AbstractThe Department of Mechanical Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin has pursued a rational and considered course of action for adapting the methods of Total Quality Management (TQM) for improving a broad range of our administrative processes. To initiate this effort, the academic, shop and research staff along with members of the faculty holding administrative responsibility participated in an in‐house six day series of training meetings on the tools of TQM. Topics of the training included team functioning principles, data acquisition and statistical analysis tools, process identification and evaluation, self assessment, and strategic planning techniques. Members of the staff and faculty took part in the training on an equal basis. Quality teams have been established to address processes selected from an extensive list of candidates. Most teams have members from both faculty and staff, plus a trained quality advisor. In addition, quality groups have formed spontaneously from functional working groups of staff following equipping with TQM tools. Initial results have been encouraging, with improved service to customers, reduction of cycle times, and improved interpersonal relations.