The Implementation of Total Quality Management (TQM) On the Higher Educational Sector in Jordan

Abstract

TQM is a philosophy and system for continuously improving the services and/or products offered to customers. Now that the technologies of transportation and communication have replaced national economic systems with a global economy, nations and businesses that do not practice TQM can become globally non-competitive rather rapidly. This march towards non-competitiveness can be avoided if citizens are helped to become TQM practitioners. After its development and phenomenal success, Total Quality Management (TQM) was applied outside the industrial sectors to educational organizations, such as universities. This paper investigates the application of TQM to educational organizations using Jordanian higher educational sector as a model example. Higher Education is an important sector in Jordan. The government has introduced several laws and constitutions aimed to further develop this sector, improve its ability to compete. However, little work has been done to measure and control quality in this sector. The work will show that the use of TQM can be of great benefit to the Jordanian universities, as it will lead to an increase in the organization students’ orientation and competitive edge. The paper will also investigate the relation between the application of TQM and the increase in the educational performance and efficiency. The results show that the application of TQM in the Jordanian educational sector leads to increase productivity and ability to compete toward excellence.