Effectiveness of Total Quality Management (TQM) in the English Language Teaching (ELT) Community

Abstract

This research focuses on total quality management and the effectiveness of its integration in the English language teaching community. The purpose of the study was to determine the extent to which the top management involves the ELT community in their managerial operations and to determine the extent to which the principles of TQM are applied in TESOL educational institutions in Cairo as perceived by TESOL teachers. This exploratory study used a mixed research design collecting and analyzing both quantitative and qualitative data. A quantitative questionnaire was administered and qualitative in-depth interviews were conducted with fifty TESOL teachers working in seventeen private TESOL educational institutions in Cairo. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics (means, standard deviations and frequency counts) to determine both the level of the TESOL community involvement in the top managerial level operations and their perception about TQM principles applied in TESOL educational institutions. The empirical results from the study showed that TESOL teachers are not involved in top managerial operations and that only four TQM principles out of nine principles are applied in TESOL educational institutions. The most strongly implemented TQM principle was customer focus, while the strategic planning and process and system approach were the least implemented TQM principles. The findings suggest that accreditation in private schools and educational institutions is not a guarantee that TQM principles are being implemented or followed and the idea of what it means to be accredited and what it means to provide quality service needs to be reexamined.