Abstract
Greek public Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have undergone Quality Assurance (QA) procedures for the first time. They have been certified for their compliance with the principles of the Standard Internal Quality Assurance System (IQAS) of the Hellenic Authority for Higher Education (HAHE) and with the Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance (ESG 2015) of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). In the implementation context of these procedures, aiming at their certification, development and improvement, the literature reveals the key role of the employees and especially the executive staff of the HEIs. The integrated and full implementation of such programs, based on the principles of Total Quality Management (TQM) requires the active participation of all the staff of the HEI, which must be informed, aware and actively involved in quality management and improvement issues. The present study deals with the level of implementation of the QA processes in Greek public HEIs. ...
Greek public Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have undergone Quality Assurance (QA) procedures for the first time. They have been certified for their compliance with the principles of the Standard Internal Quality Assurance System (IQAS) of the Hellenic Authority for Higher Education (HAHE) and with the Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance (ESG 2015) of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). In the implementation context of these procedures, aiming at their certification, development and improvement, the literature reveals the key role of the employees and especially the executive staff of the HEIs. The integrated and full implementation of such programs, based on the principles of Total Quality Management (TQM) requires the active participation of all the staff of the HEI, which must be informed, aware and actively involved in quality management and improvement issues. The present study deals with the level of implementation of the QA processes in Greek public HEIs. In particular, the study aimed to investigate: a) the degree of endorsement of the principles of QA and TQM by the leadership of Greek HEIs, b) the factors that negatively affect the performance of the administrative structures of Greek HEIs, c) the barriers of communication between the organizational units of HEIs d) the factors that contribute to the failure of new management programs or procedures in Greek HEIs, e) the basic characteristics of human resource management in the organization and operation of Greek HEIs, (f) the factors that cause fear or insecurity among administrative staff regarding the expression of their views on service issues, (g) the ways in which the principles and procedures of QA and TQM are applied in the organisation and operation of the administrative structures of Greek HEIs, (h) the importance of stakeholders' needs for the administration of Greek HEIs, and in particular how these are identified, collected and taken into account in its decision-making, and (i) extent of the influence of HEIs on the environment in which they operate. In addition, the study examined the possible correlations with the participants' position of responsibility, the level of awareness of the framework of the HEIs QA, the participation level in the HEIs management or QA processes, the responsibility position and the level of participation in the HEIs management or QA procedures and the years of the HEIs operation. The study is quantitative research. The sample was a total of 179 individuals, 48 males (26.8%) and 131 females (73.2%), aged 30 - 67 years. All participants were heads of organizational units or managers of quality offices or departments in public Greek HEIs. An Impromptu Questionnaire was administered for data collection. Data analysis was based on a variety of statistical analyses.The findings revealed that QA is seen more as the responsibility of the Quality Assurance Unit, the quality departments/offices and does not concern -as required by the TQM on which the quality management systems are now based- all members of the university community, including external stakeholders. Τhe survey showed that HEI leaders have made full transparency of their activities (accountability) a priority and have taken a moderate overall step towards adopting the principles of QA and implementing quality procedures in administrative structures. The managers who are most involved in QA consider that the leadership operates according to the principles of QA and TQM to a greater extent than other managers believe. A particularly high shortage of resources (material, intangible, etc.), especially human resources, was found, which has a highly negative impact on the performance of their management, given that in Greece resources are mainly dependent on the state. Also, it was found that the factors having a fairly large negative impact on management performance are poor resource management, constant replacement of managers, attribution of errors to staff rather than to management and processes, lack of involvement of managers in the decision-making processes for their organizational units, inadequate training of supervisors in quality management. A statement that is considered particularly important by the managers who are more knowledgeable about QA, who also consider that there is a particularly high level of attribution of faults to staff rather than to management and processes. In addition, the lack of commitment to objectives with procedures adapted to them, attention to feedback from external evaluation recommendations, regular checks on the effectiveness of services, as well as the reliance on technology alone to solve problems, negatively affect the performance of the management of HEIs. The lack of a culture of cooperation, the poor working climate and competition, as well as the practice of "divide and conquer", were identified as barriers to communication between the organizational units of HEIs. In addition, the inadequacy of the administrative knowledge of the elected administration, the lack of regular, unbiased and objective information, the lack of defined responsibilities, consistent application of procedures and quality criteria, the inadequacy of the administrative knowledge of the administrative management, centralised leadership, and finally, organisational dysfunctions were found to be of a fairly high degree. The factors that contribute significantly to the failure of new management programmes or processes in HEIs are the lack of requirements/resources for their implementation, lack of consistency and/or continuity , lack of training and trial period before full implementation, lack of information on the benefits of their implementation, and lack of consultation during their creation.The findings, furthermore, highlighted the paradox of the recognition of the importance of the role of administrative staff, and at the same time, the lack of moral and/or material incentives to motivate and improve their performance, as well as the lack of planning for staff training. Also, the factors that cause fear or insecurity among staff when expressing their views on service issues were to a fairly large extent the poor working environment and to a moderate extent, the lack of a structured way of collecting views, the inadequacy of the elected management's administrative knowledge, etc. Regarding the importance that HEIs attach to the needs of stakeholders for them, it was found that, for the most part, that the ways in which HEIs engage with external stakeholders are largely institutionalised and that identifying external stakeholders and exploring expectations is considered an essential element of management. In respect to the years of operation of the HEIs, it was found that the leaderships in the newer HEIs, in contrast to the leaderships of the older HEIs, are more in favour of the principles of QA and in particular, they act as a quality model, create a positive climate, encourage teamwork, adopt good practices and evaluate bad ones to prevent mistakes. Also, newer HEIs pay more attention to the needs of stakeholders and have had a greater impact on the environment in which they operate. In conclusion, the present study highlights the necessity for the State to ensure the necessary conditions for the implementation of quality programmes, i.e., the necessary resources, both tangible and intangible, and especially the human resources, through training actions for the leadership and all those directly involved with quality in HEIs, as well as institutional stability. It is also concluded that for the implementation of the principles of TQM and QA in Greek HEIs the foundations have been set. There is a particular concern for accountability, but more effort is needed for the full implementation of these programmes in practice, so that their benefits can be transmitted to the staff and quality procedures can be integrated in the operation of all organisational units in order to achieve an oriented and systematic improvement effort. The commitment and actions of the leadership of the HEIs, especially in the core universities, are considered to be of key importance for the adherence to the principles of quality management. Finally, the transformation and specialisation of the strategic planning of the HEIs into developmental operational plans is considered to be particularly significant, with the co-formulation and allocation of objectives to all staff, with specific and time-bound planning of actions and projects, as well as the proportional organisation of services.
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