Barriers to Applying TQM in the Classroom

Applying the TQM principle of continuous quality improvement to teaching requires an understanding of faculty discomfort with and resistance to the business-oriented approach of the TQM model. Schauerman and Peachy (1994), Heverly (1994), and Chaffee and Sherr (1992) describe some of the barriers to translating TQM to the classroom:

• faculty resistance to the notion of the student as customer or beneficiary;
• faculty resistance to interference in their disciplinary and teaching expertise;
• differences between faculty and TQM reward and recognition systems;
• threats to academic freedom;
• Costs of TQM training, which take away from direct classroom support.