Total Quality Management (TQM) is not another"add-on" but a wholly reconceived approach to managing educational institutions. Some common start-up problems are lack of feasible leadership commitment, poor data and deployment plans, and inadequate managerial skills. Postlaunch problems include team and measurement mania, overzealous selling of…

Describes a massive cultural transformation project at two Charlotte, North Carolina, elementary schools that used Deming's total quality management principles to restructure curricula according to Boyer's eight commonalities of learning. Shows how the FADE (focus, analyze, develop, and execute) model was used to develop a well-coordinated,…

Adaptation of the Total Quality Management approach to organizational improvement at Oregon State University involved creation of 10 pilot finance and administration teams and implementation of a 10-step problem-solving process. The approach has improved staff morale as well as client services. (MSE)

A combination of total quality management and transformational leadership is necessary for successful change in organizations. Data about the thinking and problem solving of nine secondary school principals in Ontario (Canada) demonstrate that one principal displayed high levels of expert thinking and transformational leadership, meeting the…

Total Quality Management is a team approach that challenges administrators to rethink their traditional decision-making and problem-solving strategies. This article describes the use of pilot programs (Key Communicators Network, School Leadership Teams, and a Number "One"derful Idea program) to help teachers feel part of a professional…

Management by spontaneity shuns job descriptions, supervisory duties, needs assessment, strategic planning, group process, and problem solving. Not for the fainthearted, MBS requires knowledge of psychology, lawyerly skills, and philosophic wisdom. MBS remains untested, as current job descriptions have confined authors to MBO and TQM. (MLH)

An external evaluation was made of the Competitive Skills Project, a National Workplace Literacy Program carried out in partnership between El Camino College and BP Chemicals. Among the problems identified were the following: (1) because the original director and his successor left the project, the original evaluation design could not be…