Purpose – Total quality management (TQM) is a management approach that was established to seek sources of continuous motion of improvement to provide quality products and services to customers or clients. TQM promotes organizational effectiveness through promoting stakeholder satisfaction, pursuing continuous improvement and fostering proactive leadership. The purpose of this paper is to explore TQM practices in secondary schools. The researchers set objectives which were to identify the TQM principles being practiced in secondary schools, the extent to which these principles are practiced and finally to determine the factors that affect the practice of these principles. The paper includes findings from an exploratory study of TQM practices in Zambian secondary schools. Design/methodology/approach – The research employed a purposive and simple random sampling in order to collect data from 120 secondary school teachers from a total of 1,740 secondary school teachers in Lusaka district drawn from ten secondary schools which were stratified into five zones, namely, Lusaka Central, Chilenje, Mumuni, Chibolya and Chunga zones. Questionnaires and structured scheduled interviews were used to collect data for the research. The research was also anchored on the theoretical and conceptual framework where hypotheses were formed and tested. Findings – The research formed hypotheses based on the seven principles of TQM and this was also verified through the analysis of questionnaires and structured interviews conducted. From the analysis and interpretation of the results, the following was found. Teamwork principle was found to be practiced although most respondents did not know the extent to which it was been practiced. Continuous improvement and training are also principles which were explored and found to be practiced. For continuous improvement, most of the respondents indicated this to have been achieved through carrying out monthly tests and end of term examinations to measure the excellence in-service delivery, as for the training principle; this has been interwoven with the policy of the ministry in programmes aimed at training in-service teachers and anticipated teachers. For the commitment principle, there was commitment from management with a view to working together for pupil satisfaction. For the quality principle, it was found that, at 95 per cent confidence level the mission statement, the motto and the vision of the school depicted quality-related activities. The research also established that at 95 per cent confidence level, teachers were empowered to take direct action whenever action is likely to affect quality. Practical implications – First, the value of this research was to inform management on the need to employ strategies aimed at sensitization programmes before, during and after the programme has come to an end. Second, to promote work attitudes that should promote quality management in education for continuous improvement in pupil performance. Third, for TQM to create a platform among head teachers, teachers, pupils, parents and other stakeholders to work to everyone’s ultimate advantage. Originality/value – This research is original work as it has never been done before in Lusaka district.
The article investigates how environmental and organisational factors may affect union effectiveness in a developing country context. Based on a perceptions survey of union members in the Zambian public service sector, the article uses principal components analysis, correlation, multiple linear regression and mediation analyses to examine relationships between environmental and organisational factors and union effectiveness. Results suggest that labour and product markets and mass media are significant environmental factors influencing union effectiveness. At the organisational level, results suggest that organisational strategies, leadership accountability, innovations and administrative and democratic structuring are significant factors that positively influence union effectiveness. Results also suggest that organisational factors mediate the link between environmental factors and union effectiveness. In this sense, the article provides a striking demonstration of the importance of a strong internal state for the union organisation in mediating the influence of the external environment on the union’s goal of advancing and defending workers’ interests.
While many studies on performance appraisal focus on its effect on the motivation and commitment of employees, there is hardly any focus in the literature on the resultant effect in relation to promotion. Further, many developing countries are under-researched, making generalisability of prior research conclusions limiting. Thus, the purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of performance appraisals with regard to promotion of teachers in the Ministry of Education (MOE), Kabwe District of Zambia. Specifically, it examines what performance appraisal factor(s) is mostly used in determining promotion of teachers in Kabwe District. There have been some complaints that underserving teachers are the ones that get promoted at the expense of hardworking ones. Based on a quantitative approach, survey data were collected from 123 respondents who included head-teachers, deputy-teachers and teachers and analysed using regression technique. The findings indicate that that there is an association between employee ability and promotion and between role perception and promotion and that there is no association between employee effort and promotion and between employee performance and promotion. The study shows that effort and performance, which should be critical in the assessment of employee eligibility for promotion are not being considered. The perception of teachers, therefore, is that the performance appraisal system is not very effective. Hence, administrators, policy makers, and teachers should work together so as to come up with an effective and transparent system.
Productivity of maize is dependent on facilitative and competitive interactive effects on resource availability and other moderating factors. The study investigated the impact crop insurance and financing had on the productivity of small-scale maize farmers in Southern province of Zambia. It also sought to see the effect moderating factors have on maize productivity. The relationship between crop insurance and financing, and maize productivity was explored by interviewing 602 farmers in Mazabuka, Monze, Choma and Kalomo districts through a structured questionnaire. This also included interviews with insurance and finance providers. SPSS and hierarchical multiple regression analysis were used to evaluate the data after making some assumptions. The regression analysis was run to determine the relationship between maize productivity, loan, insurance and the interaction between loan and insurance over and above the control variables. The results showed that the relationship was not supported (t = -0.750, p > 0.05) and that insurance and financing in the four districts studied did not have any effect on productivity. There was no significant relationship between crop insurance and productivity (t = -1.741, p > 0.05). The model used to analyze the data excluded financing as it did not bring any additional significant information. The results further indicated that there was linearity as determined by partial regression plots, as well as residual independence as determined by the Durbin-Watson statistic of 1.745. Results showed no evidence of multicollinearity based on correlations and Variance Inflation Factors (VIFs) and that farmers relied heavily on the government subsidy program, the FISP which resulting in less or no effect of commercial crop insurance and financing on productivity.
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