[The following is quoted from the July issue of _TQM_in_Higher
_Education_.]

                    "LISTEN TO THE PEOPLE YOU SERVE"

                           by Clay Schoenfeld

     Responding to complaints about flaws in college and univer-
sity teaching, research, service, and administration, some in
academe assume a defensive posture and ask, "How can they say
that about us when our cause is so noble?"

     Others in higher education are taking public discontent to
heart and borrowing from the Japanese, via American business, an
approach to improvements termed TQM--although the American
Association for Higher Education eschews that nomenclature in
favor of CQI.

     Whatever the terminology, the movement now has a new hand-
book recently published by ASHE-ERIC: Quality: Transforming
Postsecondary Education, by Ellen Earle Chaffee, vice chancellor
for academic affairs for the North Dakota U. System and currently
interim president at Mayville State U. (ND), and Lawrence Sherr,
the Chancellors Club teaching professor of business at the U. of
Kansas.

     Based on the assumption that what was once an acceptable fit
between societal needs and institutional performance is becoming
increasingly unacceptable to those who financially support higher
education. The authors offer TQM as a "comprehensive philosophy
of living and working in organizations that emphasizes the
relentless pursuit of continuous improvement" and that "calls for
a major transformation of organizational values, norms, struc-
tures, and processes."

     Chaffee and Sherr clearly relate TQM concepts and procedures
to the academic and administrative areas of campus. For example,
they suggest TQM's applicability to admissions staff concerned
about how long it takes to respond to student queries for appli-
cation materials, to the faculty member wondering whether student
are learning what they need to know to compete in the job market,
and to the controller trying to speed up delivery of expense
reimbursement checks to faculty and staff. 

     The old practice of controlling quality primarily through
selecting only high-quality students will no longer cut it, the
authors say. They call for "greater attention to the quality o
process, design, and output."

     To develop and implement a new approach to institutional
quality, Chafee and Sherr say these fundamental cultural changes
must occur:

     ù The organization's values, mission, and goals must be
     clearly and specifically defined so participants know what
     the end objectives are.
     
     ù The expectations of those receiving the value of the
     services must be considered when measuring the success of
     the activity.
     
     ù Each individual must accept personal responsibility for
     achieving the organization's goals and accomplishing its
     mission.
     
     ù Constant evaluation of the systems must become routine to
     know how successfully the goals are being achieved and the
     mission being fulfilled.
     
     ù The institution must train its personnel at all levels to
     ensure sufficient skills to accomplish the mission.
     
     But the book doesn't just spout platitudes; it's full of
real situations exemplifying pervasive problems and practical
solutions, and contains an extensive bibliography.

     "The primary job of administration is to remove the barriers
that prevent people from achieving quality work processes," the
authors prescribe, but "the faculty must play the most important
role" in adapting TQM to academic activities.

     To them, Chaffee and Sherr offer this benediction:

     "When you are sitting in your office alone at the end of the
day, wondering how you ever got into this quality business and
not sure what in the world to do next, you can do one thing that
will answer both questions: "Listen to the people you serve."

For more information, contact: ASHE-ERIC, 1 Dupont Circle, NW,
Suite 630, Washington, DC 20036; Ph: 202/296-2597. Cost: $17.

[For more information or to subscribe, contact:
TQM in Higher Education
Magna Publications, Inc.
2718 Dryden Drive
Madison, WI 53704-3086
Phone: 608-246-3580 or 800-433-0499]