ABSTRACT
If you have not heard of Total Quality Management (TQM), you simply have not been paying attention. TQM has received wide notice in the United States in the last decade and public and private organizations alike are adopting this new approach to managing the process of improving themselves. Even universities, typically known to be skeptical about applying business concepts to higher education, have adopted the TQM model. The American Association for Higher Education (AAHE) began “paying attention” to TQM in 1989 (Marchese, 1992). Other academic professional associations have realized the importance and relevance of TQM to higher education. If you attended a professional meeting in the last year, chances are, TQM had a prominent place on the agenda, drew standing room only crowds, and may have been the focus of the keynote address of the guest speaker. Moreover, some academic professional associations have sponsored TQM-specific seminars for their members such as the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO) did in December 1991 and March 1992.
