Ramaiah Institute of Management    CAST STUDY  solution

Read the following case and answer the questions given at the end.

A quality education : Ramaiah Institute of Management Studies Although it may appear easier to find success with TQM at a boutique-sized endeavour, the philosophy's principles hold true in virtually every sector. Educational institutions, for example, have utilised quality management in much the same way - albeit to tackle decidedly different problems. The global financial crisis hit higher education harder than many might have expected, and nowhere have the odds stacked higher than in India. The nation plays home to one of the world's fastest-growing markets for business education. Yet over recent years, the relevance of business education in India has come into question. A report by one recruiter recently asserted just one in four Inidan MBAs were adequately prepared for the business world. At the Ramaiah Institute of Management Studies (RIMS) in Bangalore, recruiters and accreditation bodies specifically called into question the quality of students' educations. Although the relatively small school has always struggled to compete with India's renowned Xavier Labour Research Institute, the faculty finally began to notice clear hindrances in the success of graduates. The RIMS board decided it was time for a serious reassessment of quality management. The school nominated Chief Academic Advisor Dr. Krishnamurthy to head a volunteer team that would audit, analyse and implement process changes that would improve quality throughout (all in a particularly academic fashion). The team was tasked with looking at three key dimensions : assurance of learning, research and productivity, and quality of placements. Each member underwent extensive training to learn about action plans, quality auditing skills and continuous improvement tools-such as the 'plan-do-study-act' cycle. Once faculty members were trained, the team's first task was to identify the school's key stakeholders, processes and their importance at the institute. Unsurprisingly, the most vital processes were identified as student intake, research, knowledge dissemination, outcomes evaluation and recruiter acceptance. From there, Krishnamurthy's team used a fishbone diagram to help identify potential root causes of the issues plaguing these vital processes. To illustrate just how bad things were at the school, the team selected control groups and administered domain-based knowledge tests. The deficits were disappointing. A RIMS students' knowledge base was rated at just 36 percent, while students at Harvard rated 95 percent. Likewise, students' critical thinking abilities rated nine percent, versus 93 percent at MIT. Worse yet, the mean salaries of graduating students averaged $ 36,000, versus $ 150, 000 for students from Kellogg. Krishnamurthy's team had their work cut out. To tackle these issues, Krishnamurthy created an employability team, developed strategic architecture and designed pilot studies to improve the school's curriculum and make it more competitive. In order to do so, he needed absolutely every employee and student on board - and there was some resistance at the onset. Yet the educator asserted it didn't actually take long to convince the school's stakeholders the changes were extremely beneficial. "Once students started seeing the results, buy-in became complete and unconditional," he says. Acceptance was also achieved by maintaining clearer levels of communication with stakeholders. The school actually started to provide shareholders with detailed plans and projections. Tnen, it proceeded with a variety of new methods, such as incorporating case studies into the curriculum, which increased general test scores by almost 10 percent. Administrators also P.T.O. introduced a mandate saying students must be certified in English by the British Council - increasing scores from 42 percent to 51 percent. By improving those test scores, the perceived quality of RIMS skyrocketed. The number of top 100 businesses recruiting from the school shot up by 22 percent, while the average salary offers graduates were receiving increased by $ 20,000. Placement revenue rose by an impressive $ 50,000, and RIMS has since skyrocketed up domestic and international education tables. No matter the business, total quality management can and will work. Yet this philosophical take on quality control will only impact firms that are in it for the long haul. Every employee must be in tune with the company's ideologies and desires to improve, and customer satisfaction must reign supreme.

 Questions :

 (a) Discuss the application of techniques used to identify causes of the issues faced by the institute.

 (b) Do you agree with the argument in the case "Yet this philosophical take on quality control will only impact firms that are in it for the long haul" ? Substantiate.