By Jane R. Elgass
University officials are surprised and pleased with the results of a survey that shows most staff members on the Ann Arbor campus are aware of M-Quality. Overall, survey respondents expect M-Quality to have a positive impact on their own department or unit as well as on the University as a whole. More collaboration in work processes and an increase in “customer” service and satisfaction are among the major changes staff members expect to see as a result of M-Quality.
The report also notes that “U-M staff are cautiously optimistic that M-Quality will succeed. While most respondents personally endorse the principles of M-Quality, and see that it can potentially have a substantive positive impact, some of these same people perceive a lack of institutional commitment to change,” the report states.
M-Quality, introduced in 1992, is the University’s framework for continually examining, renewing and improving processes through a focus on leadership, teams and individuals.
“It improves my level of optimism about M-Quality that many are ‘cautiously optimistic’ about its incorporation into our daily activities,” says Provost Gilbert R. Whitaker Jr. “By and large, people hate change. The optimism is a good sign.”
Farris W. Womack, executive vice president and chief financial officer,
echoes Whitaker’s assessment.
“I am pleased to see the high number of people who have knowledge of M-Quality and are trying to follow its principles. I’m quite satisfied with the progress to date. We’ve not arrived, but are making progress. A great many people have a strong, fundamental commitment to the principles of M-Quality, and their support encourages others to adopt these principles and practices.”
Both Whitaker and Womack also note that it is very useful to hear the “less than optimistic views” about M-Quality in order to help the University understand an important cross-section of views.
The survey was administered in May by the M-Quality Evaluation Committee to a random sample of U-M staff, excluding those employed by University Hospitals.
Asked to rate the magnitude and type of impact M-Quality has had on their own department or unit, respondents “were significantly more optimistic about the potential for positive impact from M-Quality compared with any impact they had already observed,” the report says.
In assessing M-Quality’s impact on the University:
Additionally, 60 percent saw a potential for positive change in their own department or unit.
One of the more gratifying findings of the survey is that respondents’ expectations for M-Quality mirror those of University administrators—“greater efficiency in University operations, increased respect for people, improved morale and a general improvement in the work environment,” according to the report.
A number of respondents also expressed reservations about its success, indicating they thought M-Quality would require a substantial increase in time and would lead to salary and staff reductions. Some also questioned “the appropriateness of introducing M-Quality in a year when staff were not given salary increases.”
Also noted by survey respondents as possible impediments to the success of M-Quality were:
Addressing the desire to get involved in M-Quality activities that was mentioned by some respondents, Womack notes that individuals do need not to wait “until the bus is ready to leave the station to get involved. M-Quality fundamentally is an approach to the way in which we do our work, with the goal of making it so much a part of our daily life that we don’t think about it.
“People need not wait to get involved in formal teams. Many of the principles and practices can be adopted by individuals with respect to their own work and that of close colleagues. What we mean by empowerment is the responsibility to see opportunities to improve and following through on those opportunities,” Womack adds.
Whitaker notes that there are many good training programs related to M-Quality that are offered by Human Resource Development, including Orientation to M-Quality and the M-Quality Concepts and Practices course. He encourages staff members to ask their supervisors to send them to the training sessions, and then “you can get started in all sorts of ways.”
He also points out the availability of the new M-Quality Managers’ Application course, which provides an opportunity for managers and supervisors to discuss the implications of managing in a quality-oriented environment.
Copies of the M-Quality awareness report are available from Robert Holmes, 3056 Fleming Administration Building, 764-3185, or via e-mail.
