Review No. 10

Here's an interesting piece by Thonhauser from 2008 on the factors that contribute to the amount of time it takes an educational institution to become ISO 9000 registered, both in the US and UK:

Rather than argue about whether or not it is right for an institution of higher learning to register with the International Organization for Standards under their 9000 series program, Thonhauser looks at the factors that relate to the time required for institutions to complete the registration process. This study revealed seven factors that impact how long it takes a school, college, or university to successfully register with ISO 9000.

The sample for the study included 30 institutions both in the United States and the United Kingdom. A previous study (Thonhauser & Passmore, 2006) had shown “...that there was no significant difference between English and US education institutions in the time required to register to the standards” (Thonhauser, 2008, p. 336). In that study, it was found that the average time necessary for educational institutions to register to ISO 9000 was 16.47 months in the US and 16.91 months in the UK.

Thonhauser sidesteps the debate on whether or not ISO 9000 is appropriate for education, but she does not ignore it completely. She notes that some (e.g., Peters (1999) and Waks & Moti (1999)) see the application of international standards as a good thing for education, not to standardize the content but to satisfy the “customer,” the student. Others  question its use. Welch (1998) wonders if “privatization and market influence may actually decrease the level of education quality…” (Thonhauser, 2008, p. 333). Alderman (1999, as cited in Thonhauser, 2008, p. 333) states “’…quality in higher education is not about satisfying the customer (i.e. the student), but is rather about changing the student, which is not the same thing at all….”

Thonhauser next introduces eleven independent variables that were gleaned from the literature review as possibly having an impact on the time to complete ISO 9000 registration for educational institutions. These included the following: type of education institution; site of education institution; status of the institution before ISO 9000; financial status of the institution; cost of ISO 9000 implementation; management commitment; ISO 9000 management representative; involvement of people; language interpretation; understanding internal processes; and industry partnership.

The methodology of the study involved a telephone survey, conducted in 2004 and 2005, including 19 institutions in the US and 11 in the UK. However, finding these institutions was, according to the author, “…the most difficult part of the study. Despite the fact that ISO functions in a highly rationalized and technical environment, surprisingly, the researchers found the central body of ISO and the national bodies to be poorly organized and vague in respect to maintaining records of ISO 9000 registered institutions” (2008, pp. 339-340).  Nor were any of several other agencies able to identify or corroborate any type of organization that is registered under ISO 9000.

The survey was a 50-item questionnaire of both closed- and open-ended varieties based on the variables extracted from the literature review. The dependent variable was the length of time required to complete the registration. Using a Spearman rank-order correlation to begin the analysis with an examination of “…the relationship between variables with at least an ordinal level of measurement and the dependent variable…” followed by “A Brown-Forsythe one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA)…to examine the relationship between the independent nominal variables and the dependent variable” (p. 341). For variables that did not meet the criteria for the Brown-Forsythe ANOVA, followup analysis was done using Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA. The researchers used an alpha level of 0.05 for relationship and correlation significance.

As mentioned previously, seven of the eleven independent variables showed a significant relationship to the amount of time required for an educational institution to complete the registration, which were as follows (pp. 346-7):

1. Time to ISO 9000 registration is decreased by schools that can be described as organized prior to implementation.
2. The time to registration is decreased if the institution has an inherent quality management practice as opposed to a different system or no system at all.
3. Time to ISO 9000 registration is decreased when there is no other major change project occurring at the institution.
4. Time to ISO 9000 registration is decreased when the person selected to lead the implementation effort (i.e., the management representative) is a highly regarded member of the institution.
5. Time to registration is decreased if the training and consultation during ISO 9000 implementation is done by internal members of the institution as opposed to external trainers or consultants. This was an interesting result, which is most likely related to the importance of having a highly regarded member in charge of ISO 9000 at the school.
6. The time to registration is decreased as the members of the institution increase their knowledge of internal processes; particularly the process of curriculum development, the process of updating curriculum, the process of student assessment, the teaching-learning support process, and the student support process.
7. Time to ISO 9000 registration is decreased when the management/administration of the institution is supportive of the ISO 9000 effort. While it does not seem to be important exactly ‘‘how’’ management supports ISO 9000, administrators may want to state a belief in the value of ISO 9000 and make sure they provide adequate resources for the implementation process.

Clearly, these seven factors as well as the eleven independent variables are items that should be taken into account in my own research and should be applicable to my situation. Additionally, seven questions flow from these results that are pertinent and adaptable to any organization prior to attempting registration (p. 347):

1. Is there administrative commitment to ISO 9000?
2. Can the school be described as organized and/or stable?
3. Is there an unspoken/unwritten quality management practice already in place at the school?
4. Will ISO 9000 implementation be the only major change project at the school?
5. Will a highly regarded member of the school be selected as the ISO 9000 management representative?
6. Is it a possibility to have internal training and consulting for the implementation ISO 9000?
7. Do the members of the school understand the following internal processes: the process of curriculum development, the process of updating curriculum, the process of student assessment, the teaching-learning support process, and the student-support process?

A positive response to most or all of these questions may decrease the amount of time to ISO 9000 registration.

References:

Alderman, G. (1999). Review of the book “Quality Assurance in Higher Education: An international perspective”. Studies in Higher Education, 24(2), 261-262.

Peters, J. (1999). Educational accreditation through ISO 9000. Quality Assurance in Education, 7(2), 85-89.

Thonhauser, T. (2008, September). Factors that relate to the time to ISO 9000 registration in education institutions. School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 19(3), 333-349.

Thonhauser, T., & Passmore, D. (2006). ISO 9000 in education: A comparison between the United States and England. Research in Comparative & International Education, 1(2), 156-173.

Waks, S., & Moti, F. (1999). Application of the total quality management approach principles and the ISO 9000 standards in engineering education. European Journal of Engineering Education, 24(3), 249-258.

Welch, A.R. (1998). The cult of efficiency in education: Comparative reflections on the reality and the rhetoric. Comparative Education, 34(2), 157-175.