Tables (8.8) to (8.14) show the statements of each principle, the frequencies (Percentages) for each statement. The tables (8.7) to (8.14) also presents the rank order according to mean rating for the agreement of the top management with each statement in every principle.
8.4.1 Commitment toward TQM:
Table (8.8) includes five statements that were grouped to examine the attitudes of the top management respondents regarding commitment toward TQM, reports the means of respondents in the sample regarding this matter and the rank order.
Table 8.8 Top Management (Commitment toward TQM) Percent
No. Statements
SA A U D SD
Mean Rank
Q1 Management must ensure
consistency between MOE
mission and actual
performance.
100.0 0 0 0 0 5.00 1
Q2 It is critical for management to
understand change process.
18.8 43.8 37.5 0 0 3.81 2
Q3 Open communication between
managers and staff must be encouraged and rewarded.
0 81.3 18.8 0 0 3.81 3
Q4 Development needs support
from management.
0 56.3 37.5 6.3 0 3.50 4
Q5 Management must act as a role
model in the development.
0 50.0 37.5 12.5 0 3.38 5
Table (8.8) illustrates that the top management generally agreed with the principle "commitment toward TQM" with a mean ranging between 3.50 and 5.00. Not surprisingly, the response rate to statement 1 was 100% strongly agree. In contrast, statement 5 was the least agreed with statement with a mean of 3.38.Whereas top management were clear about the purpose in ensuring direction and performance, there seems to be some concern with the specific role in bringing about change. This might due to the top management’s role in planning more than implementation. Although the majority of top management agreed with statements 2, 4, and 5, 37.5% of them were uncertain. This quite high uncertainty can lead to a dilemma in TQM implementation where it is not possible to start implementation without top management support and belief in TQM.
8.4.2 Focus on Stakeholders
Table (8.9) includes four statements that were grouped to examine the attitudes of the top management respondents regarding “Focus on Stakeholders”. It reports the means of respondents in the sample regarding this matter and the rank order.
Table 8.9 Top management (Focus On Stakeholders) Percent
No. Statements
SA A U D SD
Mean Rank Q6 Planning development requires
stakeholders’ opinions.
18.8 18.8 31.3 31.3 0 3.25 4
Q7 MOE development could be
measured through
stakeholders’ satisfactions.
0 75.0 12.5 12.5 0 3.63 3
Q8 It is important to survey
regularly stakeholders’ needs and expectations.
18.8 56.3 12.5 12.5 0 3.81 2
Q9 MOE plans should consider
internal and external stakeholders’ attitudes.
31.3 50.0 18.8 0 0 4.13 1
From table (8.9), it appears that the top management agreed with the need to take into account stakeholders' attitudes with a mean ranging between 3.25 and 4.13. However, this principle had more uncertainty and disagreement responses than other principles. There is an inconsistency here in some of the responses: whereas top management mostly agreed with statement 9, “MOE plans should consider internal and external stakeholders’ attitudes,” they seem less certain in relation to perhaps actively involving stakeholders in this development, as suggested by the level of uncertainty 31.3% and of the level of disagreement, 31.3%. This might be because the extant management structures, as indicated previously in this chapter, tend to be top-down with less focus on stakeholders.
8.4.3 Continuous Improvement
Table (8.10) includes seven statements that were grouped to examine the attitudes of the top management respondents regarding “Continuous Improvement”. It reports the means of respondents in the sample regarding this matter and the rank order.
Table 8.10 Top Management (Continuous Improvement) Percent
No. Statements
S.A. A U D SD
Mean Rank Q10 Never ending process of
improvement is critical to MOE development.
31.3 56.3 12.5 0 0
4.19
7
Q11 Planning in MOE should be in
long term.
87.5 12.5 0 0 0
4.88
1
Q12 Plans in MOE must be
flexible.
50.0 50.0 0 0 0
4.50
5
Q13 Plans in MOE should usually
be renewed and updated.
68.8 31.3 0 0 0
4.69
3
Q14 Defect prevention should
replace defect detection.
81.3 18.8 0 0 0
4.81
Q15 It is important to solve day to
day problem immediately.
56.3 43.8 0 0 0
4.56
4
Q16 Elements of MOE should be
evaluated regularly.
31.3 68.8 0 0 0
4.31
6
From table (8.10), it was clear that top management's attitude toward continuous improvement was generally positive with a mean range between 4.31 and 4.88. Just 12.5% of them stated their uncertainty statement 10. Apart from this, all of them agreed completely with the rest of the statements in this principle. They agreed most with the long-term planning (statement 11) and least with the criticality of the never-ending process of improvement in MOE (statement10). A possible reason behind this is that they had been exposed to individual development projects which were not necessarily linked together. There is considerable challenge for a manager in the idea of “Continuous Improvement”. Again this emerges, as we will see, from the open-ended questions as well as from the interviews.
8.4.4 Involvement and Empowerment
Table (8.11) includes seven statements that were grouped to examine the attitudes of the top management respondents regarding “Involvement and Empowerment” and reports the means of respondents in the sample regarding this matter and the rank order.
Table 8.11 Top Management (Involvement and Empowerment) Percent
No. Statements
SA A U D SD
Mean Rank Q17 Development should be
carried by all members of MOE.
0 100.0 0 0 0
4.00
6
Q18 MOE staff should share in
decision making in the MOE.
56.3 43.8 0 0 0
4.56
3
Q19 External stakeholders should
share in decision making in the MOE 0 87.5 12.5 0 0 3.88 7 Q20 Teamwork should be emphasized. 0 56.3 43.8 0 0 3.56 8
Q21 Responsibility, authority and
accountability must be delegated as closely as possible to those performing the work.
100.0 0 0 0 0
5.00
1
Q22 Feedback should be
encouraged from the stakeholders.
31.3 50.0 18.8 0 0
4.13
5
Q23 MOE’s goals and policies
must be communicated regularly to staff .
37.5 62.5 0 0 0
4.38
Q24 Management must make every
effort to any staff’s ideas, opinion, questions or concerns.
87.5 12.5 0 0 0
4.88
2
From table (8.11), it appeared that the majority of top management group agreed with “Involvement and Empowerment” principle with a mean range between 3.56 and 5.00. The participants agreed mostly with statement 21 “responsibility, authority and accountability must be delegated as closely as possible to those performing the work” with 100% strongly agreeing. However, responsibility, authority and accountability seem to be in relation to individual staff rather than collectively as there was less certainty about teamwork. On the other hand, statement 20 ranked the least with a frequency percentage of 56.3% for agreement and a frequency percentage of 43.8% for uncertainty and no strongly disagree response. One of the reasons might be the previous experience of the participants as they had limited direct experience of teamwork. However, in the interview one of the top management stated that teamwork is a possible solution for some of TQM implementation obstacles.
8.4.5 Training and Education
Table (8.12) includes six statements that were grouped to examine the attitudes of the top management respondents regarding “Training and Education” and reports the means of respondents in the sample regarding this matter and the rank order.
Table 8.12 Top Management (Training and Education) Percent
No. Statements
SA A U D SD
Mean Rank Q25 Training is essential for
managers as well as staff.
12.5 87.5 0 0 0
4.13
5
Q26 Training is a continual process
for all staff.
37.5 25.0 37.5 0 0
4.00
4
Q27 Staff should understand the
development process.
37.5 62.5 0 0 0
4.38
3
Q28 Staff must have their roles
identified clearly.
68.8 31.3 0 0 0
4.69
2
Q29 Training must be planned
according to MOE’s mission.
100 0 0 0 0
5.00
1
Q30 Training must be provided
equally to all MOE staff.
12.5 37.5 18.8 31.3 0
3.31
6
As shown in table (8.12), for the training and education principle, there was a common agreement with this principle. It can be observed that the participants considered statement 29 as a central issue with a “100%” strongly agree. However, how this training is to be implemented appears to be an issue with more dispersed results. This is a critical issue in the MOE as the results of the open-ended questions revealed that one of TQM
implementation obstacles will arise if training is not fairly distributed across staff. This is in addition to the results of the interview as one of the top management mentioned that this is central:
Training, training and training about how to think and work in teams about how to accept new ideas and accountability
Notably, although almost a quarter of the top management agreed with statement 26 and 37.5 % strongly agreed with the same statement, still 37.5% were uncertain. This could be related to the result of statement 30. Some of the top management disagreed and some others were uncertain about providing training to all the staff. Consequently, they must be uncertain about the continuity of training to all staff. An important point here to be considered in TQM implementation is the provision of training to everyone.
8.4.6 Tools and Techniques
Table (8.13) includes five statements that were grouped to examine the attitudes of the top management respondents regarding “Tools and Techniques” and reports the means of respondents in the sample regarding this matter and the rank order.
Table 8.13 Top Management (Tools and Techniques) Percent
No. Statements
SA A U D SD
Mean Rank Q31 Decisions in the MOE must be
based on data.
50.0 37.5 12.5 0 0
4.25
4
Q32 Statistical tools must be used
to collect data about MOE problems.
31.3 68.8 0 0 0
4.31
3
Q33 Statistical tools must be used
to collect data for planning improvement.
18.8 81.3 0 0 0
4.19
5
Q34 Different tools and techniques
must be used to measure development.
100.0 0 0 0 0
5.00
1
Q35 Using other similar
organizations experiences for planning MOE’s plans is useful.
50.0 50.0 0 0 0
4.50
2
It is clear from table (8.13) that the participants generally agreed with the tools and techniques principle. It can be observed that the participants considered statement 34 as the most agreed with 100% strongly agreeing. This result could be a consequence of the failure of many development programs resulting from the lack of accurate measurement as
reported in the interviews. On the other hand, statement 33 was considered as the least agreed with. However, it is still ‘strongly agreed’ with and has a mean of 4.19.
8.4.7 Rewards
Table (8.14) includes four statements that were grouped to examine the attitudes of the top management respondents regarding “Rewards” and reports the means of respondents in the sample regarding this matter and the rank order.
Table 8.14 Top Management (Reward) Percent
No. Statements
SA A U D SD
Mean Rank Q36 There must be clear reward
system in the MOE.
100.0 0 0 0 0
5.00
1
Q37 Rewards can encourage staff to
work without fail.
68.8 31.3 0 0 0
4.69
4
Q38 Rewards should be established
according to staff’s needs.
81.3 18.8 0 0 0
4.81
3
Q39 Rewards can encourage
innovation.
100.0 0 0 0 0
5.00
2
As shown in table 8.14, there was strong agreement with this principle with a mean range between 4.69 and 5.00.There is not any disagreement or uncertainty responses. They strongly agreed with a mean of 5.00 with both statements 36 and 39. This might due to the prominent role rewards play in encouraging development.