THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK PART 2: THE DEMING CYCLE FOR SUPPORT AND ITS RELEVANCE TO DISTRICT SUPPORT FOR TEACHING AND LEARNING

Using the Deming Cycle as part of the theoretical framework of this study was relevant, as this model consists of four stages which are planning, doing, checking and acting. The four stages of the study are in line with what de Grauwe and Carron (2007) referred to as monitoring quality in education. The third stage of the Deming Cycle focuses on action which is one of the components of monitoring quality in education. De Grauwe and Carron (2007) argue that action can be preventative, corrective or reinforcement- orientated and it is an essential part of monitoring.

The Deming Cycle was developed by Juran as a model of support and monitoring. This model outlines the way an organisation should go about monitoring its work in order to achieve targets (Landesberg, 1999). This model fits well as education district offices are local DoE organisations that are tasked to support teaching and learning in schools with the aim of improving learner achievement. Deming was a philosopher who desired to provide a new way to view the world and Juran was a practitioner who desired to teach people better management practices (Landesberg, 1999). Because of their different approaches, Deming's work tends to appeal to theoretically-minded individuals,

57 whereas Juran's tends to appeal to the practically-minded. Deming, on the one hand, provided a new and comprehensive theory for managing organizations and human enterprises by describing production as a system of interrelationships between consumer research, design (and redesign), suppliers, materials, production, assembly, inspection, distribution, and consumers as an integral contribution. He believed that a system must have an aim, and that for an organization to be managed effectively, the aim must be clear to everyone. Juran on the other hand provided an analytical approach to managing quality by providing advice on quality planning, quality control, and quality improvement. He advocated specific management practices to encourage and foster improvements in product and service. While Deming described a systematic view of the organization, Juran prescribed how to manage quality functions (Ibid, 1999).

Since this study is concerned with education district offices and their management of quality teaching and learning in Eastern Cape schools, Deming’s quality measurement frame work is used to illustrate how district officials deal with quality management methods and the processes of teaching and learning in schools. Deming adopted a framework ‘Plan-Do-Check-Act’ (PDCA) to measure the processes involved in developing, implementing and improving effectiveness of a quality management system to enhance customer’s satisfaction by meeting customer’s requirements (www.whatwe.com, 2006). “The Deming’s PDSA cycle is a well-known model for continual process improvement. It teaches organizations to plan an action, do it, study to see how it conforms to the plan and act on what has been learned” (Karuppusami and Gandhinathan, 2012: 6). Since this study is underpinned on the Deming Cycle management theory, it is imperative that a brief comparison between the Juran and Deming approaches is made.

It should be noted that the Deming cycle was developed from Schewhart’s framework or cycle that placed specification, production and inspection in the production process.

58 “The Schewhart cycle or Schewhart learning and improvement cycle combines management thinking with statistical analysis. The constant evaluation of management policy and procedures leads to continuous improvement” (Best and Neuhauser, 2006:1).Though Deming retained the idea of the cycle he expanded it to include all areas of learning and improvement (Moen and Norman, 2009). Deming in the 1950’s proposed that any business institution or organisation should be analysed and measured to identify sources of variations or defects that cause a product to deviate from customer requirement (Arveson, 1998). He advocated that an organisation’s process be placed in a continuous feedback loop so that managers can identify and change parts of the process (Ibid, 1998). This means that Deming’s approach was in line with what Juran and Godfrey referred to as ‘freedom from deficiencies’ meaning of quality. Deming’s approach was more oriented to the cost than to the income. Thus Deming was more concerned with was a system that was free from errors. He created a very simple diagram that would illustrate his proposal, the PDCA cycle. “The cycle is now clearly aimed at all types of learning and improvement and can be utilized at any level, for an entire organization or for small improvements or changes” (Moen and Norman, 2009:3).

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Figure 2.4: Deming’s PDCA cycle (Juranand Godfrey, 1999)

PLAN is the stage where the managers are expected to design or revise business process components to improve results. In the DO stage the mangers should implement the plan and measure its performance. In the CHECK stage they are expected to

assess the measurements and report the results to decision makers and in the ACT

stage managers should decide on changes needed to improve the process. (Arveson, 1998) Italics are the author’s

.

As has been indicated earlier, the district offices are tasked to support teaching and learning in schools. Deming’s cycle theory is relevant to this study as the study seeks to investigate how district offices as education organisations plan, implement, check or study and act on matters of supporting quality teaching in schools. The main question that this theory addresses is how district offices support quality teaching and learning in schools. The study looks at how they plan, do, check and act on issues of supporting quality teaching and learning.

60 2.9 CONCLUSION

This chapter reviewed literature and the covered main concepts of the study. The concepts of district support and related terms of ‘inspection’, supervision and monitoring were covered. It also reviewed literature on relevant conceptual frameworks that focussed on perspectives of quality management in education as viewed from school change theories of school effectiveness and school improvement. The chapter ended by outlining Deming’s cycle of support.

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CHAPTER 3