Discusses organizations' use of quality improvement teams in total quality management and how they can benefit from training team personnel in how to select projects with a low risk of stalling. Describes an efficient written assessment test of project selection ability designed for those who conduct evaluations of training sessions. (Author/LRW)

Suggests that the quality in higher education (HE) debate is narrowly focused on adapting industrial quality systems. Asserts that quality management's (QM) practice in HE is deteriorating into managerialism because of lack of shared vision and match between QM techniques and educational processes. Proposes a new approach with QM as the broad…

Using the Continuous Improvement for Global Innovation Management model, organizational learning in a multinational corporation was investigated. Barriers included time pressures, cultural differences, and inflexible hierarchy. Units with different operational foci emphasized different types of learning. Participants represented different…

Describes the use of total quality management to improve the academic achievement of students in Norfolk (Virginia) Public Schools. (PKP)

Adult education and Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) have at least 10 areas of commonality, the most obvious being that they are both client centered. They have gone against the grain of excessive specialization by becoming advocates for interdisciplinary learning and interconnected functions. (JOW)

Describes training programs based on the secrets of star performers in a company. Discusses the steps to implementing a star performer program: (1) determine that there is an identifiable performance deficit; (2) define and identify the star performer; (3) determine how star performers do it; and (4) train the average performer. (JOW)

Organizational quality improvements involve adoption of new values, achieved by apprenticing workers to new discourses of "empowerment" and "learning organizations," which silences some workers. Educational institutions should critically evaluate the quality agenda before attempting to implement it. (SK)

Examines the relationship between strategic management and quality management concepts in a library and information services setting. Conceptual frameworks are presented and a new strategic quality management framework, inspired by the Japanese policy deployment approach, is developed that also discusses total quality management. (Author/LRW)

An Irish company embarked on implementing a business excellence model and continuous improvement initiatives. Some employees' reluctance to participate impeded organizational learning, but the creation of a culture that encouraged, facilitated, and rewarded learning enabled movement toward excellence. (Contains 64 references.) (SK)

This is the first report from an ongoing study of four urban school districts (New York, New Orleans, Chicago, and the District of Columbia) that are experimenting with new school designs and new ways of holding schools accountable for performance. This report introduces the idea of a "portfolio school district," and shows how some leading school…

It is commonly assumed that there is a zero sum contest between assurance and enhancement: the drive to secure the accountability of institutions to their external stakeholders, and of teachers to their managers, is thought to undermine the creativity and commitment of "front line" academic staff. In exploring the roots of the problem,…

Far too many career and technical education schools overlook the opportunity to establish and cultivate real long-term emotional attachment and loyalty with prospective students and their parents. This occurs because of a basic misconception at the school that they are not in control of their own marketing and recruitment process. Community…

Lessons from the work of the eleven Urban Educator Corps member institutions are outlined. They include the necessity to create strong partnerships, foster university leadership and address a compelling local need. Successful initiatives build strong financial networks as well as connect the classroom with the community and with parents and…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the introduction of a quality assurance system in a new, private university in Syria, and considers the extent to which the theoretical model based on institutional theory and isomorphism is reflected in practice. Design/methodology/approach: A five year longitudinal study which reviews the design,…

During the past two decades, colleges and universities have used best practices from corporate management such as total quality management, strategic planning, management by objectives, benchmarking, data warehousing, and performance indicators. Many institutions of higher learning now have adopted comprehensive and multifaceted approaches to…