BETWEEN THE CUP AND THE LIP: CHANGE MANAGEMENT APPROACHES IN THE EDUCATIONAL SETTING

Bechervaise, N.E., Tarte, A.J. & Tarte, M.J.

The University of Sydney & Ibex Consulting

Abstract

The management of education, of teaching and learning and of administration, at all levels in an educational institution, ultimately determines the quality of student learning. This paper examines the attempted implementation of a singular approach, Total Quality Management, in the management of teaching, learning and administration in a New South Wales independent secondary school in 1993. The paper identifies the need for a climate of change rather than the need to solve intransigent managerial problems as integral to the acceptance of change and isolates several factors which militated against successful implementation of the change in organisational management in the subject school. The paper concludes with the identification of a number of essential differences between the culture of the educational institution and the industrial sites from which TQM was developed and proposes modifications to the TQM approach which might facilitate its uptake in educational institutions. Introduction

Total Quality Management as a concept of management was developed by Dr W. Edwards Deming (1982) and based on the 1930s work of W. A. Shewhart. Its proponents argue that Total Quality Management combines a rigorous, scientific approach to analysing the method of doing things with a focus on the customer and good teamwork by the people participating in the work process. This double focus claim: on effective change implementation occurring conjointly with analysis of the implementation itself, suggests a fruitful collaboration between the initiating manager and the researcher as trainer/consultant.

In practice, Total Quality Management demands a management philosophy supported by well developed and practised techniques and methodology. Often organisations setting out on the Total Quality Management journey must consciously set about changing the organisational culture of their institution as an initial step. Educational institutions are no exception. Recent Australian analyses of the role of leadership in effective educational institution management and its effect on the culture of the institution report increasingly on philosophies which focus on quality. The definition of the term 'quality' has become confused in the rhetoric of government, school and community and the

notion of effectiveness in education has been subsumed within this vague concatenation of terminology.

In addressing what are generally termed 'effective schools', Fullan (1985), for example, identifies the dynamics of schools as effective organisations and lists process factors for success such as

•a leadership style in which the school is seen as being "sailed rather than driven"•the articulation and publication of a guiding value system•intense interaction and communication between all levels of school operation in which students, parents, staff and the wider community are integrally involved in decision-making.

•collaborative planning and interaction at both staff, student and parent levels

Hopkins (1990), on the other hand, identifies organisational factors influencing the effectiveness of schools:

•curriculum focused school leadership leading to an•emphasis on curriculum and teaching which implies•clear goals and high expectations of students. This is necesarily articulated and published through•a system of monitoring performance and achievement. Necessarily, the model demands strong•local education authority and parental involvement and •staff support through on-going staff development and in-servicing.

Effective schooling then, is outcomes-based but management ordained. The motivating factors for the drive to effectiveness may be intrinsic and fundamentally guided by a sense of common purpose, as articulated by Fullan (1985), or extrinsically driven by steadfast adherence to an essentially pre-ordained and externally imposed curriculum, as identified by Hopkins (1990).

Quality, similarly, is variously defined. The government-published ISO 9000 standards have largely been accepted into the jargon of 'quality assurance' in education without any clear determination of their suitability or of the educational model they impose on students and teachers at the classroom level (Hinchcliff, 1993). At best, they may generate a Hopkins-style model of 'quality' education where curriculum success as measured through externally established and externally assessed one-shot examination performance which is entrenched and valorised as the sole instrument for evaluation of the quality of education. This model, of course, sits comfortably with the status quo in New South Wales.

The logic of School improvement

Hopkins (1994 No.2)

EXTERNAL CHANGE

PRIORITY FORSCHOOL DEVELOPMENT

CONDITIONS FORCONDITIONS FORCLASSROOM PRACTICESCHOOL IMPROVEMENT

STUDENT LEARNING GOALSANDTEACHER DEVELOPMENT

Total quality management, on the other hand, is a process-oriented strategy which, although some have seen it as a panacea for all educational management skills (eg Paine, Turner and Pryke, 1992), has become increasingly prone to question as its failure rate in industry

becomes more clearly identified (eg Murgatroyd, 1993).

Nevertheless, despite its earlier promise and its positive promotion (eg Paine, Turner and Pryke, 1992, Hough, 1994), Total Quality Management has not been widely accepted in educational institutions and McLeod (1994) has suggested that problems articulated by the the minority voices should be attended to more critically before the relevance of TQM to schools can be confirmed.

In an attempt to isolate elements common to: the management of effective schools; the satisfaction of quality assurance demands; and the intentions of the TQM process, McLeod (1994) has identified eight critical factors and developed a tentative model for their application to the introduction of TQM into schools.

McLeod Management model(McLeod, 1994 p12)According to McLeod (1994), these critical factors can only be implemented if:•Senior management display observable commitment to, leadership within, and continuing support for the TQM process

and•Senior management integrate negotiated and realistic time commitments to assist the implementation, development and continuance of TQM practice.

McLeod's demands of the senior management of a secondary school imply a devolution of responsibility to the furthest reaches of the institution in return for a level of commitment not usually considered feasible in traditional hierarchical management models

Extending the model, McLeod outlines the eight critical factors as they impinge on the successful implementation of the TQM approach in a secondary school:•ORGANISATION: Support structures need to be put in place before the program is implemented•COMMUNICATION: Well established, on-going, two-way communication channels are a prerequisite to implementation•TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT: On-going training and professional development programs are essential for the support of personnel at every level •EMPLOYEE INVOLVEMENT, COMMITMENT & MOTIVATION: Ownership of ideas and innovations through team approaches is essential•PROCESS MANAGEMENT & SYSTEMS: Established forms of documented quality systems are integral to the TQM system•SCHOOL COMMUNITY & ENVIRONMENT: Effectively market-oriented schools integrate input from every level of the school community and its environment•LEADERSHIP & RESOURCE MANAGEMENT: Transformational leadership is recommended as responsive to staff and student response to any new form of management necessitating greater personal responsibility for quality performance•QUALITY TECHNOLOGIES: Benchmarking, quality costing and plans to articulate and publish these more clearly are integral to the development of clear communication. (after McLeod, 1994 p13-14)

The shift in the management paradigm that occurs when implementing Total Quality Management has been clearly acknowledged by some educationists (Payne, et al, 1992) as the way to cope with, and indeed to implement, change in educational institutions. Hough (1993) argues that 'Total Quality has complete applicability to the service field of education.' and that a paradigm shift in education and educational administration is essential to accommodate significant societal change

into the twenty first century. However, Murgatroyd (1993 p269), formerly a strong advocate for TQM implementation, now identifies failure rates of up to 70 per cent within American industrial sites as being linked with staff resistance to enforced change, lack of observable 'instant' results, lack of adequate resourcing and in-servicing, and equation of TQM with 'downsizing' and 'forced redundancy'

Many educational institutions today are critical of the way they do things. Some educational institutions, with enterprising leadership and community support, are examining new ways of managing their work, the business of organising education. In their reflections and the process of rethinking, increasing numbers are persuaded that the change implementation imposed upon them in the last two decades requires a major change in the culture of their organisation (eg MacPherson, 1989). An increasing number of service organisations, including nursing (Koch & Fairly 1992) and education (Sallis 1993, Murgatroyd & Morgan 1993, Paine, et al 1992), are seeing this shift in thinking as a productive response to the anticipation of continually changing needs and social demands.

The traditional management structure of the secondary schools in New South Wales and, in fact, across Australia is strongly hierarchical, male dominated and maintained through an administrative structure based on the top-down authoritarian model familiarly associated with the 'one dimensional view of power' (Luke, 1974) which promotes influential power cliques at the expense of management efficiency. A review of the Principalships of schools suggests some change in gender balance at senior management levels across the past two decades. Consideration of the gender of the business managers quickly allays this mis-conception.

A Genesis of Change

The weaknesses of the traditional administrative model in responding rapidly and sensitively to change have been frequently and comprehensively demonstrated (Haynes & van Dijk, 1988; Down, 1990; Chadbourne, 1992; Cranston, 1993;)

The history of recent response to initiatives in educational change in Australia and New Zealand has been less positive (Bechervaise, 1992; DEET, 1992; MacPherson 1990) than the apparently equivalent American experience (AASA, 1991; Glasser, 1990; Tribus, 1988). Nevertheless, Paine, et al (1992) report strong acceptance of and immersion in the change process in an Australian State high school setting despite Murgatroyd's (1993) concerns and McLeod's (1994) identification of the lack of research to confirm the claims being made for TQM in the Australian educational setting.

The Australian experience in identifying effectiveness (often seen as being synonymous with quality or quality assurance but not with Total Quality Management) and school culture has concentrated largely on the role and responsibility of a leader, the Principal, within the organisation. A strongly hierarchical boss-dominated management structure, accompanied with a top down leadership style still pervades the majority of Australian educational institutions (Hatton, et al., 1991). This has been seen as particularly so in independent educational institutions where its longevity is often maintained by an

administrative structure based on the authoritarian model so familiarly associated with our colonial origins (Casey & MacPherson, 1990).

A subsequent phase to MacPherson's, (1989) investigation of management effectiveness in educational institutions explored the role of the

Principal as a leader less remote from and more closely associated with those he or she was leading. This phase identified the leadership task as being responsible for maintaining cohesiveness and fostering effective educational institution climate (Strube, 1990).

More recent explorations of the role of leadership in effective educational institution management suggest that the role of the principal is more like that of a facilitator (McGaw, 1991). Here, good leadership encourages negotiation by the competing groups within the educational institution for its limited resources (Turney, et al., 1992).

Recent Australian approaches to analysing the role of leadership in effective educational institution management and its effect on the culture of the educational institution report on a management philosophy which focuses on quality. This approach has been borrowed from commercial enterprises and is now successfully applied to service industries and to government organisations around the world (Tribus, 1988). Its application to Australian educational institutions, explored by Payne, et al. (1992) and by Tarte & Tarte (1992) informs the initiative from which this paper has developed.

Change implementation in an independent school

The study reported in this paper developed in response to research undertaken at St Andrew's Cathedral School following initiation of a professional friendship developed as the result of a chance meeting and discussion with the Principal, Dr Allan Beavis, about an article he had written on chaos theory as applied to schools.

On the basis of his expressed interest in change in the educational environment, the Principal was invited to join in an exploration of the application of Total Quality Management in teaching and learning in his school.

The parties involved came from very different perspectives on change and innovation in educational leadership and organisation but had in common the entrepreneurial aspects of their respective institutions and a diversity in teaching experience.

More specifically, the executive team of the school had identified a number of apparently intractable problems arising from or endemic in the existing management model.

The aim of the exercise for the researchers was to be instrumental in the introduction of the project and document its development over the introduction and implementation phases which were expected to take about twelve to eighteen months. It was hoped that an action research approach would reinforce the implementation of change which should result in a paradigm shift in the school’s attitude to work. Although the researchers were specifically interested in the influence of TQM in the classroom, the management of teaching and learning, it was acceptable that a starting point may have to be negotiated outside the classroom. The principal had, in fact, already observed TQM possibilities.

Deming (1982) placed a concomitant de-emphasis upon processes that create barriers and divide. Consequently, ranking people, giving grades, paying for performance, and such like are seen as counterproductive. This, I saw, as possibly the greatest challenge to the implementation of TQM in schools where grades, rankings and performance evaluations are endemic. Mount Edgecombe High School

(Alaska) has not solved this problem to date. I saw part of a training session that had been videoed, where “competencies” were being promoted and discussed as an alternative to grades and ranks. There was some lively debate among the staff. (Beavis, 1995, in press)

School Description

St Andrew’s Cathedral School was established as the Choir School, preparing choristers for the Cathedral, in 1895. The Anglican boys day school now offers a comprehensive Christian education for upper primary and secondary school students. Today the school has a staff of 56 graduate teachers, one third of whom are female. There are some 700 students, half of whom aspire to tertiary studies. Being centrally located, the school attracts a diverse socio-economic and ethnic student population which is mainly drawn from the metropolitan areas of Sydney and Asian countries.

The school is located in the heart of the city of Sydney flanked by the Town Hall, one of the focal points of the city’s rail system, and the St Andrews Cathedral in Sydney Square. Part of the school is located in St Andrew's House, a large office complex, adjacent to the Cathedral Towers. The senior secondary school is located in a newer office building one block from the St Andrew's House in Druit Street. There is an outdoor campus at Penrose in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales where the boys attend for part of their education.

Phases in the TQM Journey

Awareness Raising

The first phase of the study involved lengthy discussion with the Principal to develop an understanding of what the researchers wished to explore.

Some four months later, this definitional phase was followed up with a one hour presentation for key staff at the school's first term staff development meeting. The presentation was made by Michael Tarte, a qualified trainer with experience introducing Total Quality Management in educational institutions in Australia, New Zealand Malaysia and Eritrea.

A further ten months elapsed before the Principal's acceptance of an introductory course in TQM for selected staff of the school. During that time the Principal had visited a Total Quality Management school, Mt Edgecombe High School (MEHS), in Sitka, Alaska, following which he reflected

Although MEHS is very different from St Andrew’s, my interest in the concepts of TQM was aroused. For one thing, I believe in striving to produce quality (a term I prefer to the buzz word “excellence” with its implicit competitiveness). As a system theorist, I was impressed with the stress on the holistic, total system approach of TQM. Furthermore, I believe that schools constantly need to explore new ideas in order to cope with the continuous changes that occur in the educational world.

At the end of my visit, I had many uncertainties about the principal implications of TQM, but of one thing I was sure: TQM is a way of life involving the espousal and outworking of a set of core values. It could not be implemented merely as a short-term expedient, it required a long-term and total commitment to enable it to become integral to the culture of the school. And a considerable amount of time would need to be devoted to training; but perhaps that is something of intrinsic

value, TQM notwithstanding!

I left MEHS with the feeling that TQM was worth pursuing further and I had the desire to implement some of its concepts (some of which schools already employ under different labels). For a Christian school, a number of the concepts in TQM seemed very appropriate, being in harmony with Jesus’s teaching. For example, the notion of “service”, and putting others first, is implicit in TQM’s emphasis on the customer. And its anti-elitist approach is in harmony with the inclusiveness of the gospel.

In addition:

As a preparation for implementing TQM at St Andrew’s, I attended a three day course conducted by Michael Tarte in July 1992. This gave me

greater insight into both the philosophical and practical aspects of TQM. In particular, I became familiar with some of its core values such as customer satisfaction. There is a strong focus upon the “customer” and a quality organization is “customer driven”. The term “customer”, however, has a broad definition so that there are customers at many levels: the pupil is the customer of the teacher, the teacher is the customer of the administrator, and so on. (Beavis, 1995 in press)

Training by a Consultant

In February 1993, ten months after the first TQM presentation, the Principal activated the offer of the TQM training course for some of St Andrews teaching staff. In order to comply with the school’s wishes, the three day introductory course was shortened to two days. It was attended by twelve selected staff of the school and five visiting teachers, including the deputy headmistress, from nearby Sydney Church of England Girls' Grammar School. For unknown reasons this school was not involved in any subsequent exploration of TQM in their school, either collaboratively or individually.

By May 1993, almost eighteen months since the TQM idea was first discussed, it appeared that the Principal had made a commitment to the project, as demonstrated by his providing some resources, in the form of staff relief time, for those who attended the two day course.

The Principal had agreed that at the conclusion of the introductory course, the school staff would be asked to participate jointly with the Sydney University researchers in an Action Research project at their school. Their primary task would be to record their reflection of the impact of the TQM course on their school work in the form of journal entries. This, together with staff interviews at regular intervals, would be used by the Action Research team to make on-going decisions affecting the project which, it was projected, would gain a self-generating momentum from the support given during the training course.

At the conclusion of that course, Anjo issued the St Andrew’s attendees with notebooks with the request that they diarise their involvement with and impressions of TQM. Here again, more resistance emerged and one person indicated that he was happy to be involved in implementing TQM but the keeping of a diary was too much to expect. His notebook was returned. (Beavis, 1995, in press)

Decision to Research

The Principal remained hesitant to enter the project. Though attracted by the research component, he appeared to be less committed to a change

in management style. After four TQM experiences in a variety of

settings, he continued to express strong misgivings about the appropriateness of the project for his school.

I was keen to “do something” (by virtue of my commitment to Anjo’s research), and, up to a point, I was enthusiastic about TQM, but I was not at all clear how best to implement, and I had not worked through some of my own doubts arising from an ambiguity that I perceived in TQM. On the one hand it is a holistic, systems approach, while on the other its stress upon measurement gives it a decidedly reductionist flavour. (Beavis, 1995, in press)

Other members of the School's Management Committee, in contrast, had found the practical application of TQM the most attractive and challenging aspect of the project and appeared to become impatient with the uncertainty and indicisiveness. The prolonged reflection on TQM by their Principal was interpreted as lack of interest while the Principal identified his staff's lack of apparent enthusiasm for the new 'fad' as 'resistance' to the ideal of TQM in the School.

My next step was to discuss TQM with senior staff at St Andrew’s. It was then that I first detected some resistance. There appeared little enthusiasm for this new “fad” which would make considerable demands upon time and divert attention from other pressing matters. (Beavis, 1995, in press)

Meanwhile each of the members appointed to the 'Quality Committee by the Principal had their own agenda for entering the project. Their individual needs, as well as the team's needs, would have to be met through the project if it was to be successful. The role of leadership in determining the group's direction was to become of great significance in this initial stage of the project.

Peters and Waterman (1982) suggest that good organisations meet the ego needs of their employees. What the TQM consultants as leaders, the researcher and the Principal, had failed to ask each of the Quality Committee was, "What are your needs for this project?" We were developing our own interests and the Principal's "academic interest" but, as a group, we had neglected meeting the needs of all the participants in the venture. As academics we had assumed that participation in an innovative team project would satisfy everyone's needs! As we discovered "the academic approach to the project was not understood by everyone" (interview with Director of Studies).

During the mid year break, a second researcher (Bechervaise) replaced the consultant (Michael Tarte) in the project. It was felt that the contribution of the second researcher as mentor and critical friend might expedite the planning of a project agenda. Objectives were questioned, a research grant was applied for, and an exploration of the possible roles of the original researcher was undertaken.

Attempts to implement TQM

Between the TQM introductory course and the initial project meeting some three more months had elapsed, during which time repeated requests for an initial planning meeting were made by the researchers. At this stage of the project, the researchers recorded the observations of the Committee members. The project moved at a sluggish pace which appeared to be set by the school Principal. As far as could be determined this was the momentum, perceived to be the normal practice and accepted by the Committee. After several meetings the researchers began to wonder

whether this lingering momentum was a conservative approach to change or merely delaying tactics. TQM at St Andrew's did not appear to be getting off the ground.

Contact with the school was renewed at the beginning of third term of 1994 after a "natural" break of school vacation and university practicum and semester break. A further ten weeks had elapsed since the presentation of the TQM introductory course and it appeared that the school was again waiting for the researchers to make contact and initiate further development.

After persistence in communication with the school, an initial meeting date was finally agreed upon for September 1993, some five more weeks later. This indecision in negotiating a starting point in time for the action research had already become the modus operandum for the remainder of the project. It was now nearly two years since the initial presentation of the idea to the Principal.

Searching for a starting point

During the three month interval between the two day TQM course and the first of the Quality Committee meetings, there was much discussion of the most effective composition of the team. Eventually the Principal decided on three school representatives: the Deputy Headmaster, who was responsible for the daily operation of the senior secondary school and who had administered the organisation in the absence of the Principal; the Registrar, who was responsible to the two most senior executives of the school for marketing, enrolment and overseas students ; and the Director of Studies who administered the daily operation of the senior school timetable and was convenor and chairman of the Curriculum Committee and the Staff Development Committee. In the beginning the composition of the Quality Committee seemed appropriate. They were the four most senior management staff, representing a variety of curriculum areas, hand picked by the Principal. What more could be desired since TQM needs to be driven from the top! Nevertheless, none of the committee members had been part of a

colaborative leadership team before and, as a group, found it difficult to overcome their traditional hierarchically defined role to communicate with confidence on the issues at hand during the initial meetings. At the end-of-the-year interviews and at the final meeting in May of 1994, an element of courage was evident when it came to discussing reasons, such as the leadership issue, for terminating the project.

Rozier (1993) claims that TQM ignores the hierarchy of people in organisations such as in educational institutions. TQM appears not to account for the individual's agenda and, as a consequence, coalitions are readily formed within the groups of such institutions.

By this time, the Principal had recognised the wisdom of Rozier's (1993) observation.

TQM focuses upon systemic change and ideally should embrace all participants in the system: from governing body to pupils and parents. This style of thinking and the emphasis upon customer service, have radical implications for hierarchical organizations in that it turns the hierarchy upside down. Principals must ask what their senior staff need to do their job, senior staff must ask the same of teachers, etc. This is very different from supervising and monitoring subordinates. (Beavis, 1995, in press)

Should the researchers have conducted initial interviews and perhaps identified the group dynamics? At that time the researchers believed that a mutual commitment to change would sort things out! They had assumed that the composition of the group, the apex of the school's hierarchy, was united in its approach to the task ahead.

Historically the cross-functional approach, an holistic perspective and development of TQM, came from industry where it was used in the process of re-engineering. The important element of time is addressed here through the use of teamwork and specialisation in the representative composition of the group. This team approach to improving work processes relies heavily on the talents of everyone involved in the processes of that work. At the time this was in direct contrast to the traditional western way where individualism and competetiveness featured heavily in a linear, step by step approach to work. Traditional models of organisation of work were based on bureaucratic, often inefficient and uncreative models of organisations and structures and as such were no longer suitable frameworks for organisations for the twenty first century. (Journal entry, Anjo)

The researchers offered to become the facilitators for the project as no such person had been co-opted in the organisation. At one stage it appeared that the Principal would pick up this role as well as that of

recorder of the meetings. It appeared that any initiative and enthusiasm in the project now would have to stem from the Principal despite the enthusiasm demonstrated by some teaching staff three and a half months earlier at the introductory course.

Quality Committee Meetings

The researchers as facilitators prepared agendas for each meeting based on the developments and decisions made by the Committee. They steered the group along TQM principles and encouraged them to use TQM tools, processes and priorities.

Session 1

At the first meeting of the Quality Committee, a range of issues was brainstormed. Issues included: litter; vandalism; lateness; school sport; change of periods; communication; outdoor education; meetings; the house system; and student self-discipline.

In an attempt to prioritise problem areas and after exploring two of these (litter and vandalism) using a cause and effect diagram, it was decided that the remaining issues of punctuality, school spirit, communication, and student discipline were all part of factors explored in the cause and effect diagram on litter and vandalism.

Prioritising the problem selected for process improvement needed to be both a highly practical one but also politically significant so that it would highlight the positive aspects of the TQM approach. The process selected for improvement had to be very noticeable in the school to encourage empathy for and support of the project. The Quality Committee decided the issues identified for investigation had to be in line with the school philosophy eg., service, intrinsic pride and joy in work, inclusiveness of the Gospel.

Total Quality Management tools were used at this meeting to draw up an agenda. After a lengthy discussion on the school’s problem areas, the issues were prioritised. To facilitate further exploration and clarification, the Principal and the Registrar volunteered to flow

chart the processes contributing to the issue of lateness to class. The Director of Studies suggested that the services of an enthusiastic and capable staff member who had a year nine maths class could take on the measurement task as a class project, thereby involving the students. This teacher, who had also attended the TQM course, would be responsible for developing and supervising the instrument to be used for monitoring the processes during the measurement phase of the project.

The Principal recollects:

It was planned that some staff and students would become involved to some extent, but the project floundered before that point. What difference their participation right from the beginning would have made is an open question. Furthermore, the involvement of staff in the project was limited to “senior” staff: no doubt reinforcing the expectations of hierarchy! (Beavis, 1995, in press)

The Committee decided that for the remainder of third term they would hold regular meetings with the researchers who were to continue to act as facilitators.

Session 2

One of the committee members confessed rather sheepishly that TQM was only thought about on the way to meetings. Another suggested that the researchers were instrumental in keeping them going. The majority of the Committee believed that “boss style” management - “Tell us what to do.” rather than “How do we do this?” or “Can you help us do this?” - was the best way for them to implement TQM in the school. Each was waiting for some direction from the other. As one member commented in an interview, they were all waiting for someone “to run with the project” and nobody took the initiative. As time went on the researchers questioned their suggested role as “boss” type implementers. It eventually became apparent that what was seen as practical was support for the Committee in imposing TQM on the existing structure of the school!

Was change wanted and were these educational leaders really willing and able to engage in a paradigm shift, capable of thinking in a new way? (Journal entry, Anjo)

All members of the Quality Committee, but particularly the Principal, questioned the originality of the TQM approach and repeatedly asked “Aren’t we doing this now?” The Principal, and the Deputy questioned TQM as an appropriate vehicle for educational change because it came from Japan!

Murgatroyd and Morgan (1993) maintain that TQM can be used as a sensitiser because the tools of TQM enable one to understand and respond to new contexts in education. They suggest that TQM tools and strategies enable the development of new models of thinking about managing change in education. It is seen not just as a profit- driven market-place philosophy but as an enhancer, and therefore relevant to any school's performance.

Ann Nicholson (1993) suggests that the use of TQM tools is not understood by educators and, in consequence, that the range of tools is not used by them. Lyn Pearce (1993), co-ordinator of a Glasser program

in the Total Quality School at Castle Hill High (NSW), maintains that “the main job with school teachers is to teach them how to use the TQM

tools so that they have a knowledge of the philosophy and concepts”. Nicholson (1993) claims that 40% of managers in Australia use the TQM tools whereas only selected curriculum areas in educational institutions make use of them, and rarely for management purposes. John Paine, Principal of Ballina High School, reports that probably 20% of his staff use TQM sincerely in their daily work.

Many educators find it difficult to understand that such issues as dissatisfaction and boredom in the classroom can be measured and that this quantifiable evidence can be used to improve teaching and learning. This was clearly evident among the Quality Committee at St Andrew's. The Science Master at Porrirua College in Wellington New Zealand, in contrast, has his students working on their entry behaviours to learning - which is changing the students attitudes to the subject and classroom discipline positively.

At the conclusion of the second meeting 'lateness to class' had been identified as an issue and was explored by flow charting the processes that contributed to the problem. The movement of students between buildings during lesson change over was to be observed in detail and the next meeting was to be devoted to identifying the most important processes for improvement and the key points for measurement. A group of students and their maths teacher was to be involved in collecting the data at the point of measurement. The Principal had decided that, in the mean time, he would approach the maths teacher rather than leave this to the Director of Studies who had initiated the idea. Meanwhile the group would reflect upon the issue and the application of TQM tools and procedures during the ten day interval between meetings.

Session 3

Towards the end of term three, the Committee decided that the measurement of the existing process, as identified in the flow chart, would commence in the third week of term four, directly after the exams which took up the first two weeks. But meetings planned for development and implementation of this measurement process by the Committee were either cancelled or postponed and, as a result, no steps were taken to refine the monitoring process in the weeks leading up to the measurement phase.

In term three the initial stages of the project were characterised by a number of meetings held at regular intervals of some ten to twelve days. At the third and final meeting for that stage of the project a process for improvement had been identified. It now appeared that the Quality Committee had finally made a commitment to continuous

improvement of a process. It had proceeded with delegating particular tasks and responsibilities for the implementation to the members of the group who left that meeting with a sense of purpose, or so it seemed. But school events once more delayed the project! (Journal entry, Anjo)

Session 4

At the beginning of term four, October, 1993, when the researchers attempted to confirm progress of the project, it became increasingly difficult to contact the Principal who cancelled several meetings which had been scheduled for critical stages in the project. Access to key people in the project was hampered by routine end-of-the-year events.

As facilitators, the researchers maintained their regular requests for meetings in term four. Communication with the Quality Committee was

delayed even more by the tedious procedure of having to make contact through the support staff at the school. Time was wasted in the bureaucratic handling of tasks. Where time was gained for one party in the project it was often at the expense of the other's.

Finally, at a meeting at the end of term four, twelve weeks after the previous meeting, it was decided that the measuring phase was on hold until the beginning of the next school year, 1994. However, it was agreed by the Principal that the university researchers would continue with the interview component of the project as scheduled. Subsequently, all four members of the Committee were interviewed at the end of that school year.

Reflections

The Group

Upon reflection on the outcomes of the initial Quality Committee meeting it was evident that a starting point for the practical component of the project would take time. The Committee needed time to learn to function as a team and come to grips with the use of TQM tools and strategies. More importantly, the Action Research approach to the project meant that all members of the Committee would need to participate in a reflective way which necessitated their use of diaries and journals. The researchers had underestimated the need for co-operation between and training of Quality Committee members for this collaborative aspect of the project. (Journal entry, Anjo)

A pattern of management-by-crisis became evident when examining issues for the project. In the initial meeting, the most obvious and most visible problems such as vandalism and litter appeared to be the most important issues for discussion. Relationships between these issues and

others such as communication, school spirit, and the school systems of pastoral care were identified. The idea of attempting an holistic approach in the management of these, as opposed to the existing piecemeal and compartmentalised approach, was acknowledged as being desirable but was not conceptualised into action. Nor could the Committee see the TQM approach would enhance the existing management of the school. By now, time and commitment to exploring TQM as an alternative approach, rather than an add-on bandaid, should have become a priority to the Quality Committee. The opposite happened as important meetings and deadlines were continually cancelled and changed at very short notice, presumably by the Principal, with whom all meetings had to be cleared.

A review of the statements made by staff at the first meeting supports this contention. One member had doubts because it was not seen as a team project. He was referring here to other participants at the TQM course conducted in May. He considered this a waste of school resources as a loss of momentum for the project had already occurred. “Why didn’t we start this three months ago when many of the course participants were enthusiastic and had project ideas in their minds?” In addition, the research component (the reflection through the use of diaries) announced at the conclusion of the two day course, completely spoilt any enthusiasm he had for the project then.

In contrast, another member of the Committee who had been doubtful about TQM prior to the course became very enthusiastic at this meeting. He expressed a willingness to develop the TQM approach by himself if others doubted its value in education. A third member was defensive about the project. He remained unconvinced of the suitability of TQM, “a management concept that came from business”, for such organisations

as schools. This member commented on the time it would take to reflect and write up journals. “Couldn’t we just be interviewed so that we could be made to do things?” was his comment at the time.

Murgatroyd and Morgan (1993) claim that a school’s culture determines the school’s effectiveness in whatever criterion has been identified, eg. the philosophy of academic excellence demonstrated in terms of TER scores of graduating students. School culture, developed through selected strategies within a framework, is specific to that school. Murgatroyd and Morgan suggest that the process of using TQM selected strategies within the organisation’s analytical framework can allow for new ways of thinking and enable leadership to make critical decisions over time. The researchers believe that in many schools TQM was not viewed as a way of doing things ie., continuous improvement but instead was seen, in as many different ways as there were committee members, as fixing up the school’s problems.

Leadership

During the three Committee meetings held in term three 1993, the issue of membership was variously alluded to with the researchers in private, often in furtive conversations around meetings or during occasional telephone conversations with the researchers. As time went by, the issue of suitability of staff selected for the Committee was also questioned by the Principal - with particular reference to the more assertive members in the group. All Committee members commented on each other’s suitability during the interviews, indicating that any one of them would have followed a natural leader who was willing “to run” with the project. As has been noted, the Principal recognised that the hierarchical structuring of staff relationship was inconsistent with TQM which turns hierarchies upside down. The failure to change these traditional expectations would therefore make TQM unworkable in the school as it is now.

Changing style of leadership, teamwork, professional acknowledgment, trust and confidence were all elements with which the Quality Committee still needed to come to grips. It seemed ironic, upon reflection, that the very reason for the staff’s selection to this Committee in fact became the barrier to action and failure of the project’s development. The system of management in this school continued to reinforce individualism and working in isolation by the Committee members. This remains a feature of more traditionally managed organisations where a radical shift in thinking on leadership and management would have to occur to embrace the TQM change.

The Principal asked himself these question and provided this reflection:

What went wrong? Why did this attempt to implement TQM fail? There are no simple answers to such questions. I believe that the reasons lie deep in the nature of schools as social systems and how such systems maintain their identities and protect themselves from environmental disturbances. If change is to be effected and a new management style implemented, then the old patterns by which people are structuring their interactions within the system must be brought out into the open, challenged and replaced. These, however, are seldom clearly recognized within the system and their identification is not at all easy (Beavis 1995 in press).

Clearly, there is a relationship between the culture and cohesiveness of a group. Similarly, there are links between personal behaviour and

concepts such as evaluating, monitoring, measuring, reflecting, creating, persistence, identifying, relevance and flexibility. In addition, there are links between problem solving and interpersonal skills such as searching, asking, locating, exchanging, relating,

experimenting, applying, and provifing feedback. Change implementation which threatens these fundamental relationships and their perception is most likely to be resisted. Savage and Drucker (1991), on the other hand, report managers who claim that successful change implementation is often the result of effective teamwork where staff are encouraged to be innovative, through rule breaking, in an environment of unstructured parameters and sharing with all those involved in the process, including managers, employees, customers, and suppliers. Cohesiveness, teamwork and risk-taking leadership are key factors in initiating and managing change. Such factors were absent in this Quality Committee which, having been invited to entertain change in the school environment, was then denied the supportive atmosphere within which risk-taking and unstructured innovation might be undertaken.

The Principal, however, provides a differing perception of the failure of the group to initiate change.

Senge (1990: 100) has stated that one reason for the failure of quality circles to maintain a momentum derives from the reaction of the system as a whole to the disturbance to the traditional power structures within the system. He goes on to say that the more aggressively a leader promotes a quality circle, “the more people feel threatened and the more stonewalling takes place”. This was evident at St Andrew’s; overtly with the return of “diaries” and covertly in the fact that no diary entries were ever made by other participants. Time was also consistently cited as a problem and other (legitimate) claims on peoples’ time were given priority. My attempts to push the system in the direction of TQM were being resisted and the old institutionalized order was remaining intact. (Beavis, 1995, in press)

Final Meeting for the Project

Quality Committee meetings were often cancelled at short notice by the principal. Meeting times for TQM were moved around continually so that as the term progressed meetings became less frequent. This had a delaying effect in the project’s time frame and progress and a demoralising effect on members of the project. (Journal entry, Anjo)

The researchers’ agenda necessarily included a time frame and parameters relating to the size and magnitude of the process selected for improvement. The researchers at this stage worked from their private means while the school provided any resources it needed for the project, such as release time for staff attending the Quality Committee meetings. Time frames, in the real sense, were determined by the school term dates. Meetings were separated by lengthy breaks and intervening school routines. These over riding events, affecting the continuity and progress of the project were later used as a rationalisation for the loss of enthusiasm for the task at hand.

In light of the researchers’ review of the interview tapes and the apparent inaction of the Quality Committee, it was suggested at a meeting which was initiated by the researchers and finally held in term two, May of 1994, that the school was not ready to continue with the project. This suggestion was immediately reinforced by the Principal declaring his impending resignation and suggesting that the project might be better left to the new Principal. The researchers observed that the suggestion for terminating the project was welcomed by the

remaining three senior staff for a variety of both personal and professional reasons. Further interviews in the remainder of the 1994 school year were agreed to by the Principal in order to explore the project to its conclusion. The results of these have been used to inform the discussions of this paper.

Lessons for educational researchers

While it is a relatively simple task for Principal, Quality Committee and researchers to identify points of fault in the attempted implementation, the over-riding perception is that a worthwhile project failed for reasons which were probably avoidable.

The enthusiasm of the researchers to implement a Total Quality Management approach could only succeed in an environment where the School was, as McLeod (1994) proposed, 'sailed rather than driven'. The presumption that willingness by a leader to undertake change is commitment to accept that change is clearly questionable.

In retrospect, a clear and careful analysis of the site context might have revealed the agendas militating against management change. The role of the School Board was never identified, yet its support for the Principal and senior management team would appear to be predicated on maintenance of formal success indicators already established.

The staff's perception of the Principal's leadership style was identified by the Principal himself as a likely barrier to implementation of change but the style was never examined - by either the Principal, the Quality Commitee or the researchers - though all spoke of it, in confidence, as a mitigating factor.

The lack of involvement of any but the senior management group, the lack of informal general staff level discussion and the lack of reflective record keeping all worked toward maintenance of an isolationist model of management. The Principal knew why he was working with the researchers, the management group knew why they had been selected. No further communication was deemed necessary.

As both Fullan (1985) and Hopkins (1990) point out, a clear set of well publicised expectations or goals, collaborative planning and positive

interaction at staff, parent and student levels coupled with a system of performance and achievement monitoring need all to be in place before management change can be expected to succeed in an educational institution.

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