result. In short, motivated
by competition, costs, accountability, and service orientation
some educational institutions had begun to embrace TQM
(Koslowski, 2006).
Thus, motivations or reasons why organizations have tried
to implement total quality can be categorized as either from
the external motivation (the need to adapt the organization to
the changing external environment) or internal motivations
(the need to integrate the organization’s members internally
to fulfil its role).
THE IMPORTANCE OF TQM AS A STRATEGIC
ISSUE FOR QATARI EDUCATIONAL
INSTITUTIONS
Information technology, which has replaced national
economies with a global economy, is such that countries that
do not practice TQM have become globally non-competitive.
Globalization has placed increasing pressure on Qatar,
as a developing country, to focus and raise its education
system and skills level toward a more qualified workforce,
as documented by the Supreme Education Council of Qatar
“Education for a New Era” (Supreme Education Council of
Qatar, 2009), and by the State of Qatar’s Qatarization policy
(Qatarization, 2009), which aims to increase the percentage
of Qatari citizens in the workforce. In addition, Qatar’s Vision
2030 has placed even greater importance on the education
sector as a major driver for turning Qatar into a knowledgebased economy due to its current investment policy in the
non-energy sector (World Bank, 2007).
77
The potential benefits of TQM in educational institutions
are quite apparent. TQM can help a school or college provide better service to its primary customers, students, and
employers. In addition, the continuous improvement focus
of TQM is a fundamental way of ensuring accountability
requirements common to educational reform.
Since 2001, the reform of public education in K–12 has
made rapid progress incorporating curriculum standards that
strives to meet international benchmarks through the establishment of autonomous schools (semi-government primary
and secondary independent school) that foster creativity and
critical thinking, and the development of evaluation tools that
provide the ability to report and track school progress. At
the university level, Qatar University (the only state university in Qatar), has focused on raising its standards through
varied approaches such as the establishment of the Qatar
University Reform Plan (Al-Attiyah & Khalifa, 2009; AlAzmeh 2006) to develop its mission and vision and to review
its organizational objectives, governance structures, and roles
(e.g., to continually improve the quality of instructional and
educational services, and promote administrative efficiency
such as self-assessment of corporate identity program and international accreditations). Additionally, six American universities were established at the Education City in Doha to
enhance domestic capabilities in HE without the associated
infrastructure costs and to support academically able students
to study at world-class universities for the preparation of a
knowledge-based society.
The present scenario emphasizes the importance of TQM
principles in the Qatari education system. However, literature
has indicated that educational institutions have been lagging
behind other organizations in their Total Quality culture (TQ
culture; Bolton, 1995; Singh et al., 2008; Sirvanci, 2004). An
organization with a total quality culture is an organization that
has a clear set of values and beliefs that foster total quality
behavior. Kanji and Yui (1997) described it as:
[The] culture of an organization committed to customer satisfaction through continuous improvement. This culture varies
both from one country to another and between different industries, but has certain essential principles which can be
implemented to secure greater market share, increased profits and reduced cost. (p. 417)
Because culture emerges as a response to internal and external problems, members of organization must learn to adapt;
changing a culture from the traditional to a TQ culture requires learning. People must come to a new understanding of
what quality means. For a TQM organization, this learning
is ongoing as the organization continuously seeks to improve
customer value.
Unfortunately, there is limited literature emphasizing the
adoption of TQM values and philosophy in Qatar (Al-Attiyah
& Khalifa, 2009; Al-Khalifa & Aspinwall, 2000, 2001;
Salaheldin, 2009; Salaheldin & Zain, 2007), especially in an
78
N. F. SULAIMAN ET AL.
Organisation
for TQM
Necessary
management
behaviour
Strategy for TQM
implementation
Process
Management
& system
Training,
education &
development
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Old
culture
Recognition
& reward
New
culture
Communication
for TQM
Quality
technologies
Old
culture
Partnering
Employee
involvement &
empowerment
Teamwork
Old culture
FIGURE 1
p. 183).
Leverage points for a total quality culture transformation. Adapted from Bounds, Yorks, Adams, and Ranney (1994, p. 491) and Sulaiman (2002,
educational context. Only Al-Khalifa and Aspinwall investigated more comprehensively the culture of Qatar industries
about a decade ago. Their conclusion suggested that Qatar
companies would find difficulties in implementing TQM
because they are dominated by a rational and hierarchical
culture. Responding to this need, this study provides much
needed present information on the state of TQ culture within
the Qatari educational context because it was seen as crucial to implementing quality programs (Davies, Douglas, &
Douglas, 2007). Also, a solid understanding of culture informs managers about how to change behavior in order to
embed TQM. Many organizations have no clear idea of
the progress they have made or how far they still have
to go to achieve quality (Evans, 2007; Evans & Lindsay,
2008; Lascelles & Dale 1993). Given such evidence, this
preliminary study will shed light on the level of TQM
adoption and the emerging culture in Qatari educational
institutions.
CONTEXT OF THE STUDY
The formation and application of standardized models of
quality systems and TQM was formed in late 1970s. TQM
models, based on the teachings of quality gurus or international quality awards, generally involve a number of essential
elements or “correct environment” that has been described by
some researchers (Evans, 2007; Fryer, Antony, & Douglas,
2007; Kanji & Yui, 1997; Kanji, Tambi, & Wallace, 1999;
Singh et al., 2008) as the critical success factors (CSFs) that
are required for successful TQM implementation. Thus, we
attempted to evaluate the progress of TQM implementation
in Qatari educational institutions based on 11 CSFs or essential elements developed in the revisited Model of Leverage Points for a TQ Culture Transformation developed by
Sulaiman (2002). The CSFs for TQM were identified through
an extensive literature survey (Berry, 1991; Ghobadian &
Speller, 1994; Porter & Parker, 1993).
In an earlier study, Quazi et al. (1998) highlighted that
managers could use CSFs to evaluate the perceptions of
quality management in their organization as well to assist
decision makers in identifying those areas of quality management where improvements should be made. The 11 CSFs
that influence TQM implementation in education are interrelated and reinforce each other (Figure 1): necessary management behavior, strategy for TQM implementation, education
and training, organization for TQM, process management
and systems, employee involvement, teamwork, partnering,
communication for TQM, recognition and reward, and quality technologies (tools and techniques). These CSFs present
to act as a guide for higher education contemplating a TQM
initiative.
LEVEL OF TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT
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In order to improve TQM adoption as well as TQM implementation within the educational institutions, managers
in educational institutions need to challenge old assumptions about their business through learning (Srikanthan &
Dalrymple, 2002, 2004; Sulaiman, 2002), particularly when
contemplating the real meaning of quality in education and
to accept new roles and responsibilities for accomplishing
continuous improvement throughout their organizations
and within the educational system. In addition, the general
academic culture that is considered suitable for TQM that
emerges from the literature appears to be one that pursues
collective consciousness (Srikanthan & Dalrymple, 2002,
2004), cooperation and support (Davies et al., 2007), or
teamwork.
PROBLEMS WITH IMPLEMENTING TQM
IN EDUCATION
As discussed previously, without a conducive environment
that is required for successful TQM implementation, TQ culture will be difficult to grow. The industry’s wide spectrum
of activities and the multiple roles of the multiple stakeholders with diverse or even contradictory demands in education
systems (Eagle & Brennan, 2007; Fryer et al., 2007; Hwarng
& Teo, 2001; Sirvanci, 2004) have often led to lack of clarity
about the purpose of the institution as well as role ambiguity
toward quality objectives. For example, if looking at the role
of students in higher education institutions (HEI), Sirvanci
(2004) regarded students as having multiple roles and that
is why customer identification in HE remains a complicated
issue. When students are seen as the product in process role,
the hard elements such as student learning results will be
critical. Thus, HE is expected to improve its products (i.e.,
students) and provide services even if students would prefer
to avoid (e.g., foundation courses) and modify them rather
than satisfy their needs (Bolton, 1995). When students receive service (knowledge) from their instructors, they are
seen as the laborers in the learning process role and are expected simultaneously to work and exert effort in order to
learn the material by various means of hard elements such
79
as completing projects, term papers, and preparing for tests.
However, to be successful in this role, students need the necessary of elements such as skills, disposition, and motivation.
Thus, the interplay of students’ role above has further
emphasized the importance of bridging the hard and soft
elements of culture for TQ culture transformation. Without
purposeful responsibilities to ensure total adoption of the
CSFs, successful implementation of TQM will be difficult
(Atkinson, 1990; Lascelles & Dale 1993). In this case, Juran
and Gryna’s (1982) triple role concept that every activity has
a triple role of customer, processor, and supplier will not only
facilitate the identification of the various customers in education institutions but also help explain the roles played by the
different stakeholder groups (Hwarng & Teo, 2001). Hwarng
and Teo emphasized that educational institutions have to realize that they are in the business to satisfy many parties (see
Table 2 for an example in HE) and that it is important to
identify all customer groups and address their concerns. The
importance of system modeling approach and stakeholders’
approach to help understand organizational performance or
TQ culture transformation were also highlighted in Kanji’s
Performance Measurement System (Kanji, n.d.).
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
In order to determine the level of TQM adoption in Qatari educational institutions, the following research questions were
developed:
Research Question 1: What are the levels of awareness
and understanding on the meaning of quality and TQM
within the academic institutions in Qatar?
Research Question 2: What are the benefits that promote
the adoption or implementation of TQM within the academic institutions in Qatar?
Research Question 3: What are the problems that inhibit
the adoption or implementation of TQM within the academic institutions in Qatar?
Research Question 4: What are the most important issues
related to TQM initiative efforts within the academic
institutions in Qatar?
TABLE 2
Example of Triple Roles of Customer, Processor, and Supplier in Higher Education
Triple role of
Customer
Processor
Supplier
Professor
Student
Parent
Receives students from upstream courses
Receives education
Educated children
Teaches courses; does research work
Learns from courses
Moral upbringing; correct learning attitude
Industry–society
Receives educated workforce; receives
research output
Hires graduates; provides industry training
Supplies students to downstream courses
Supplies workforce for the industry
Supplies university with students;
provides financial support
Supplies society with goods and services
Source: Hwarng & Teo, 2001
80
N. F. SULAIMAN ET AL.
METHODOLOGY
To answer the research questions, a survey was developed.
The survey was adapted from Sulaiman (2002), and consisted
of five parts: the general profile of the respondents and their
institutions, their understanding on quality and TQM principles, benefits gained from implementing TQM and quality
initiatives, obstacles and reasons for not implementing TQM
and quality initiatives, and their opinion on the CSFs which
influence TQM implementation.
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Data Processing
Data were processed using SPSS for Windows version 13.0.
Descriptive statistics were used to define the profile of the
sample, to explore respondents’ perception on their understanding on quality and TQM principles, and the obstacles
and reasons for not implementing TQM–quality initiatives.
To explore respondents’ perception on benefits gained from
implementing TQM–quality initiatives and their opinion on
the CSFs that influence TQM implementation, analyses were
carried out with statistical mean ranking, cross tabulation and
analysis of variance (ANOVA). The analyses deal mainly
with ranking of the variables based on their mean values
and by ANOVA F statistics to test the null hypothesis that
the mean values of the dependent variable are equal for all
groups. A cutoff value of p < .05 (or 5% significant level)
was used to distinguish between converging and diverging
views.
Reliability Analysis
The purpose of a reliability analysis is to determine how
consistently the selected variables measure some construct.
Reliability analysis on questionnaire scores was done using
Cronbach’s coefficient alpha to estimate consistency of the
scores from the questionnaire. Values of alpha range between
0 and 1.0, with higher score values indicating higher reliability. The reliability of the entire constructs measured by each
statement on the scale of 1 to 5 was computed. The alpha
value for statements relate to TQM environment, TQM benefits, and TQM important issues were .901, .911, and .865,
respectively. Furthermore, the statements related to CSFs for
TQ culture were categorized into 11 and the alpha value was
.904. Thus, the alpha values range from .865 to .917, which
are above the threshold value of .70 and indicates an internal
consistency and reliable measure of the construct (Hill &
Lewicki, 2006; Nunnaly, 1978; Pallant, 2001).
Survey Administration
The intended survey respondent were principals, academic
principals, and instructors of educational institutions in Qatar
from private and semigovernment institutions. Respondents
were informed that the survey was entirely voluntary and
all responses would remain strictly confidential and were for
research purposes only. A pilot study was first conducted to
assess the questionnaire. Following the pilot, changes were
made to improve readability and thereby reduce the amount
of time to answer the survey. Content validity was established
through a review of questionnaire by some faculty members.
Of the 100 questionnaires distributed to a random stratified
sample of academics from 37 educational institutions, 54
were returned and some of the responses were from the same
educational institution. Three people missed significant parts
of the survey (i.e., TQM benefits, obstacle, or CSF questions)
and had to be eliminated. As a result, the number of valid
questionnaires was 51 representing a response rate of 51%.
RESULTS
Background Information
The characteristics of an organization can affect the implementation of TQM. The characteristics of the sample are
set out in Table 3. Atkinson (1990) stated that “organizations employ differing technology, have different histories
and backgrounds, serve different markets with different products and employ people from different cultures, so the drive
to improve quality has to be managed differently” (p. 398).
The majority of the respondents were from secondary
(29.4%) and primary (27.5%) schools. For the purpose of
analysis, the university (21.6%), two-year college (11.8%),
and training institution (9.8%), will be grouped as tertiary
or HEI (43.1%). The majority of the respondents were holding a role of teacher–coordinator (42%). Of the 51 usable
responses 55% were women, 45% were men, and 70% of
them were Qatari. A large percentage of respondents (74.5%)
were aged below 30 years because the majority working age
population in Qatar is between 25 and 29 years old (Qatar
Statistics Authority, 2009). This indicates that a young workforce will accept change quicker than old workforce, as an
old workforce may feel threatened at having to learn new
responsibilities and use new work methods (Mann & Kehoe,
1995).
The Levels of Awareness and Understanding on
the Meaning of Quality–TQM.
Table 4 shows the results of awareness and understanding
of quality–TQM in general by respondents of the survey. It
shows a relatively low level of TQM implementation (28%)
within the educational institutions in Qatar. However, there
is a moderate degree of awareness–understanding of the purpose of TQM (49%) and some promising development of
awareness–understanding of the principles of quality–TQM
within the educational institutions in Qatar.
When they were asked “How do you define quality with
regard to your job?” the total respondents ranked high standard of service, relationship with customer, keeping the
LEVEL OF TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT
81
TABLE 3
General Profile of Respondents According to Institutions
Institution type
Tertiary n = 22 (43.1%)
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Survey question
Type of organization
Semigovernment
Private
Gender of respondent
Male
Female
Age of respondent
Younger than 30 years
31–40 years
Older than 40 years
Nationality of respondent
Qatari
USA
UK
Canada
Others
Role
Top management
Middle management
Supervisor
Teacher–coordinator
Other
Year of institution established
< 5 years
5–10 years
11–15 years
16–20 years
> 20 years
Number of employees in the institution
< 50
51–100
101–500
501–1,000
> 1,000
University
n = 11∗∗
(21.5%)
Two-year
college
n=6
(11.8%)
Training
institution
n=5
(9.8%)
Secondary
n = 15
(29.4%)
Primary
n = 14
(27.5%)
Total
n = 51
(100%)
n=6
1
5
n = 10
6
4
n=9
8
1
0
n = 11
5
4
0
0
2
n = 10
0
0
2
4
4
n = 10
4
2
0
0
4
n = 11
1
2
3
1
4
n=3
1
2
n=6
4
2
n=5
4
0
1
n=6
2
0
1
3
0
n=6
0
1
1
3
1
n=6
0
4
1
1
0
n=6
2
1
1
2
0
n=2
0
2
n=5
3
2
n=5
4
1
0
n=5
4
0
0
1
0
n=5
0
1
1
3
0
n=5
0
2
0
0
3
n=5
1
0
0
1
3
n = 12
9
3
n = 14
4
10
n = 14
7
5
2
n = 15
12
1
0
0
2
n = 15
2
6
1
5
1
n = 15
5
0
0
6
4
n = 15
1
4
6
1
3
n = 14
10
4
n = 14
5
9
n = 14
12
2
0
n = 13
12
1
0
0
0
n = 14
4
2
2
6
0
n = 14
7
5
0
0
2
n = 14
2
8
3
0
1
n = 37
21
16
n = 49
45%
55%
n = 47
74.5%
19.1%
6.4%
n = 50
70%
12%
2%
8%
8%
n = 50
12%
20%
14%
42%
12%
n = 50
32%
26%
2%
14%
26%
n = 51
13.7%
29.4%
25.5%
9.8%
21.6%
Note. Some primary and secondary schools had more than one branch. Some universities, colleges, and institutions had been surveyed few times because
they had many colleges within.
customer happy, and speed and promptness of service as the
first three most important definitions of the meaning of quality to their business respectively. Here, results show that
although the emphasis is more toward the hard or tangible
aspects of quality such as high standard of service that is usually measured through accreditation process, the soft or intangible aspects of quality such as relationship with customer
and keeping the customer happy is beginning to surface. It
was also noticed that the results confirmed the perception that
most educators would rather modify than satisfy the needs of
their customer (students) because most respondents ranked
providing service the customer wants as fifth.
A promising development was shown by more respondents (69.4%) agreeing that everyone should be responsible
or has a role on achieving TQM. Conversely, only (16.3%)
perceived that it’s the job of quality management and only
(4.1%) perceived it’s the job of top management, which further emphasizes that the majority of respondents do understand that quality should not be seen as a supervisory matter
(Atkinson, 1990) though the ultimate responsibility lies with
management (Koslowski, 2006).
Another promising development was that (64.7%) perceived their supervisor–coordinator as an active support
of TQM at workplace. As noted previously, managerial
82
N. F. SULAIMAN ET AL.
TABLE 4
The Awareness and Understanding of Quality–Total
Quality Management in General of Total Respondents
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Survey question
Has your organization implemented/planned
Total Quality Management (TQM) at the
workplace?
No
I don’t know
Yes
Total
Do you know the purpose of TQM ingeneral?
Yes
I don’t know
No
Total
How do you define quality with regard to your
job?
High standard of service
Relationship with customers
Keeping the customer happy
Speed and promptness of service
Providing service the customer wants
Other
Total
What do you consider as TQM principles?
Continuous improvement
All activities in a process must work
together toward a common goal
Team work
Focus on customer
Involvement of staff
Other
Total
Is your supervisor/coordinator an active
support of TQM at workplace?
Yes
I don’t know
No
Total
Who do you think has a role on achieving
TQM?
Everyone
Quality management
Employee
Top management
Total
n
%
Rank
19
17
14
50
38
34
28
100.0
1
2
3
25
15
11
51
49.0
29.4
21.6
100.0
1
2
3
42
32
27
27
26
1
155
27.1
20.6
17.4|
17.4
16.8
0.6
100.0
1
2
3
3
5
6
34
32
24.5
23.0
1
2
28
24
19
2
139
20.1
17.3
13.7
1.4
100.0
3
4
5
6
33
13
5
51
64.7
25.5
9.8
100.0
1
2
3
34
8
5
2
49
69.4
16.3
10.2
4.1
100.0
1
2
3
4
Note. Some respondents choose more than one answer or did not answer.
subculture is the key to inducing a paradigm shift. It determines the culture of the rest of the organization. Managers
have the power and authority to determine the organizational
strategy, systems, policies, and operating procedures. If management does not understand the total quality concept, then
their influences on the behavior of employees and the level
of support for quality issues and improvements programs
may be detrimental (Atkinson, 1990; Bolton, 1995; Sirvanci,
2004).
When a cross tabulation was constructed and respondents
were classified into institutional levels (Table 5), it was further established that respondents from the primary institu-
tions seem to have implemented or planned TQM better
(about 43% responded “Yes” while 36% responded “No”)
and showed a higher percentage or better awareness and
understanding of TQM in terms of knowing the purpose of
TQM (64% responding “Yes” and 7% “No”) compared to
the secondary (40% responding “Yes” and 27% responding
“No”) and tertiary institutions (46% responding “Yes” and
27% responding “No”). Also, respondents from the primary
institutions had the highest percentage of respondents who
perceived that everyone was responsible for TQM–quality
(78.6%). However, respondents from secondary institutions
had the highest percentage of respondents who perceived
their supervisor/coordinator as an active support of TQM
(73.3%).
Benefits and Improvement Gained From
Implementing TQM–Quality Initiatives
Table 6 shows perceptions on a set of major benefits
gained from the implementation of TQM–quality initiatives answered by respondents from institutions that have
implemented/planned TQM. The ANOVA analysis indicated
that there was no statistically significant difference of views
(as shown in the p column) between the three different levels
of institutions.
Table 5 shows that, in general, total respondents from institutions that implemented/planned TQM, do not believe that
their institution gained any extensive benefits or improvement from implementing TQM–quality initiatives at workplace (Ms < 4) because they may still be in their infancy
stage of TQM implementation or still getting used to the
idea of TQM as shown in Table 5 where only (49%) of total
respondents knew the purpose of TQM. The highest ratings
given by the total respondents were teamwork (M = 3.95),
increased quality of service and performance (M = 3.68), and
increased competitiveness (M = 3.63). These findings support the literature review on the drivers for change or reasons
why educational institutions decided to develop their quality
initiatives and implement TQM. Also, findings demonstrated
promising development in terms of the effect TQM on the
Qatari academic culture, especially on teamwork.
Other interesting observations were that greater employee
commitment and motivation were ranked as the least benefits
and improvement gained from implementing TQM–quality
initiatives by the total respondents from institutions that implemented and planned TQM (M = 3.16). These findings
agreed with Wilkinson, Redman, and Snape (1994) that “cultural changes are unlikely to occur simply by a ‘quick fix’
approach to improving employee awareness” (p. 401). It also
agreed with Al-Khalifa and Aspinwall (2000), who studied
the development of TQM in Qatar that cited culture change
as a major problem. Only tertiary institutions ranked greater
support for organizational change within their first three most
important benefits. Suspicion and resistance, which are more
related to the soft element of culture, were the most common
83
LEVEL OF TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT
TABLE 5
The Awareness and Understanding of TQM in General According to Institutions
Level of institution
Primary
n = 14 (27.5%)a
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Survey question
Implemented/planned TQM
Yes
No
I don’t know
Total responses
Do you know the purpose of TQM?
Yes
No
I don’t know
Total responses
Responsible for TQM–Quality
Everyone
Quality management
Employee
Top management
Total responses
Supervisor/coordinator as an active support of TQM
Yes
No
I don’t know
Total responses
a%
Secondary
n = 15 (29.4%)a
Tertiary
n = 22 (43.1%)a
Total percent
responses n = 51 (100%)a
6(42.9%)b
5(35.7%)b
3
n = 14
2(14.3%)b
8(57.1%)b
4
n = 14
6(27.3%)b
6(27.3%)b
10
n = 22
14(28%)a
19(38%)a
17
n = 50 (100%)
9 (64.3%)b
1 (7.1%)b
4
n = 14
6 (40.0%)b
4 (26.7%)b
5
n = 15
10 (45.5%)b
6 (27.3%)b
6
n = 22
25 (49%)a
11 (21.6%)a
15
n = 51 (100%)
11 (78.6%)b
2
0
1
n = 14
9 (60%)b
2
4
0
n = 15
14 (70%)b
4
1
1
n = 20
9 (64.3%)b
1 (7.1%)b
4
n = 14
11 (73.3%)b
1 (6.7%)b
3
n = 15
34 (69.4%)a
8
5
2
n = 49
13 (59.1%)b
3 (13.6%)b
6
n = 22
33 (64.7%)a
5 (9.8%)a
13
n = 51 (100%)
of total respondents. b% within educational level.
reaction to new paradigm and perhaps less easy to be
achieved, especially when many elements of academic culture were not receptive to TQM (Koch, 2003). For example, despite respondents from primary institutions seeming
to feel more benefits and improvement gained (most Ms >
4) from implementing TQM–quality initiatives than other
groups. Furthermore, they ranked teamwork and greater support for organizational change as the second least benefits
TABLE 6
Analyses of Variance and Mean Ranking for Perceived Benefits/Improvement Gained From Implementing Total Quality
Management (TGM)–Quality Initiatives According to Level of Institutions
Level of institution
Primary
n=5
(20%)
Benefits/improvement gained from
implementing TQM–Quality initiatives
Teamwork
Increased quality of service and performance
Increased competitiveness
Increased profit and productivity
Greater support for organizational change
Improved employee–customer satisfaction
Improved systems and working practices
Reduced cost of nonquality: scrap, defects,
rework, and loss of good reputation
Improved accountability requirement
Greater employee commitment and motivation
a1
Secondary
n = 7 (40%)
Total
respondents
n = 19
(100%)
Tertiary
n=7
(40%)
Ma
Rank
Ma
Rank
Ma
Rank
Ma
Rank
F
p
SD
3.80
4.60
4.40
4.40
3.80
4.20
4.00
3.60
8
1
2
2
8
4
5
10
4.14
3.43
3.14
3.00
3.00
3.29
3.00
3.00
1
3
6
7
7
5
7
7
3.86
3.29
3.57
3.00
3.43
2.71
3.14
3.29
1
4
2
7
3
8
6
4
3.95
3.68
3.63
3.37
3.37
3.32
3.32
3.26
1
2
3
4
4
6
6
8
0.169
3.214
1.709
3.801
1.219
2.382
2.393
0.317
.857
.065
.173
.056
.278
.094
.114
.698
1.079
1.057
1.212
1.116
0.895
1.250
0.885
1.240
4.00
4.00
5
5
3.57
3.43
2
3
2.43
2.29
9
10
3.26
3.16
8
10
3.282
3.550
.072
.219
1.284
1.302
= not at all, 2 = limited, 3 = regularly, 4 = extensively, 5 = to a great extend.
84
N. F. SULAIMAN ET AL.
TABLE 7
Total Respondents Views on 20 Statements That Relate to the 11 Critical Success Factors Influencing the Environment
for Total Quality Culture
Agreed to some extent (total respondents: M > 3.50)a
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My supervisor can help me to do my job better.
My decisions are based on analysis of data and information.
Our use of team processes leads to increase morale.
We address problems through prevention and continuously improving all
processes.
I receive recognition for top quality job done.
I am provided with proper procedures to do my job right.
I am able to meet the requirements of my external customers.
My supervisor is concerned more about the quality of my work than
the quantity of my work.
TQM is seen essential for customer satisfaction and profitability therefore
management includes customer satisfaction scores as a key plan measure.
Management demonstrates leadership, commitment and involvement.
Our commitment to quality is what sets us apart from our competitors.
aStarted
Disagreed to some extent (total respondents: M < 3.50)b
There is much friction between groups and departments.
Everybody in the institution understands the total quality concept.
I have received on-going training to do my job right the first time.
My company is committed to TQM.
There is a very strong trust between management and workers.
We are treated fairly and get recognition for what we do.
We use problem solving techniques to get the real cause of problems.
A partnership with suppliers supports the ability to improve processes.
Quality is seen to reduce cost and improve productivity.
with the highest mean score. bStarted with the lowest mean score.
but improved systems and working practices which are more
related to the hard element of culture was ranked fifth.
In addition, despite the educational reform in Qatar for
greater accountability, improved accountability requirement
was not perceived as a major benefit or improvement gained
from implementing TQM–quality initiatives by the total respondents (M = 3.26) except for the respondents from primary institutions (M = 4). This observation raised a new
question: “Will further systemization and being accountable to external accreditation bodies makes jobs more demanding?” As such, this helps to explain why improved
employee–customer satisfaction was not perceived as an extensive affect of TQM–quality initiatives by total respondents
(M = 3.32) except for respondents from primary institutions
(M = 4.2). Thus, this finding confirmed previous arguments
that TQ culture transformation and its full benefits will be
difficult without the cumulative influence of all the leverage
points being used simultaneously. Secondly, it confirmed
Psychogios and Priporas’s (2007) argument that managers
tend to see TQM from its hard aspects and the actual awareness of its soft side is often superficial and people have a
relatively poor understanding of it.
Analysis of TQM Environment for TQ Culture
The questionnaire were based on a 5-point Likert-type scale
ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree) pertaining to perception question asked (see Table 7).
Table 6 shows total respondents’ perception on 20 statements that relate to the 1 CSFs influencing the environment
for TQ culture. However, the interdependence of these factors makes it difficult to categorize the measurement variables descriptions/statements to fit in with only one CSF.
The ANOVA analysis on the 20 statements indicated that
there were no statistically significant differences of views (as
shown in the p column) between the three different levels
of institutions, except for “Our use of team processes lead to
increase morale.” This shows that there is almost a consensus
among the three levels of institutions on the level of quality
management in their organization.
When the total respondents’ views on the twenty statements were classified into “agreed to some extent” and “disagreed to some extent” (Table 7), the results shows that 11
statements indicated mean scores greater than or equal than
3.50 (i.e., agreed to some extent) and nine statements indicated mean scores less than or equal to 3.50 (i.e., disagreed
to some extent). The mean scores ranged from 2.71 and 3.76.
These indicated that their agreement or disagreement on the
20 statements was only moderate.
Analysis of the Most Important Issues Related to
TQM Initiative Efforts
Table 8 shows the results of perceptions on the most important issues related to TQM initiative efforts. When respondents were asked, “How important are the following issues
in your organization’s TQM initiative efforts?” Customer
satisfaction initiative (M = 3.74), employee involvement to
improve quality (M = 3.73), and cultural change program
(M = 3.51) were ranked as the first three most important
issues related to TQM initiative efforts respectively by the
total respondents. In addition, the ANOVA analysis shows a
consensus of views among the three levels of institutions on
these issues.
As has been said previously, findings from this section
have shown another promising development in terms of how
educational institutions in Qatar prepare themselves for TQ
culture transformation. Oakland (1997) defined culture in
any business as the beliefs which pervade the organization
about how business should be conducted, and how employees
LEVEL OF TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT
TABLE 8
The Most Important Issues Related to TQM
Initiative Efforts
Consideration
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Setting up a quality department
Applying statistical process control
Developing of a quality system
Employee involvement to improve quality
Business process improvement
Customer satisfaction initiative
Cultural change program
M
SD
p
3.12
3.37
3.40
3.73
3.43
3.74
3.51
1.304
1.167
1.325
1.132
0.903
1.026
1.139
.297
.430
.098
.090
.528
.573
.418
should be treated, or culture emerges in an organization because of the need for solutions to business problems. Because
the central focus of TQM initiative efforts were more toward
soft cultural issues (e.g., employee involvement) rather than
hard cultural issues (e.g., quality system), the results support
the view that they are moving in the right direction in terms
of TQM strategy for TQ culture transformation.
DISCUSSION
Limitations
As with many exploratory studies, this research has some
limitations that should be expanded on in future research.
The principal limitation of the study is that the sampling procedure covered primary, secondary, and tertiary institutions
whereas future studies might focus on a single academic classification. In addition, there were no attempts to increase the
number of usable surveys. Also, the results would have been
more beneficial if the research questions had aimed to provide an in-depth analysis of the differences in TQM among
private versus semigovernment institutions.
Finally, the findings would have been enriched if additional research methods were applied such as semi-structured
individual interviews or focus groups. Nevertheless, this research can serve as the first step in closing the gap in the
dearth of research on TQM implementation in educational
institutions in Qatar.
Conclusions
This study reveals many aspects of the extent and nature
of TQM within academic institutions in Qatar. Of the 51
respondents from 37 institutions participating in the survey,
only 28% of respondents implemented or planned TQM in
the workplace. However, nearly half or 49% of respondents
knew the purpose of TQM in general and more than three
fifths or 64.7% perceived their supervisor or coordinator as
an active support of TQM in the workplace. A number of key
insights have been identified from this research, which were
the following:
85
• Most educators in Qatar would rather modify than satisfy the needs of their customer (students). Table 4 shows
providing service the customer wants was not defined as
critical to quality job as compared with high standard of
service.
• Managerial roles can be the starting point for leaders
intent on transforming the culture but cultural transformation may not happen without top down total involvement. Table 4 shows 69.4% agreeing on the item “everyone should be responsible or has a role on achieving
TQM,” whereas Table 4 shows (64.7%) perceived their
supervisor–coordinator as an active support of TQM at
workplace.
• Lack of team-based approach due to the traditional autonomous role and significant degree of internal competition of academics can be reduced when academic institutions implemented and planned TQM in the workplace.
Table 6 shows that teamwork was the most important
benefit or improvement from implementing TQM–quality
initiatives in the workplace.
• Those institutions who planned or implemented TQM did
not perceive any strong positive affect of TQM–quality
initiatives as they may be still at the early stage of TQM
implementation. Table 4 shows only 49% of total respondents knew the purpose of TQM.
• Despite the educational reform in Qatar for greater accountability, improved accountability requirement was not
perceived as a major benefit or improvement gained from
implementing TQM–quality initiatives as it may make
jobs more demanding due to lack of education and training; and a lack of employee commitment and motivation
due to lack of involvement and effective communication.
This study shows that of the 11 CSFs, education, training,
and development, followed by communication for TQM,
had the lowest total respondent mean score. In addition,
it shows that employee involvement to improve quality is
considered as the second most important issues related to
TQM initiative efforts.
• Cultural changes are unlikely to occur simply by a quick
fix approach to improving employee awareness and when
all the leverage points mentioned in Figure 1 are not being
used simultaneously. Consequently, suspicion and resistance are the most common reaction to new paradigm
and TQM is less easy to be achieved, especially when
many elements of academic culture or when the TQM
environment is not receptive to TQM. Table 5 shows
that total respondents from institutions that have implemented/planned TQM do not believe that their institution
gained any extensive benefits/improvement in organizational change (M = 3.37) and greater employee commitment and motivation (M = 3.16) were ranked as the least
benefits or improvement gained. In addition, all the 1 CSFs
in Table 6 rated by the total respondents were having (Ms
< 4).
86
N. F. SULAIMAN ET AL.
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• Teamwork (M = 3.95), increased quality of service and
performance (M = 3.68), and increased competitiveness (M = 3.63) were ranked as the three most important benefits or improvement gained from implementing
TQM–quality initiatives as shown in Table 6. Thus, those
mentioned factors can be considered as the strongest driving forces for TQM in Qatari educational institutions.
Finally, the previous evidence has showed that the dominant perception of TQM, in general, is positive where a
service quality perspective is beginning to be accepted in
Qatari educational institutions. Second, the culture of educational institutions in Qatar is moving toward collective
consciousness and teamwork rather than the traditional autonomous role or hierarchical culture that was found a decade
ago.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to thank all the respondents who
participated in the questionnaire survey and all agencies that
assisted them in offering requested information and data.
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ISSN: 0883-2323 (Print) 1940-3356 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/vjeb20
Level of Total Quality Management Adoption in
Qatari Educational Institutions: Private and SemiGovernment Sector
Noor Fauziah Sulaiman , Nick-Naser Manochehri & Rajab Abdulla Al-Esmail
To cite this article: Noor Fauziah Sulaiman , Nick-Naser Manochehri & Rajab Abdulla AlEsmail (2013) Level of Total Quality Management Adoption in Qatari Educational Institutions:
Private and Semi-Government Sector, Journal of Education for Business, 88:2, 76-87, DOI:
10.1080/08832323.2011.649311
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08832323.2011.649311
Published online: 04 Dec 2012.
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Date: 11 January 2016, At: 20:56
JOURNAL OF EDUCATION FOR BUSINESS, 88: 76–87, 2013
C Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
Copyright
ISSN: 0883-2323 print / 1940-3356 online
DOI: 10.1080/08832323.2011.649311
Level of Total Quality Management Adoption
in Qatari Educational Institutions: Private
and Semi-Government Sector
Noor Fauziah Sulaiman
Downloaded by [Universitas Maritim Raja Ali Haji] at 20:56 11 January 2016
Qatar University, Doha, Qatar
Nick-Naser Manochehri
Community College of Qatar; and Qatar University, Doha, Qatar
Rajab Abdulla Al-Esmail
Qatar University, Doha, Qatar
The authors evaluated the level of Total Quality Management (TQM) adoption in Qatari
educational institutions within private and semigovernment institutions. To accomplish these
objectives, a literature review was done of TQM adoption in higher education institutions,
followed by a survey questionnaire. Data were collected from Qatari educational institutions
with SPSS used in performing the analysis. It assessed awareness, understanding, benefits,
and progress of TQM implementation based on the 11 critical success factors (CSFs) or
essential elements developed in the revisited model of leverage points for a total quality culture
transformation. The strongest driving force toward TQM was teamwork while the strongest
restraining force was lack of knowledge of TQM principles and its associated tools. The
analysis concluded that although there was a low level of TQM implementation, the dominant
perception of TQM in general was positive where a culture toward collective consciousness
or teamwork was beginning to be accepted within private and semigovernment educational
institutions in Qatar. The findings would be of a particular interest to private and public
educational institutions; especially those that intend to initiate TQM and accreditation within
their institutions in the Middle East.
Keywords: educational institution, Middle East, Qatar, quality culture, TQM adoption
INTRODUCTION
The future of the industry depends on how successfully it
adapts to change and, more proactively, how it creatively
changes to its own advantage. Consequently, the drivers
for change have influenced the way day-to-day business
is carried out in academic institutions and many of these
institutions began to adopt Total Quality Management
(TQM; Bolton, 1995; Hides, Davis, & Jackson, 2004;
Sahney, Banwet, & Karunes, 2004a; Yeo 2008). TQM offers
Correspondence should be addressed to Nick-Naser Manochehri,
Community College of Qatar, P.O. Box 63211, Doha, Qatar. E-mail:
nm8133@hotmail.com
increased quality and efficiency, less waste, higher productivity, enhanced customer satisfaction, and an improved
image of educational institutions (Biehl, 1999; Hides et al.;
Hwarng & Teo, 2001; McCormick, 1993; Singh, Grover, &
Kumar, 2008).
Brookes and Becket (2007) reviewed TQM issues and
practices throughout higher education (HE) environments
across the globe in three key geographic areas: the Americas;
Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA); and Asia Pacific
between 1996 and 2006 in 34 countries. Their study categorized environmental forces for change into three groupings
(Table 1).
Particularly for the EMEA region, Brookes and Becket
(2007) noted the drivers for quality provision were considerable changes regarding sources and level of funding due to
LEVEL OF TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT
TABLE 1
Environmental Forces for Change
Political forces
Government initiatives to widen access
Government development of more higher education institutions (HEIs)
Strict governmental control over HE curriculum and management
No unified or centralized system for government control
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Economic forces
Reduced or limited funding per student
Reliance on private sector funding
Reliance on tuition or international student fees
Rising costs per student
Increase in number of private HEIs
Greater emphasis on internationalization
Sociocultural forces
Greater demand for student places
Greater diversity of student populations
Greater diversity of provision
Consumer pressure for greater accountability or value for money
the increasing number of private institutions or the reliance
on private sector funding, a commonality in terms of government initiatives to increase access to HE, and a significantly
diversified student market as a result. In short, motivated
by competition, costs, accountability, and service orientation
some educational institutions had begun to embrace TQM
(Koslowski, 2006).
Thus, motivations or reasons why organizations have tried
to implement total quality can be categorized as either from
the external motivation (the need to adapt the organization to
the changing external environment) or internal motivations
(the need to integrate the organization’s members internally
to fulfil its role).
THE IMPORTANCE OF TQM AS A STRATEGIC
ISSUE FOR QATARI EDUCATIONAL
INSTITUTIONS
Information technology, which has replaced national
economies with a global economy, is such that countries that
do not practice TQM have become globally non-competitive.
Globalization has placed increasing pressure on Qatar,
as a developing country, to focus and raise its education
system and skills level toward a more qualified workforce,
as documented by the Supreme Education Council of Qatar
“Education for a New Era” (Supreme Education Council of
Qatar, 2009), and by the State of Qatar’s Qatarization policy
(Qatarization, 2009), which aims to increase the percentage
of Qatari citizens in the workforce. In addition, Qatar’s Vision
2030 has placed even greater importance on the education
sector as a major driver for turning Qatar into a knowledgebased economy due to its current investment policy in the
non-energy sector (World Bank, 2007).
77
The potential benefits of TQM in educational institutions
are quite apparent. TQM can help a school or college provide better service to its primary customers, students, and
employers. In addition, the continuous improvement focus
of TQM is a fundamental way of ensuring accountability
requirements common to educational reform.
Since 2001, the reform of public education in K–12 has
made rapid progress incorporating curriculum standards that
strives to meet international benchmarks through the establishment of autonomous schools (semi-government primary
and secondary independent school) that foster creativity and
critical thinking, and the development of evaluation tools that
provide the ability to report and track school progress. At
the university level, Qatar University (the only state university in Qatar), has focused on raising its standards through
varied approaches such as the establishment of the Qatar
University Reform Plan (Al-Attiyah & Khalifa, 2009; AlAzmeh 2006) to develop its mission and vision and to review
its organizational objectives, governance structures, and roles
(e.g., to continually improve the quality of instructional and
educational services, and promote administrative efficiency
such as self-assessment of corporate identity program and international accreditations). Additionally, six American universities were established at the Education City in Doha to
enhance domestic capabilities in HE without the associated
infrastructure costs and to support academically able students
to study at world-class universities for the preparation of a
knowledge-based society.
The present scenario emphasizes the importance of TQM
principles in the Qatari education system. However, literature
has indicated that educational institutions have been lagging
behind other organizations in their Total Quality culture (TQ
culture; Bolton, 1995; Singh et al., 2008; Sirvanci, 2004). An
organization with a total quality culture is an organization that
has a clear set of values and beliefs that foster total quality
behavior. Kanji and Yui (1997) described it as:
[The] culture of an organization committed to customer satisfaction through continuous improvement. This culture varies
both from one country to another and between different industries, but has certain essential principles which can be
implemented to secure greater market share, increased profits and reduced cost. (p. 417)
Because culture emerges as a response to internal and external problems, members of organization must learn to adapt;
changing a culture from the traditional to a TQ culture requires learning. People must come to a new understanding of
what quality means. For a TQM organization, this learning
is ongoing as the organization continuously seeks to improve
customer value.
Unfortunately, there is limited literature emphasizing the
adoption of TQM values and philosophy in Qatar (Al-Attiyah
& Khalifa, 2009; Al-Khalifa & Aspinwall, 2000, 2001;
Salaheldin, 2009; Salaheldin & Zain, 2007), especially in an
78
N. F. SULAIMAN ET AL.
Organisation
for TQM
Necessary
management
behaviour
Strategy for TQM
implementation
Process
Management
& system
Training,
education &
development
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Old
culture
Recognition
& reward
New
culture
Communication
for TQM
Quality
technologies
Old
culture
Partnering
Employee
involvement &
empowerment
Teamwork
Old culture
FIGURE 1
p. 183).
Leverage points for a total quality culture transformation. Adapted from Bounds, Yorks, Adams, and Ranney (1994, p. 491) and Sulaiman (2002,
educational context. Only Al-Khalifa and Aspinwall investigated more comprehensively the culture of Qatar industries
about a decade ago. Their conclusion suggested that Qatar
companies would find difficulties in implementing TQM
because they are dominated by a rational and hierarchical
culture. Responding to this need, this study provides much
needed present information on the state of TQ culture within
the Qatari educational context because it was seen as crucial to implementing quality programs (Davies, Douglas, &
Douglas, 2007). Also, a solid understanding of culture informs managers about how to change behavior in order to
embed TQM. Many organizations have no clear idea of
the progress they have made or how far they still have
to go to achieve quality (Evans, 2007; Evans & Lindsay,
2008; Lascelles & Dale 1993). Given such evidence, this
preliminary study will shed light on the level of TQM
adoption and the emerging culture in Qatari educational
institutions.
CONTEXT OF THE STUDY
The formation and application of standardized models of
quality systems and TQM was formed in late 1970s. TQM
models, based on the teachings of quality gurus or international quality awards, generally involve a number of essential
elements or “correct environment” that has been described by
some researchers (Evans, 2007; Fryer, Antony, & Douglas,
2007; Kanji & Yui, 1997; Kanji, Tambi, & Wallace, 1999;
Singh et al., 2008) as the critical success factors (CSFs) that
are required for successful TQM implementation. Thus, we
attempted to evaluate the progress of TQM implementation
in Qatari educational institutions based on 11 CSFs or essential elements developed in the revisited Model of Leverage Points for a TQ Culture Transformation developed by
Sulaiman (2002). The CSFs for TQM were identified through
an extensive literature survey (Berry, 1991; Ghobadian &
Speller, 1994; Porter & Parker, 1993).
In an earlier study, Quazi et al. (1998) highlighted that
managers could use CSFs to evaluate the perceptions of
quality management in their organization as well to assist
decision makers in identifying those areas of quality management where improvements should be made. The 11 CSFs
that influence TQM implementation in education are interrelated and reinforce each other (Figure 1): necessary management behavior, strategy for TQM implementation, education
and training, organization for TQM, process management
and systems, employee involvement, teamwork, partnering,
communication for TQM, recognition and reward, and quality technologies (tools and techniques). These CSFs present
to act as a guide for higher education contemplating a TQM
initiative.
LEVEL OF TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT
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In order to improve TQM adoption as well as TQM implementation within the educational institutions, managers
in educational institutions need to challenge old assumptions about their business through learning (Srikanthan &
Dalrymple, 2002, 2004; Sulaiman, 2002), particularly when
contemplating the real meaning of quality in education and
to accept new roles and responsibilities for accomplishing
continuous improvement throughout their organizations
and within the educational system. In addition, the general
academic culture that is considered suitable for TQM that
emerges from the literature appears to be one that pursues
collective consciousness (Srikanthan & Dalrymple, 2002,
2004), cooperation and support (Davies et al., 2007), or
teamwork.
PROBLEMS WITH IMPLEMENTING TQM
IN EDUCATION
As discussed previously, without a conducive environment
that is required for successful TQM implementation, TQ culture will be difficult to grow. The industry’s wide spectrum
of activities and the multiple roles of the multiple stakeholders with diverse or even contradictory demands in education
systems (Eagle & Brennan, 2007; Fryer et al., 2007; Hwarng
& Teo, 2001; Sirvanci, 2004) have often led to lack of clarity
about the purpose of the institution as well as role ambiguity
toward quality objectives. For example, if looking at the role
of students in higher education institutions (HEI), Sirvanci
(2004) regarded students as having multiple roles and that
is why customer identification in HE remains a complicated
issue. When students are seen as the product in process role,
the hard elements such as student learning results will be
critical. Thus, HE is expected to improve its products (i.e.,
students) and provide services even if students would prefer
to avoid (e.g., foundation courses) and modify them rather
than satisfy their needs (Bolton, 1995). When students receive service (knowledge) from their instructors, they are
seen as the laborers in the learning process role and are expected simultaneously to work and exert effort in order to
learn the material by various means of hard elements such
79
as completing projects, term papers, and preparing for tests.
However, to be successful in this role, students need the necessary of elements such as skills, disposition, and motivation.
Thus, the interplay of students’ role above has further
emphasized the importance of bridging the hard and soft
elements of culture for TQ culture transformation. Without
purposeful responsibilities to ensure total adoption of the
CSFs, successful implementation of TQM will be difficult
(Atkinson, 1990; Lascelles & Dale 1993). In this case, Juran
and Gryna’s (1982) triple role concept that every activity has
a triple role of customer, processor, and supplier will not only
facilitate the identification of the various customers in education institutions but also help explain the roles played by the
different stakeholder groups (Hwarng & Teo, 2001). Hwarng
and Teo emphasized that educational institutions have to realize that they are in the business to satisfy many parties (see
Table 2 for an example in HE) and that it is important to
identify all customer groups and address their concerns. The
importance of system modeling approach and stakeholders’
approach to help understand organizational performance or
TQ culture transformation were also highlighted in Kanji’s
Performance Measurement System (Kanji, n.d.).
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
In order to determine the level of TQM adoption in Qatari educational institutions, the following research questions were
developed:
Research Question 1: What are the levels of awareness
and understanding on the meaning of quality and TQM
within the academic institutions in Qatar?
Research Question 2: What are the benefits that promote
the adoption or implementation of TQM within the academic institutions in Qatar?
Research Question 3: What are the problems that inhibit
the adoption or implementation of TQM within the academic institutions in Qatar?
Research Question 4: What are the most important issues
related to TQM initiative efforts within the academic
institutions in Qatar?
TABLE 2
Example of Triple Roles of Customer, Processor, and Supplier in Higher Education
Triple role of
Customer
Processor
Supplier
Professor
Student
Parent
Receives students from upstream courses
Receives education
Educated children
Teaches courses; does research work
Learns from courses
Moral upbringing; correct learning attitude
Industry–society
Receives educated workforce; receives
research output
Hires graduates; provides industry training
Supplies students to downstream courses
Supplies workforce for the industry
Supplies university with students;
provides financial support
Supplies society with goods and services
Source: Hwarng & Teo, 2001
80
N. F. SULAIMAN ET AL.
METHODOLOGY
To answer the research questions, a survey was developed.
The survey was adapted from Sulaiman (2002), and consisted
of five parts: the general profile of the respondents and their
institutions, their understanding on quality and TQM principles, benefits gained from implementing TQM and quality
initiatives, obstacles and reasons for not implementing TQM
and quality initiatives, and their opinion on the CSFs which
influence TQM implementation.
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Data Processing
Data were processed using SPSS for Windows version 13.0.
Descriptive statistics were used to define the profile of the
sample, to explore respondents’ perception on their understanding on quality and TQM principles, and the obstacles
and reasons for not implementing TQM–quality initiatives.
To explore respondents’ perception on benefits gained from
implementing TQM–quality initiatives and their opinion on
the CSFs that influence TQM implementation, analyses were
carried out with statistical mean ranking, cross tabulation and
analysis of variance (ANOVA). The analyses deal mainly
with ranking of the variables based on their mean values
and by ANOVA F statistics to test the null hypothesis that
the mean values of the dependent variable are equal for all
groups. A cutoff value of p < .05 (or 5% significant level)
was used to distinguish between converging and diverging
views.
Reliability Analysis
The purpose of a reliability analysis is to determine how
consistently the selected variables measure some construct.
Reliability analysis on questionnaire scores was done using
Cronbach’s coefficient alpha to estimate consistency of the
scores from the questionnaire. Values of alpha range between
0 and 1.0, with higher score values indicating higher reliability. The reliability of the entire constructs measured by each
statement on the scale of 1 to 5 was computed. The alpha
value for statements relate to TQM environment, TQM benefits, and TQM important issues were .901, .911, and .865,
respectively. Furthermore, the statements related to CSFs for
TQ culture were categorized into 11 and the alpha value was
.904. Thus, the alpha values range from .865 to .917, which
are above the threshold value of .70 and indicates an internal
consistency and reliable measure of the construct (Hill &
Lewicki, 2006; Nunnaly, 1978; Pallant, 2001).
Survey Administration
The intended survey respondent were principals, academic
principals, and instructors of educational institutions in Qatar
from private and semigovernment institutions. Respondents
were informed that the survey was entirely voluntary and
all responses would remain strictly confidential and were for
research purposes only. A pilot study was first conducted to
assess the questionnaire. Following the pilot, changes were
made to improve readability and thereby reduce the amount
of time to answer the survey. Content validity was established
through a review of questionnaire by some faculty members.
Of the 100 questionnaires distributed to a random stratified
sample of academics from 37 educational institutions, 54
were returned and some of the responses were from the same
educational institution. Three people missed significant parts
of the survey (i.e., TQM benefits, obstacle, or CSF questions)
and had to be eliminated. As a result, the number of valid
questionnaires was 51 representing a response rate of 51%.
RESULTS
Background Information
The characteristics of an organization can affect the implementation of TQM. The characteristics of the sample are
set out in Table 3. Atkinson (1990) stated that “organizations employ differing technology, have different histories
and backgrounds, serve different markets with different products and employ people from different cultures, so the drive
to improve quality has to be managed differently” (p. 398).
The majority of the respondents were from secondary
(29.4%) and primary (27.5%) schools. For the purpose of
analysis, the university (21.6%), two-year college (11.8%),
and training institution (9.8%), will be grouped as tertiary
or HEI (43.1%). The majority of the respondents were holding a role of teacher–coordinator (42%). Of the 51 usable
responses 55% were women, 45% were men, and 70% of
them were Qatari. A large percentage of respondents (74.5%)
were aged below 30 years because the majority working age
population in Qatar is between 25 and 29 years old (Qatar
Statistics Authority, 2009). This indicates that a young workforce will accept change quicker than old workforce, as an
old workforce may feel threatened at having to learn new
responsibilities and use new work methods (Mann & Kehoe,
1995).
The Levels of Awareness and Understanding on
the Meaning of Quality–TQM.
Table 4 shows the results of awareness and understanding
of quality–TQM in general by respondents of the survey. It
shows a relatively low level of TQM implementation (28%)
within the educational institutions in Qatar. However, there
is a moderate degree of awareness–understanding of the purpose of TQM (49%) and some promising development of
awareness–understanding of the principles of quality–TQM
within the educational institutions in Qatar.
When they were asked “How do you define quality with
regard to your job?” the total respondents ranked high standard of service, relationship with customer, keeping the
LEVEL OF TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT
81
TABLE 3
General Profile of Respondents According to Institutions
Institution type
Tertiary n = 22 (43.1%)
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Survey question
Type of organization
Semigovernment
Private
Gender of respondent
Male
Female
Age of respondent
Younger than 30 years
31–40 years
Older than 40 years
Nationality of respondent
Qatari
USA
UK
Canada
Others
Role
Top management
Middle management
Supervisor
Teacher–coordinator
Other
Year of institution established
< 5 years
5–10 years
11–15 years
16–20 years
> 20 years
Number of employees in the institution
< 50
51–100
101–500
501–1,000
> 1,000
University
n = 11∗∗
(21.5%)
Two-year
college
n=6
(11.8%)
Training
institution
n=5
(9.8%)
Secondary
n = 15
(29.4%)
Primary
n = 14
(27.5%)
Total
n = 51
(100%)
n=6
1
5
n = 10
6
4
n=9
8
1
0
n = 11
5
4
0
0
2
n = 10
0
0
2
4
4
n = 10
4
2
0
0
4
n = 11
1
2
3
1
4
n=3
1
2
n=6
4
2
n=5
4
0
1
n=6
2
0
1
3
0
n=6
0
1
1
3
1
n=6
0
4
1
1
0
n=6
2
1
1
2
0
n=2
0
2
n=5
3
2
n=5
4
1
0
n=5
4
0
0
1
0
n=5
0
1
1
3
0
n=5
0
2
0
0
3
n=5
1
0
0
1
3
n = 12
9
3
n = 14
4
10
n = 14
7
5
2
n = 15
12
1
0
0
2
n = 15
2
6
1
5
1
n = 15
5
0
0
6
4
n = 15
1
4
6
1
3
n = 14
10
4
n = 14
5
9
n = 14
12
2
0
n = 13
12
1
0
0
0
n = 14
4
2
2
6
0
n = 14
7
5
0
0
2
n = 14
2
8
3
0
1
n = 37
21
16
n = 49
45%
55%
n = 47
74.5%
19.1%
6.4%
n = 50
70%
12%
2%
8%
8%
n = 50
12%
20%
14%
42%
12%
n = 50
32%
26%
2%
14%
26%
n = 51
13.7%
29.4%
25.5%
9.8%
21.6%
Note. Some primary and secondary schools had more than one branch. Some universities, colleges, and institutions had been surveyed few times because
they had many colleges within.
customer happy, and speed and promptness of service as the
first three most important definitions of the meaning of quality to their business respectively. Here, results show that
although the emphasis is more toward the hard or tangible
aspects of quality such as high standard of service that is usually measured through accreditation process, the soft or intangible aspects of quality such as relationship with customer
and keeping the customer happy is beginning to surface. It
was also noticed that the results confirmed the perception that
most educators would rather modify than satisfy the needs of
their customer (students) because most respondents ranked
providing service the customer wants as fifth.
A promising development was shown by more respondents (69.4%) agreeing that everyone should be responsible
or has a role on achieving TQM. Conversely, only (16.3%)
perceived that it’s the job of quality management and only
(4.1%) perceived it’s the job of top management, which further emphasizes that the majority of respondents do understand that quality should not be seen as a supervisory matter
(Atkinson, 1990) though the ultimate responsibility lies with
management (Koslowski, 2006).
Another promising development was that (64.7%) perceived their supervisor–coordinator as an active support
of TQM at workplace. As noted previously, managerial
82
N. F. SULAIMAN ET AL.
TABLE 4
The Awareness and Understanding of Quality–Total
Quality Management in General of Total Respondents
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Survey question
Has your organization implemented/planned
Total Quality Management (TQM) at the
workplace?
No
I don’t know
Yes
Total
Do you know the purpose of TQM ingeneral?
Yes
I don’t know
No
Total
How do you define quality with regard to your
job?
High standard of service
Relationship with customers
Keeping the customer happy
Speed and promptness of service
Providing service the customer wants
Other
Total
What do you consider as TQM principles?
Continuous improvement
All activities in a process must work
together toward a common goal
Team work
Focus on customer
Involvement of staff
Other
Total
Is your supervisor/coordinator an active
support of TQM at workplace?
Yes
I don’t know
No
Total
Who do you think has a role on achieving
TQM?
Everyone
Quality management
Employee
Top management
Total
n
%
Rank
19
17
14
50
38
34
28
100.0
1
2
3
25
15
11
51
49.0
29.4
21.6
100.0
1
2
3
42
32
27
27
26
1
155
27.1
20.6
17.4|
17.4
16.8
0.6
100.0
1
2
3
3
5
6
34
32
24.5
23.0
1
2
28
24
19
2
139
20.1
17.3
13.7
1.4
100.0
3
4
5
6
33
13
5
51
64.7
25.5
9.8
100.0
1
2
3
34
8
5
2
49
69.4
16.3
10.2
4.1
100.0
1
2
3
4
Note. Some respondents choose more than one answer or did not answer.
subculture is the key to inducing a paradigm shift. It determines the culture of the rest of the organization. Managers
have the power and authority to determine the organizational
strategy, systems, policies, and operating procedures. If management does not understand the total quality concept, then
their influences on the behavior of employees and the level
of support for quality issues and improvements programs
may be detrimental (Atkinson, 1990; Bolton, 1995; Sirvanci,
2004).
When a cross tabulation was constructed and respondents
were classified into institutional levels (Table 5), it was further established that respondents from the primary institu-
tions seem to have implemented or planned TQM better
(about 43% responded “Yes” while 36% responded “No”)
and showed a higher percentage or better awareness and
understanding of TQM in terms of knowing the purpose of
TQM (64% responding “Yes” and 7% “No”) compared to
the secondary (40% responding “Yes” and 27% responding
“No”) and tertiary institutions (46% responding “Yes” and
27% responding “No”). Also, respondents from the primary
institutions had the highest percentage of respondents who
perceived that everyone was responsible for TQM–quality
(78.6%). However, respondents from secondary institutions
had the highest percentage of respondents who perceived
their supervisor/coordinator as an active support of TQM
(73.3%).
Benefits and Improvement Gained From
Implementing TQM–Quality Initiatives
Table 6 shows perceptions on a set of major benefits
gained from the implementation of TQM–quality initiatives answered by respondents from institutions that have
implemented/planned TQM. The ANOVA analysis indicated
that there was no statistically significant difference of views
(as shown in the p column) between the three different levels
of institutions.
Table 5 shows that, in general, total respondents from institutions that implemented/planned TQM, do not believe that
their institution gained any extensive benefits or improvement from implementing TQM–quality initiatives at workplace (Ms < 4) because they may still be in their infancy
stage of TQM implementation or still getting used to the
idea of TQM as shown in Table 5 where only (49%) of total
respondents knew the purpose of TQM. The highest ratings
given by the total respondents were teamwork (M = 3.95),
increased quality of service and performance (M = 3.68), and
increased competitiveness (M = 3.63). These findings support the literature review on the drivers for change or reasons
why educational institutions decided to develop their quality
initiatives and implement TQM. Also, findings demonstrated
promising development in terms of the effect TQM on the
Qatari academic culture, especially on teamwork.
Other interesting observations were that greater employee
commitment and motivation were ranked as the least benefits
and improvement gained from implementing TQM–quality
initiatives by the total respondents from institutions that implemented and planned TQM (M = 3.16). These findings
agreed with Wilkinson, Redman, and Snape (1994) that “cultural changes are unlikely to occur simply by a ‘quick fix’
approach to improving employee awareness” (p. 401). It also
agreed with Al-Khalifa and Aspinwall (2000), who studied
the development of TQM in Qatar that cited culture change
as a major problem. Only tertiary institutions ranked greater
support for organizational change within their first three most
important benefits. Suspicion and resistance, which are more
related to the soft element of culture, were the most common
83
LEVEL OF TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT
TABLE 5
The Awareness and Understanding of TQM in General According to Institutions
Level of institution
Primary
n = 14 (27.5%)a
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Survey question
Implemented/planned TQM
Yes
No
I don’t know
Total responses
Do you know the purpose of TQM?
Yes
No
I don’t know
Total responses
Responsible for TQM–Quality
Everyone
Quality management
Employee
Top management
Total responses
Supervisor/coordinator as an active support of TQM
Yes
No
I don’t know
Total responses
a%
Secondary
n = 15 (29.4%)a
Tertiary
n = 22 (43.1%)a
Total percent
responses n = 51 (100%)a
6(42.9%)b
5(35.7%)b
3
n = 14
2(14.3%)b
8(57.1%)b
4
n = 14
6(27.3%)b
6(27.3%)b
10
n = 22
14(28%)a
19(38%)a
17
n = 50 (100%)
9 (64.3%)b
1 (7.1%)b
4
n = 14
6 (40.0%)b
4 (26.7%)b
5
n = 15
10 (45.5%)b
6 (27.3%)b
6
n = 22
25 (49%)a
11 (21.6%)a
15
n = 51 (100%)
11 (78.6%)b
2
0
1
n = 14
9 (60%)b
2
4
0
n = 15
14 (70%)b
4
1
1
n = 20
9 (64.3%)b
1 (7.1%)b
4
n = 14
11 (73.3%)b
1 (6.7%)b
3
n = 15
34 (69.4%)a
8
5
2
n = 49
13 (59.1%)b
3 (13.6%)b
6
n = 22
33 (64.7%)a
5 (9.8%)a
13
n = 51 (100%)
of total respondents. b% within educational level.
reaction to new paradigm and perhaps less easy to be
achieved, especially when many elements of academic culture were not receptive to TQM (Koch, 2003). For example, despite respondents from primary institutions seeming
to feel more benefits and improvement gained (most Ms >
4) from implementing TQM–quality initiatives than other
groups. Furthermore, they ranked teamwork and greater support for organizational change as the second least benefits
TABLE 6
Analyses of Variance and Mean Ranking for Perceived Benefits/Improvement Gained From Implementing Total Quality
Management (TGM)–Quality Initiatives According to Level of Institutions
Level of institution
Primary
n=5
(20%)
Benefits/improvement gained from
implementing TQM–Quality initiatives
Teamwork
Increased quality of service and performance
Increased competitiveness
Increased profit and productivity
Greater support for organizational change
Improved employee–customer satisfaction
Improved systems and working practices
Reduced cost of nonquality: scrap, defects,
rework, and loss of good reputation
Improved accountability requirement
Greater employee commitment and motivation
a1
Secondary
n = 7 (40%)
Total
respondents
n = 19
(100%)
Tertiary
n=7
(40%)
Ma
Rank
Ma
Rank
Ma
Rank
Ma
Rank
F
p
SD
3.80
4.60
4.40
4.40
3.80
4.20
4.00
3.60
8
1
2
2
8
4
5
10
4.14
3.43
3.14
3.00
3.00
3.29
3.00
3.00
1
3
6
7
7
5
7
7
3.86
3.29
3.57
3.00
3.43
2.71
3.14
3.29
1
4
2
7
3
8
6
4
3.95
3.68
3.63
3.37
3.37
3.32
3.32
3.26
1
2
3
4
4
6
6
8
0.169
3.214
1.709
3.801
1.219
2.382
2.393
0.317
.857
.065
.173
.056
.278
.094
.114
.698
1.079
1.057
1.212
1.116
0.895
1.250
0.885
1.240
4.00
4.00
5
5
3.57
3.43
2
3
2.43
2.29
9
10
3.26
3.16
8
10
3.282
3.550
.072
.219
1.284
1.302
= not at all, 2 = limited, 3 = regularly, 4 = extensively, 5 = to a great extend.
84
N. F. SULAIMAN ET AL.
TABLE 7
Total Respondents Views on 20 Statements That Relate to the 11 Critical Success Factors Influencing the Environment
for Total Quality Culture
Agreed to some extent (total respondents: M > 3.50)a
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My supervisor can help me to do my job better.
My decisions are based on analysis of data and information.
Our use of team processes leads to increase morale.
We address problems through prevention and continuously improving all
processes.
I receive recognition for top quality job done.
I am provided with proper procedures to do my job right.
I am able to meet the requirements of my external customers.
My supervisor is concerned more about the quality of my work than
the quantity of my work.
TQM is seen essential for customer satisfaction and profitability therefore
management includes customer satisfaction scores as a key plan measure.
Management demonstrates leadership, commitment and involvement.
Our commitment to quality is what sets us apart from our competitors.
aStarted
Disagreed to some extent (total respondents: M < 3.50)b
There is much friction between groups and departments.
Everybody in the institution understands the total quality concept.
I have received on-going training to do my job right the first time.
My company is committed to TQM.
There is a very strong trust between management and workers.
We are treated fairly and get recognition for what we do.
We use problem solving techniques to get the real cause of problems.
A partnership with suppliers supports the ability to improve processes.
Quality is seen to reduce cost and improve productivity.
with the highest mean score. bStarted with the lowest mean score.
but improved systems and working practices which are more
related to the hard element of culture was ranked fifth.
In addition, despite the educational reform in Qatar for
greater accountability, improved accountability requirement
was not perceived as a major benefit or improvement gained
from implementing TQM–quality initiatives by the total respondents (M = 3.26) except for the respondents from primary institutions (M = 4). This observation raised a new
question: “Will further systemization and being accountable to external accreditation bodies makes jobs more demanding?” As such, this helps to explain why improved
employee–customer satisfaction was not perceived as an extensive affect of TQM–quality initiatives by total respondents
(M = 3.32) except for respondents from primary institutions
(M = 4.2). Thus, this finding confirmed previous arguments
that TQ culture transformation and its full benefits will be
difficult without the cumulative influence of all the leverage
points being used simultaneously. Secondly, it confirmed
Psychogios and Priporas’s (2007) argument that managers
tend to see TQM from its hard aspects and the actual awareness of its soft side is often superficial and people have a
relatively poor understanding of it.
Analysis of TQM Environment for TQ Culture
The questionnaire were based on a 5-point Likert-type scale
ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree) pertaining to perception question asked (see Table 7).
Table 6 shows total respondents’ perception on 20 statements that relate to the 1 CSFs influencing the environment
for TQ culture. However, the interdependence of these factors makes it difficult to categorize the measurement variables descriptions/statements to fit in with only one CSF.
The ANOVA analysis on the 20 statements indicated that
there were no statistically significant differences of views (as
shown in the p column) between the three different levels
of institutions, except for “Our use of team processes lead to
increase morale.” This shows that there is almost a consensus
among the three levels of institutions on the level of quality
management in their organization.
When the total respondents’ views on the twenty statements were classified into “agreed to some extent” and “disagreed to some extent” (Table 7), the results shows that 11
statements indicated mean scores greater than or equal than
3.50 (i.e., agreed to some extent) and nine statements indicated mean scores less than or equal to 3.50 (i.e., disagreed
to some extent). The mean scores ranged from 2.71 and 3.76.
These indicated that their agreement or disagreement on the
20 statements was only moderate.
Analysis of the Most Important Issues Related to
TQM Initiative Efforts
Table 8 shows the results of perceptions on the most important issues related to TQM initiative efforts. When respondents were asked, “How important are the following issues
in your organization’s TQM initiative efforts?” Customer
satisfaction initiative (M = 3.74), employee involvement to
improve quality (M = 3.73), and cultural change program
(M = 3.51) were ranked as the first three most important
issues related to TQM initiative efforts respectively by the
total respondents. In addition, the ANOVA analysis shows a
consensus of views among the three levels of institutions on
these issues.
As has been said previously, findings from this section
have shown another promising development in terms of how
educational institutions in Qatar prepare themselves for TQ
culture transformation. Oakland (1997) defined culture in
any business as the beliefs which pervade the organization
about how business should be conducted, and how employees
LEVEL OF TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT
TABLE 8
The Most Important Issues Related to TQM
Initiative Efforts
Consideration
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Setting up a quality department
Applying statistical process control
Developing of a quality system
Employee involvement to improve quality
Business process improvement
Customer satisfaction initiative
Cultural change program
M
SD
p
3.12
3.37
3.40
3.73
3.43
3.74
3.51
1.304
1.167
1.325
1.132
0.903
1.026
1.139
.297
.430
.098
.090
.528
.573
.418
should be treated, or culture emerges in an organization because of the need for solutions to business problems. Because
the central focus of TQM initiative efforts were more toward
soft cultural issues (e.g., employee involvement) rather than
hard cultural issues (e.g., quality system), the results support
the view that they are moving in the right direction in terms
of TQM strategy for TQ culture transformation.
DISCUSSION
Limitations
As with many exploratory studies, this research has some
limitations that should be expanded on in future research.
The principal limitation of the study is that the sampling procedure covered primary, secondary, and tertiary institutions
whereas future studies might focus on a single academic classification. In addition, there were no attempts to increase the
number of usable surveys. Also, the results would have been
more beneficial if the research questions had aimed to provide an in-depth analysis of the differences in TQM among
private versus semigovernment institutions.
Finally, the findings would have been enriched if additional research methods were applied such as semi-structured
individual interviews or focus groups. Nevertheless, this research can serve as the first step in closing the gap in the
dearth of research on TQM implementation in educational
institutions in Qatar.
Conclusions
This study reveals many aspects of the extent and nature
of TQM within academic institutions in Qatar. Of the 51
respondents from 37 institutions participating in the survey,
only 28% of respondents implemented or planned TQM in
the workplace. However, nearly half or 49% of respondents
knew the purpose of TQM in general and more than three
fifths or 64.7% perceived their supervisor or coordinator as
an active support of TQM in the workplace. A number of key
insights have been identified from this research, which were
the following:
85
• Most educators in Qatar would rather modify than satisfy the needs of their customer (students). Table 4 shows
providing service the customer wants was not defined as
critical to quality job as compared with high standard of
service.
• Managerial roles can be the starting point for leaders
intent on transforming the culture but cultural transformation may not happen without top down total involvement. Table 4 shows 69.4% agreeing on the item “everyone should be responsible or has a role on achieving
TQM,” whereas Table 4 shows (64.7%) perceived their
supervisor–coordinator as an active support of TQM at
workplace.
• Lack of team-based approach due to the traditional autonomous role and significant degree of internal competition of academics can be reduced when academic institutions implemented and planned TQM in the workplace.
Table 6 shows that teamwork was the most important
benefit or improvement from implementing TQM–quality
initiatives in the workplace.
• Those institutions who planned or implemented TQM did
not perceive any strong positive affect of TQM–quality
initiatives as they may be still at the early stage of TQM
implementation. Table 4 shows only 49% of total respondents knew the purpose of TQM.
• Despite the educational reform in Qatar for greater accountability, improved accountability requirement was not
perceived as a major benefit or improvement gained from
implementing TQM–quality initiatives as it may make
jobs more demanding due to lack of education and training; and a lack of employee commitment and motivation
due to lack of involvement and effective communication.
This study shows that of the 11 CSFs, education, training,
and development, followed by communication for TQM,
had the lowest total respondent mean score. In addition,
it shows that employee involvement to improve quality is
considered as the second most important issues related to
TQM initiative efforts.
• Cultural changes are unlikely to occur simply by a quick
fix approach to improving employee awareness and when
all the leverage points mentioned in Figure 1 are not being
used simultaneously. Consequently, suspicion and resistance are the most common reaction to new paradigm
and TQM is less easy to be achieved, especially when
many elements of academic culture or when the TQM
environment is not receptive to TQM. Table 5 shows
that total respondents from institutions that have implemented/planned TQM do not believe that their institution
gained any extensive benefits/improvement in organizational change (M = 3.37) and greater employee commitment and motivation (M = 3.16) were ranked as the least
benefits or improvement gained. In addition, all the 1 CSFs
in Table 6 rated by the total respondents were having (Ms
< 4).
86
N. F. SULAIMAN ET AL.
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• Teamwork (M = 3.95), increased quality of service and
performance (M = 3.68), and increased competitiveness (M = 3.63) were ranked as the three most important benefits or improvement gained from implementing
TQM–quality initiatives as shown in Table 6. Thus, those
mentioned factors can be considered as the strongest driving forces for TQM in Qatari educational institutions.
Finally, the previous evidence has showed that the dominant perception of TQM, in general, is positive where a
service quality perspective is beginning to be accepted in
Qatari educational institutions. Second, the culture of educational institutions in Qatar is moving toward collective
consciousness and teamwork rather than the traditional autonomous role or hierarchical culture that was found a decade
ago.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to thank all the respondents who
participated in the questionnaire survey and all agencies that
assisted them in offering requested information and data.
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