L. David Weller

Department Heads: The Most Underutilized Leadership Position

Literature and practice have shown ambiguity in the roles and responsibilities of department heads, yet it is a position that is vital to efficient school operations. This article describes a survey conducted of 200 department heads to determine job performance. Results show that the role is poorly defined and multifaceted, and most department heads lack adequate preparation. Suggestions for improvement are offered.

Return on quality: a new factor in assessing quality efforts

Argues that the quest for quality is international in scope, with many nations adopting the total quality management (TQM) principles as a way of achieving educational reform. Early indicators of TQM’s success are increases in student achievement, student self‐concept and teacher morale. However, quality programmes are not free and the concept of accountability is ever‐present in the minds of stakeholders who demand positive returns on their investments. Without a means to demonstrate successful returns on quality investments, public support and confidence in the schools may drastically decrease and TQM may be perceived as too expensive for public support. For those implementing TQM, the question is: how do I demonstrate the return on quality investments? The answer lies in measurement. This involves assessing customer need and expectations; producing quality outputs which meet or exceed customer satisfaction, and then documenting these returns by directly linking quality education outputs with the inputs of time, money, and effort.

Unlocking the culture for quality schools: reengineering

Successful school reform requires a paradigm shift which begins with unlocking the school’s existing culture before attempts are made to integrate reform variables. Reengineering, and rethinking and radical redesign of internal processes calls for discarding current practices and reinventing better ways to supply products and services. Holistic thinking, cross‐sectional configurations, proactive behaviour patterns, reward for innovation and creativity, and the demise of traditional infrastructures are essential for facilitating fluid social, economic and political trends into the 21st century. Educators must think differently about the purpose of schools and their delivery and redesign infrastructures which are built on shared values and beliefs, multiple interacting linkages and teamwork. School leaders are the catalysts for change and, working with the school’s power agents and modeling expected behaviours, motivate teachers to replace the old culture with new processes of schooling. Shared ownership of case values, realistic and achievable goals and collaboration places the responsibility for creating a reengineered delivery system on teachers themselves.

School attendance problems: using the TQM tools to identify root causes

Deming’s quality managment principles (TQM) are widely used as a school restructuring vehicle and produce increases in student achievement and self‐esteem and increased teacher morale and self‐confidence. Application of Deming’s principles and the TQM problem‐solving tools and techniques can be used to solve noninstructional problems of schooling. These areas, which create unnecessary costs to the school and community, include vandalism, school dropouts and student absenteeism. This case study presents a model for principals to apply to provide quality outcomes, at reduced cost, in noninstructional areas. Using teachers, parents, community members, and applying the problem‐solving tools and techniques of TQM to identify root problem causes, principals can identify realistic solutions which yield positive results and reduce costs in academic and nonacademic areas.

Benchmarking: a paradigm for change to quality education

Utilizes benchmarking as an effective and efficient way to manage the change process for quality transformation in schools. Originally conceptualized as competitive intelligence gathering, benchmarking can also be a vehicle for planned, orderly change. Discusses the practices of generic and strategic benchmarking with the importance of personalizing the change processes through matching teacher knowledge, skills and interests to their benchmarking assignments. Presents reasons as to why teachers resist change in general, and presents an adoption model which uses some of the TQM tools and techniques to facilitate whole‐school implementation of the quality principles.

Principals, Meet Maslow: A Prescription for Teacher Retention.

If teachers are to perform at their best, reasons this author, they need a favorable school climate. He believes Maslows construct of needs provides a model that princi pals can use to pro vide such a climate.

Total Quality Management and School Restructuring

School restructuring efforts in the USA have failed in the past because no clear conceptual model or delivery system existed which allowed for unified implementation of restructuring. However, lessons from successful corporations using total quality management (TQM) are now providing educators with a proven process to attain quality education through a structured, systematic delivery system designed to promote continuous improvement. Georgia has become one of the states turning TQM as a conceptual model for reform. Describes the TQM initiative in Georgia′s public schools, including how the need for reform was identified, who is driving the reform efforts, and how these efforts are progressing.

Application of the multiple intelligences theory in quality organizations

Multiple intelligences theory contends that there are multiple “intelligences”, at least seven types of human capacities and abilities, which exist and can be found in each individual in varying degrees. This theory has made a major impact in the educational field, but it also has applications for other types of quality organizations. Businesses can use multiple intelligences theory to structure workshops and training sessions for employees which will enhance teamwork, develop human potential, and foster creativity.

School restructuring and downsizing: using TQM to promote cost effectiveness

Examines an alternative to downsizing in the restructuring of organizations. Suggests that the restructuring and downsizing of staff often result from economic inefficiency. They are used to make immediate financial savings and to keep floundering organizations solvent. Such practices seldom produce sustained results. New financial difficulties soon arise because the root of the problem is not addressed – poor management practices.

Teamwork and Cooperative Learning: An Educational Perspective for Businesses

Although educators have been slower than business people to recognize the potential of total quality management (TQM) as a means for product improvement, educators are now reporting success with the process. TQMs emphasis on leadership, teamwork, and c..