Application of Computer-Aided Total Quality Management on Administration and Management of College Departments

Author: Jyhjong Lin(Department of Information Management,Ming Chuan University)

Vol.&No.：Vol. 48, No.2
Date：December 2003
Pages：149-166
DOI：10.6210/JNTNULL.2003.48(2).05

Abstract：

In recent years, requests for educational reforms have been highly voiced and resulted in many significant changes on our educational system that include among others the rapid increase of the number of colleges from 70 in 1991 to over 150 in 2002; the total number of college students has already reached 3.7 % of the population. Under such a competitive environment, these colleges, especially those private ones, have started stressing on how to maintain their competence and attract best students for achieving their everlasting operations. Amongst all possible ways to reach these objectives, such tasks that are explicit to promote the satisfactory degree of their service recipients (e.g., students, parents, and enterprises) as enhancing the quality of curricula, improving administrative and service efficiencies, and assisting students on professions and graduate studies, have become the focuses for which these colleges strive. Although these tasks can only be accomplished via the collaborations between all offices on the campus, academic departments that assist directly students on their curricula, studies, and professions plays a critical role and hence how to ensure their contribution on these tasks becomes the major point of each college. After the endeavoring of many paramount researchers in 1980's, total quality management (TQM) has become a mainstream of the management context and provided the vitality of promoting the competence of enterprises. At the end of 1980's, educational circles noticed also the application of TQM on education; they recognized as a new way utilizing the concepts and techniques of TQM to improve the quality of education. Hence, many countries started adopting TQM to improve the quality and efficiency of their schools; this paper is purposed to explore issues about applying TQM on the administrative and managerial work of academic departments in order to enhance the quality of their curricula, improve their administrative and service efficiencies, and promote their assistance on professions and studies. Firstly, we will study the theories and implementation process of TQM, and, under the consideration of such departments' characteristics, propose a TQM solution suitable for them. In addition, since the success of implementing TQM depends largely on the collection and analysis of correct and necessary data, utilizing an adequate management information system (MIS) for aiding the implementation is a critical factor of success. Therefore, we will explore then how a MIS can be utilized in the implementation of the TQM solution, which include (1) the MIS-aided implementation process; (2) the architecture of the MIS and its components; (3) functions provided by the MIS for quality analysis and improvement; and (4) data employed in the MIS with regards to the quality and implementation process.

Keywords：computer-aided TQM, MIS, administrative management of college department

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