Learning to “Walk the Talk”

Abstract

This research describes a case study of a major university that has just recently dedicated itself to implementing a total quality management (TQM) program. A combination of deconstruction and metaphor analysis is used to present a dismantling of the micropractices involved when members first attempt to understand, use, and cope with a new management strategy. This project presents that necessary first step for unpacking the complex and volatile dynamics that are an inherent part of the quality program implementation and institutionalization process. The micropolitics under investigation suggest that the movement of TQM philosophy and processes from the corporate sector into higher education is potentially dysfunctional in two different and interrelated aspects: (a) TQM hegemony has a potential to reify linear and dualistic thinking; passive, bounded, regimented, and efficiency-focused thinking tends to be privileged over critical, self-reflective, strategic, and creative thinking, and (b) TQM hegemony has a potential to reprioritize traditional values of higher education; efficiency, cost effectiveness, and productivity begin to replace experimentation, the inherent value of ideas, and critical/creative pedagogy.