Implementing Total Quality Management in Education: Compatibility and Challenges
Quality education is a great concern in many societies across the world. In a highly competitive education sector, the success of academic institutions depends on the quality of education. Educationalists, policy makers, scholars, and researchers are showing their sincere interest towards the total quality management (TQM) as it is recognized as an effective management philosophy for continuous improvement, customer satisfaction, and organizational excellence. Since this concept was initially developed in the manufacturing sector, therefore, there is a great deal of suspicion whether this philosophy is applicable in education. In this connection, the main objective of this study is to investigate the compatibility of TQM with education. At the same time, this study would try to identify key challenges in implementing TQM in education. It is assumed that this study would be able to draw a meaningful conclusion regarding the applicability of TQM in education as well as to create an awareness regarding those challenges which may create obstacles in implementing TQM in education.