Investigating the factors affecting the readiness for TQM implementation within Libyan higher education institutions

Ben Jaber, AA

Abstract

Total Quality Management (TQM) is a philosophy for continuously improving services
and/or products. Organisations which have adopted TQM have gained many benefits in
terms of profits, employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction. Despite such benefits,
research data has revealed that more than 2/3 of organisations which adopted TQM
ended up failing to implement it. Therefore many researchers have suggested
conducting organisational readiness assessment prior to the implementation phase. The
Libyan HEIs believed that TQM would solve many of their problems and some
Universities had shown an intention to implement a TQM approach.
There is some literature on readiness for implementing TQM. The majority of the
studies have dealt with the manufacturing sector, fewer have covered the service sector,
even fewer have studied Higher Education and none have investigated the Libyan
Higher Education sector.
The main aim of this research was "to investigate the factors that affect the readiness
for implementing TQM within Libyan HEIs". This research has adopted a
phenomenological philosophy and has used multiple case studies as a research strategy.
Two case study organisations were selected from Libyan public Universities. The
relevant data was collected using different sources of evidence such as semi-structured
interviews, documentation, archival records and direct observations. Explanation
building methods were employed to analyse the collected data.
The following contributions to knowledge have emerged from this research. The
research provides specific original findings which include: one of the motives behind
the intention for implementing TQM was to apply and maintain the University's
regulations; staff had a perception that God was monitoring their job performance and
staff considered that one of the roles of continuous improvement was to improve ethical
aspects of the behaviour of staff members. In addition, the findings of this research
strengthen the existing literature on TQM in HEIs and reduce the gap in knowledge
applying to Libyan studies.

Citation

Ben Jaber, A. Investigating the factors affecting the readiness for TQM implementation within Libyan higher education institutions. (Thesis). Salford : University of Salford

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: Oct 3, 2012
• Award Date: Jan 1, 2010