Total Quality Management: Concept, Constructs Models
The term Total Quality Management (TQM) originated in the 1980s. However, principles of TQM were being used as early as the 1950s. TQM was greatly influenced by the transformation of Japanese industries after World War 2. After the war, the Japanese rebuilt their economy and industries by focusing on Quality. This allowed them to drastically improve their productivity and penetrate international markets, particularly in the United States. The TQM movement was also inspired by the work of Deming, Juran and Feigenbaum (Zehir et al. 2012) TQM models have been used to manage and improve organisational quality ever since. Educational institutions also benefit from TQM because they are required to meet the needs of their customers who are, in this case, the learners. However, the learners have many educational needs such as cognitive, emotional and social needs. For example, it is impossible to satisfy the needs of learners by simply providing them with better classrooms, but one must consider the skills of teachers, the content and the school environment as well. As such, all aspects of the school must continuously improve so as to meet the needs of the learners. Providing quality education is also the focus of the 4th UN sustainable development goal. Therefore, TQM provides a systematic way of improving the quality of education in schools so that they may meet the many needs of its main customers i.e. learners. Talavera (2004) notes that there is no standard definition for Total Quality Management. However, Ravindran and Kamaravel, (2016) define TQM as a plan and systematic approach to ensure quality and continuous improvement. The main goal of TQM is to satisfy the needs of the customer and all parts of the organization must pursue this by constantly improving their performance. There are 2 aspects of TQM. First, it is a philosophy or mindset of continuous improvement in an organization. Second, it describes the practical tools and techniques used in the process. As such, TQM has the potential to improve the primary education system as a whole by changing mindsets and improving productivity. There are 3 major principals of TQM as follows: