Educator attitudes towards the appropriateness of Total Quality Management: A survey of elementary and middle school administrators and faculty

The purpose of this study was to determine the perspectives of elementary and middle school educators on the appropriateness of TQM in education. This study was an outgrowth of a study performed by Dr. Harris in 1995. Research was driven by three research questions; To what degree do elementary and middle school educators support the core constructs of TQM? Is there a variance in the attitudes of educators at elementary and middle school grade levels? Is there a variance in the attitudes of educators in Chicago, IL and surrounding suburban areas from those recorded by Dr. Harris (1995) at the University of Maryland? Reaching higher levels of financial, production and/or operational effectiveness and efficiency are goals shared by all organizations. Total Quality Management has been modeled to fit into various industries in different ways, depending on the organization, for years starting in business industries. Educational systems have followed businesses in efforts to reach the goals of greater operational effectiveness resulting in higher quality service. Research and literature exists about Total Quality Management (TQM) in higher education however very little research exists on TQM in elementary and middle schools. Recently, elementary, middle and high schools have followed suit. Americans feel that schools are failing to reach academic standards and corrective measure should extend all the way down to elementary schools. Educators must now make changes to meet expectations placed on them at the school, district, state, and federal levels. These changes are requiring many educators to perform their responsibilities in ways that are foreign to them. A survey instrument was provided to prospective respondents via a link embedded within an email. All prospective respondents were given an explanation of the purpose of the study, instructions on how to complete the survey and a link to the survey. Respondents were provided a link directly to the survey which was entered into a data collection program, Survey Monkey. All survey responses were submitted into Survey Monkey and subsequently downloaded into SPSS; both are data collection software. Based on the data collected, educators at elementary and middle school grade levels support the 10 Core Constructs of TQM. Little to no variance exists in the attitudes of educators regardless of whether they work at the elementary or middle school level. With regards to the last research question, there is no variance in the attitudes of educators in Chicago, IL and surrounding suburban areas from those recorded by Dr. Harris (1995) at the University of Maryland as Dr. Harris reported that the educators in the study supported the core constructs of TQM.