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DOI: https://doi.org/10.33258/birci.v5i3.5998
Exploring the Communication Role in Total Quality Management Implementation in Educational institution
Rosida Kerin Meirani1, Achmad Supriyanto2
1,2Education Management Department, Universitas Negeri Malang, Indonesia anandarose1@gmail.com
I. Introduction
Communication is a very necessary thing in human life. Communication is used by humans to convey messages. In other words, communication is a tool of interaction whose existence is crucial for humans. Even in the literature, it is said that communication can be called a prerequisite of human existence (Nurhadi, 2017). According to Aristotle, communication is used by the speaker to persuade-to achieve the goals that are owned by a listener by preparing arguments well (Ruliana & Lestari, 2019). Communication is the process of delivering messages by someone to other people to tell, change attitudes, opinions or behavior either directly orally or indirectly through the media. In this communication requires a reciprocal relationship between the delivery of messages and recipients namely communicators and communicants (Hasbullah, et al: 2018).
Communication is an important thing that cannot be separated from every organizational activity because in organizational activities there will be an interaction between individuals in it. The establishment of good cooperation in an organization can be achieved by organizing communication in such away. Therefore, communication is one of the determining factors for the achievement of organizational goals. Communication, in helping to achieve organizational success, requires an arrangement of its channels, forms, conventions, methods, or strategies (Samsudin, Jalil, & Ibrahim, 2017). With the management of good communication, the relationship of members in the organization will
Abstract
This study aims to determine the role of communication, communication process, and effective communication in the implementation of TQM in educational institutions. This research is a literature study with a descriptive qualitative method. The research was conducted by reviewing some relevant literature, then analyzed to get some formulation of the research results. The final step is the evaluation and withdrawal of conclusions as a result of the final research. This study shows that the communication process in the implementation of TQM in educational institutions occurs by involving communication components that include sender, message, receiver dan media.
Furthermore, effective communication in the implementation of TQM occurs if the message conveyed is not only understood but also implemented as desired. Finally, the role of communication in the implementation of TQM in educational institutions is as a liaison or facilitator of each element of TQM. Further research is expected to explain in more detail the process and strategy of effective communication in the implementation of TQM, especially in educational institutions.
Keywords
communication role; total quality management;
educational institution
Budapest International Research and Critics Institute-Journal (BIRCI-Journal) Volume 5, No 3, August 2022, Page: 19805-19814 e-ISSN: 2615-3076 (Online), p-ISSN: 2615-1715 (Print)
www.bircu-journal.com/index.php/birci email: birci.journal@gmail.com
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be well established to encourage performance and ultimately affect the positive achievement of an organization.
On the other hand, the organization, to achieve its goals, does various things including implementing total quality management to improve service quality and customer satisfaction. Educational organizations are one of the organizations that implement total quality Management. This is evidenced by the number of educational organizations ranging from the basic level to the level of higher education that get an ISO certificate which indicates that quality assurance in the institution has been adjusted to the standards set by the certifier institution (Anwar, 2020).
In the application of total quality management, several factors affect its success, one of which is communication (Zakuan et al., 2012). A study conducted in Malaysia shows that communication is very important applied in manufacturing organizations (Samsudin et al., 2017). In addition, in some studies, it is mentioned that communication together with the motivation of an institution affects the performance of employees (Taskov & Mitreva, 2015). Communication is also considered an important pillar in the implementation of TQM (Taskov & Mitreva, 2015). Communication is also an important point in the implementation of TQM at various levels of educational institutions (Anwar, 2020).
therefore, the assessment of the role of communication in the implementation of total quality management is important.
This study aims to follow up on previous research conducted by Samsudin et al 2017.
Research that explores the pattern of communication in the application of TQM, results in the conclusion that there is a special internal communication pattern applied in companies that implement TQM. In the suggestion section, the researcher expects further research related to the role of communication in the implementation of TQM. Therefore, this research is carried out. The purpose of this study is to determine the role of communication in the implementation of TQM, especially in educational institutions. In addition, this study also aims to determine the process of communication and effective communication in the implementation of TQM.
II. Research Method
This research is a literature study with a descriptive qualitative method. The research process is taken through a literature study, by examining the role of communication and its relation to total quality Management. The source of this literature review comes from scientific articles from national and international journals, books, and other research documents related to the theme of this research. The focus of this study is the role of communication, communication process, and effective communication in the implementation of TQM in educational institutions. The articles that became a reference in the discussion of this study are the theme of communication, organizational communication, the role of communication in educational organizations, and total quality management. The year range of articles searched is articles from the last 10 years while articles from the previous year are supporters. After searching for articles that meet these criteria, then an analysis is carried out. The last step after analyzing is the conclusion and evaluation of the articles that have been analyzed to produce conclusions related to the research focus.
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III. Result and Discussion
3.1 Communication in Total Quality Management
Communication is a message given by the communicator (source) to (receiver) by using certain channels either directly or not to give impact or effect to the communicant by the desired (Roskina & Haris, 2020). The purpose of communication is to convey information, feelings, ideas, and so forth from the communicator to the recipient (Davis, et al., 2014). Communication is said to be successful if both parties understand each other and the purpose of the message conveyed (Davis et al., 2014). This means that only if a message is understood by both parties does communication occur, but if the message is not understood by either party then it is not said to be communication.
Source: Davis et al (2014) Figure 1. Communication
The process of communication occurs by involving several components. the simple components of communication include the sender, message, receiver as well as the medium used. The sender is the person who owns or is the creator of a message. The message is the information conveyed to the receiver. The recipient is the intended Party of a message. Media is a way to convey a message (Davis et al., 2014).
Source: Davis et al (2014) Figure 2. Communication as a Process
According to Davis et al (2014) media can be categorized into 4 namely verbal, nonverbal, written, and electronic. Face-to-face conversations, telephone conversations, and so on are examples of media from the verbal category. Facial and body gestures are forms of the nonverbal category. Examples of written categories are books, guides, memoranda, and others submitted through writing. The last one is the electronic category is an electronic transmission that can be understood by humans.
While more complex Kotler (2002) reveals that the communication component consists of a sender, message, receiver media, encoding, encoding, decoding, response, feedback, and noise. The meaning of sender, message, receiver, and media described by Kotler does not have a different meaning than that conveyed by Davis. While encoding is a process of converting messages into symbols that can be in the form of words, writing, and so forth. Decoding is a process performed by the recipient to understand the symbol sent by the sender. Response reaction is given by the recipient of the message. Feedback is part of the reaction conveyed to the sender. Noise interference occurs during the communication process so that the message has a different meaning than the intended.
Message
Sender Receiver
Medium Communication
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Furthermore, within an organization, communication is an important part that cannot be separated. Communication is needed to convey the objectives and strategy of the organization (Sadia et al., 2016). In addition, according to Price (2006), organizational communication is a tool to convey work to employees. Roskina & Haris, (2020) revealed that there are three forms of organizational communication, namely vertical communication, horizontal communication, and diagonal communication. Vertical communication is a communication from superiors to subordinates or vice versa.
Horizontal communication is a form of communication between others who have equivalent positions. Diagonal communication is communication between individuals or groups that have different positions. All of the above have a great influence on the smooth operation of an organization in the achievement of a goal (Chen & Silverthorne, 2005).
Therefore, there needs to be more attention to each form of organizational communication either vertically, horizontally, or diagonally.
If associated with the implementation of Total Quality Management adopted by an organization, then communication becomes one of the determining factors of its success (Zakuan et al., 2012. This is in line with the research conducted by Syamsu Alam (2014) which reveals that communication has a positive and significant influence on employee performance. Results of research by Taskov & Mitreva (2015) also stated that poor communication between management members and employees in the implementation of TQM can lead to poor results. The same result is shown by Anwar (2020) states that an important point in the implementation of TQM is communication.
Furthermore, the communication process in TQM in this study is based on the theory expressed by Davis which includes sender, message, receiver, and media. The sender and receiver in TQM implementation are the subjects of TQM itself. There are two main actors in TQM, namely leader and customer (Charantimath, 2017). Leaders in an organization can be categorized as top leaders and middle leaders (Sallis, 2002). While the customer in TQM consists of external customers and internal customers. An external customer is the ultimate goal of the product or service produced by an organization and an internal customer is the people in the organization who get a job to achieve external customer satisfaction (Charantimath, 2017). If illustrated in an educational institution, the principal acts as the top leader while the middle leader is the vice-principal. Internal customers are educators and education personnel while external customers are students, parents, and graduate users. Together these parties become receivers and senders in the communication process in the implementation of TQM in educational institutions.
Furthermore, it is related to other components of the communication process, namely message. The Message in TQM is a quality message conveyed by the leader to subordinates. This quality message is usually formulated into the vision and mission of the organization and carried out in the management of organizational strategy (Sallis, 2002). In organizations that adhere to TQM vision and mission must be conveyed by the leader to all members of the organization, not only the top leader but also the middle leader (Sallis, 2002). This means that educational institutions that adhere to TQM must convey the vision and mission of the school and management strategy to educators and educational personnel, not only carried out by the principal but also by the vice principal as a middle leader. While communication with external customers is about the expected product results (Charantimath, 2017). In practice, communication with external parties in educational institutions is usually done with parents and users of school graduates or with other related parties.
Next is the application of forms of communication that include vertical, horizontal, and diagonal in Charantimath (2017) it is called downward, upward and lateral. In
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institutions that implement TQM, downward communication is usually used by leaders to understand employees about TQM. In educational institutions, communication from leaders to subordinates or from principals to those led includes; 1) increasing effectiveness in sharing (sharing) vision and Mission; 2) improving the performance of staff, especially teachers; 3) building partnerships with the school community 4) building a conducive school climate; 5) improving the achievement of learners ' achievements (Nasukah &
Winarti, 2020b).
Upward communication can be utilized by employees to provide input related to the implementation of TQM. In the context of education, teachers use this type of communication as a means to convey performance results and complaints. Regarding supervision, the submission of complaints will be very useful for the principal to supervise teachers who have complaints so that he can solve the problems that are being experienced by the teacher (Liarni, 2016). Lateral communication is used to reduce boundaries between members of the organization who have the same level, as well as to improve cooperation with outside parties (suppliers) (Charantimath, 2017). In a school, cooperation between employees (educators and education personnel) who have the same level and position is also an important thing to do to ensure whether the cooperation is carried out properly.
Good communication between members in one organizational position will facilitate the achievement of organizational goals at that level. In various forms of communication activities, of course, quality messages as the main mission of TQM must always be carried out.
3.2 Effective communication in TQM
Communication is said to occur if the recipient of the message understands what is being conveyed by the message giver. More than that if the message conveyed is understood, and followed up by the wishes of the message giver then communication is said to be effective (Davis et al., 2014). In this case, the sender is responsible for ensuring the willingness of the receiver to carry out the message delivered, or in other words, the sender must ensure that the communication he applies is effective. Effective communication is a high level of communication because it not only aims to convey and provide understanding but also to ensure that a person acts by the message conveyed (Davis et al., 2014).
Effective communication can be achieved by paying attention to indirect conversations, and listening and can also be done by engaging in challenging conversations (Schill & Zimmer, 2021). The 3 important components of communication are trust, transparency, and listening. Trust is needed to build the interlocutor's interest in what is being conveyed. Transparency is the openness of goals and values within the organization to employees. Because that way, employees can measure themselves in the completion of the tasks assigned so that which will make employees more productive. Last is listening, a good communicator is a communicator who is not only able to convey but also can listen to what is conveyed by the interlocutor (Schill & Zimmer, 2021).
In the implementation of TQM effective communication is needed to avoid misunderstanding the vision and mission of the organization based on quality. An organization that wants its employees to commit to quality, must communicate the importance of quality. Communicate, it can be done by making quality at the core of the strategy plan, including quality targets in each job description, including quality criteria in each employee's work assessment, posting benchmarks, making decisions based on quality principles, and always delivering quality messages to anyone and at any time so that it can be remembered always by employees and ultimately (Davis et al., 2014).
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Effective communication is useful for an organization to be able to create change and improve relationships and relaxation (Charantimath, 2017). For a leader, effective communication is useful in the division of the vision and mission of the organization (Nasukah & Winarti, 2020a). This means that in an educational institution that implements TQM, effective communication can be utilized by the principal as a tool to share the vision and mission of the school. effective communication in TQM should be applied in various forms of communication whether verbal, nonverbal, written, or electronic. The essence of the implementation of TQM is the change of organizational culture into a culture of quality. So, to be able to go towards that change, effective communication can be used as a tool to achieve it.
3.3 The role of communication in TQM
As one of the key factors, communication has an important role in the implementation of TQM (Samsudin et al., 2017). Communication is considered to be oil in TQM engines (Davis et al., 2014). For TQM to run as it should then absolute communication must exist (Charantimath, 2017). Without communication, the implementation of TQM certainly will not run because communication is a management tool that has a vital role in every management activity (Bucăţa & Rizescu, 2017). Based on some of these exposures, it can be implied that the role of communication in the implementation of TQM is very vital.
In management activities, communication is a tool that facilitates human relationships within an organization, as well as building an organizational environment that is important for the continuity and development of the organization (Bucăţa & Rizescu, 2017). In education management, communication acts as a source of information, controlling and coordinating, planning and achieving goals, and as an effort to increase motivation (Diana & Misran, 2021). For a leader, communication skills will help him in moving his subordinates to achieve organizational goals (Evi Zahara, 2018). From this, it can be understood that the role of communication for each member of the organization is quite important and that good communication skills will increase the opportunity to create effective communication within an organization.
In TQM, communication is one of the key elements of TQM. Communication acts as a liaison between the elements of TQM whose existence is an absolute thing to achieve the objectives of TQM implementation well (Charantimath, 2017). Organizational elements of concern in the implementation of this TQM include Ethics, integrity, trust, leadership, teamwork, communication training itself, and recognition. The eight elements are further divided by Charantimath into 4 groups which include foundation, building bricks, binding mortar, and roof. The image below is an illustration of the key elements of TQM according to Charantimath (2017).
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Source: (Charantimath, 2017).
Figure 1. Key Elements of TQM
Similar to Charantimath, Davis et al (2014) revealed that communication is one of the important factors in the success of every element of TQM. But the TQM elements elaborated by Davis et al have little difference from those conveyed by Charantimath.
Davis said that the key elements of TQM include customer focus, total employee involvement and empowerment, leadership, teamwork, decision making, problem prevention, problem-solving, and conflict resolution. Communication in this concept is not included in the elements of TQM but is outside and serves to facilitate these elements (Davis et al., 2014).
Further according to Davis et al (2014) the role of communication in each element is as follows:
Customer focus, according to this element, every decision and action to be carried out must be based on the needs of the customer. To know the needs of customers takes observing, asking, and listening. In practice, these activities involve communication.
Total Employee involvement and empowerment, this element requires a supportive environment in its application, hence open and honest communication.
Effective leadership, leaders need good communication skills to convey organizational goals to employees. If employees can understand and implement the message conveyed by the leader, the achievement of organizational goals will be easier.
Teamwork, team success is influenced by effective communication in each team activity. in addition, a successful team is a team consisting of members who are informed about the goals of the organization.
Decision making, problem prevention, problem-solving, and conflict resolution, as well as other elements, these elements in practice require effective communication to achieve the appropriate objectives.
Based on some literature on the role of communication in TQM, it can be concluded that communication acts as a liaison of each element of TQM. The role of communication is to facilitate the relationship of everyone in the organization. In organizations that implement TQM, the relationships of people within the organization are classified based on the essential elements of TQM. To properly implement TQM, the role of communication must be utilized as well as possible. The intended communication not only aims to convey the message of quality but further aims to make everyone involved in the
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organization willing to carry out activities related to TQM. This means that the communication required in the implementation of TQM is effective.
In the implementation of TQM in educational institutions, the principle is the same.
The difference between the implementation of TQM in educational institutions and other institutions lies in the people involved in the organization and the goals to be achieved.
These differences in subjects and goals can create different climates and cultures. Then the communication patterns built will also be different. With that, a specific strategy is needed to implement effective communication so that the objectives of TQM implementation in educational institutions can be achieved.
Finally, from the conclusions of the literature that has been studied, then obtained a model that aims to make the results of this study easy to understand. In the model illustrated in Figure 4, to be able to achieve the output in the form of successful implementation of TQM, the input consisting of message quality, leader, internal customer and the external customer must go through the process which is the key element of total quality management. The key elements of TQM adopted are those presented by Davis et al.
The communication is described as supporting the elements that exist in the process line.
This means that in each of these processes’ communication takes an important role to ensure the success of these processes. Finally, based on the literature review, the communication needed in the implementation of TQM is effective communication, which is communication that does not just convey the message but also how the message is implemented properly so that it has implications for the successful implementation of TQM in an institution, in this case, the institution in question is an educational institution.
Figure 2. Research Result Model IV. Conclusion
Based on the result of the research it can be concluded that the communication process in the implementation of TQM in educational institutions occurs by involving communication components that include sender, message, receiver, and media.
Furthermore, effective communication in the implementation of TQM occurs if the message conveyed is not only understood but also implemented as desired. Finally, the role of communication in the implementation of TQM in educational institutions is as a liaison or facilitator of each element of TQM.
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More detailed research is needed to support the results of this study. Then the next research related to how effective communication is closely related to the success of TQM implementation should be implemented. To be able to explain this phenomenon in more detail and clarity, in-depth interviews and observations can be held, especially in educational institutions.
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