The Implementation of Total Quality Management in Maritime Educational Institutions in the Philippines

This paper highlights the importance of total quality management (TQM) in the maritime educational institutions in the Philippines. Specifically, the study answers the following questions: (1) What is the implementation of TQM in maritime educational institutions in the Philippines in terms of: (a) access, (b) services to customers, (c) leadership, (d) physical environment and resources, (e) effective learning and teaching, (f) students, (g) staff, (h) external relations, (i) organization, and (j) standards?; (2) Is there a significant difference between the assessment of faculty members and non-academic personnel in the private and government maritime educational institutions?; and (3) What is the proposed strategic plan in order to improve the quality standard system (QSS) of the maritime educational institutions in the Philippines?. The study used the quasi-qualitative method of research with observations and interviews to follow-up response not clear to the reader; and the descriptive correlational design using a questionnaire-checklist as the primary tool in gathering the data needed and documents to supplement additional information of the data gathered. The respondents were the 350 maritime faculty members and 168 non-academic personnel of the selected ten (10) private maritime educational institutions and four (4) government maritime educational institutions in the Philippines. A total of 518 respondents were asked to participate. Purposive sampling was used in the study, where the researchers identified a set of criteria for the selection. The respondents were those with at least 1 to 2 years length of service in their respective institution. The research instrument was adopted from a TQM survey instrument for educational institutions. Data and information were generated by the self-rating scale instrument using the modified TQM self-assessing educational institutions, an instrument for self-auditing. The checklist updates made by Edward Sallis in his book, “Total Quality Management in Education” and some of the thoughts in the checklist were made by the original writers, Martin Barlosky and Professor Steve Lawton in their very useful Developing Quality Schools'. Hence, the results of the analysis served as the basis in the conceptualization of a strategic plan