Assessing the Culture and Climate for Quality Improvement in the Work Environment. AIR 1994 Annual Forum Paper.

This study attempted to develop a reliable and valid instrument for assessing work environment and continuous quality improvement efforts in the non-academic sectors of colleges and universities particularly those institutions who have adopted Total Quality Management programs. A model of a work environment for continuous quality improvement was developed and an instrument was designed to assess non-academic staff's perceptions of the quality process, practices, and results at the University of Michigan (UM). A literature review identified major organizational and higher education models of quality improvement. Researchers designed a study instrument of 217 items which was evaluated by pilot testing with focus groups of UM staff. The final instrument consisted of 201 items that incorporated 35 "quality culture and climate" dimensions. Items focused on perceptions at the respondents' immediate work "unit" level. All permanent non-academic staff completed the questionnaire in February 1994. Of 10,400 questionnaires distributed 4,900 were completed and returned. Results were subjected to data reduction, index development, and reliability and validity testing from which 27 factors emerged. Reliability for indices ranged from .53 to .96. Extensive appendixes contain details of methodology, factor analyses, indices descriptions, and comparisons of conceptual categories and factor indices of a quality culture and a quality climate. (Contains 44 references.) (JB)