| Summary: | The following descriptors were used in this study: total quality management; total
quality education; total quality leadership; programme implementation; quality
control; educational improvement; school based management.
In this thesis a new paradigm in managing organisations, known as Total Quality
Management, has been investigated. The concept of total quality management
represents a fundamental change in the management approach of organisations.
Total quality management comprises a comprehensive change to the theory and
practice of management, and focuses especially on leadership and people. It is
claimed that the bulk of problems in organisations is leadership or management-related,
therefore the implementation of total quality management poses a major
challenge to the managers of those organisations.
This research was particularly aimed at the application of quality principles to the
field of education. The research has shown that total quality management
comprises a radical departure from the present educational paradigm of
bureaucracy, autocracy and mediocrity, towards a system that liberates the
educator from bureaucratic red tape, and which provides for a model of
empowerment (and therefore participation).
The research was mainly concerned with the following two questions: • what does the quality paradigm entail? • to what extent is a system of total quality management suitable for implementation at schools, and which will subsequently lead to continuous and
sustainable quality improvement?
The aim of the research was to: • indicate what the quality paradigm consists of; • ascertain to what extent a system of total quality management is suitable for
implementation at schools, and will subsequently lead to continuous and
sustainable quality improvement; • determine empirically the extent to which school principals presently apply a system of total quality management, and • to provide guidelines to schools with respect to the implementation of a system of total quality management.
A literature study has been undertaken in order to investigate the nature and
being of total quality management, and how to apply them to an educational
setting. This study also includes an investigation into several theoretical models
regarding the implementation of total quality management. On the bases of those
models a strategy has been designed which serves as a guideline for
implementing total quality management at schools.
As part of the empirical research a questionnaire on total quality management was
forwarded to the principals of selected schools. The aim with the questionnaire
was to ascertain empirically to what extent total quality management is being
applied by school principals, and which aspects of total quality management are
being applied by the majority of schools.
The conclusion of the research contains a summary and findings with regard to
the respective research aims. Schools are being provided with recommendations
and guidelines, based on both literature study and empirical research, in order to
enable them to implement total quality management. === Thesis (MEd)--PU for CHE, 1999
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