Application of Total Quality Management (TQM) in Secondary School Administration in Umuahia Education Zone

Abstract

The study was conducted to investigate the application of Total Quality Management (TQM) in secondary school administration in Umuahia Education Zone. Three research questions and one null hypothesis guided the study. Descriptive survey design was employed for the study. The population of the study comprised 1365 administrators. Multi stage sampling techniques was used to select 358 respondents, comprising of 53 principals 53 vice principals and 252 teachers from the four Local Government Areas in the Education zone. A self-developed instrument by the researchers titled Questionnaireon Application of Total Quality Management in Secondary School Administration (QATQMSSA) was used for data collection. To ensure the validity of the instrument, the instrument was face validated by three experts, from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. The data generated from the trial testing were analyzed using Cronbach Alpha statistics and the overall reliability index of 0.76 was obtained. Mean and Standard Deviation were used to answer the research questions while the null hypothesis was tested using ANOVA at 0.05 level of significance. Findings of the study revealed that total commitment and teamwork is applied to a high extent in secondary school administration. The findings further showed that to a little extent, effective communication is applied in secondary school administration in Umuahia Education zone. This is to say that TQM is applied to a little extent in secondary school administration. Based on the findings, some recommendations were made which include꞉ that the Ministry of Education should organize seminars, workshops and conferences for teachers where TQM attributes will be discussed for effective communication and that Principals should be fully committed to every activity of Total Quality Management foreffective school administration,especially in Umuahia Education zone.