نوع المستند : المقالة الأصلية
المؤلف
Lecturer of Foundations of Education, Faculty of Education, Assiut University, Egypt Email:amanyshrf@yahoo.com
المستخلص
الكلمات الرئيسية
الموضوعات الرئيسية
کلیة التربیة
کلیة معتمدة من الهیئة القومیة لضمان جودة التعلیم
إدارة: البحوث والنشر العلمی ( المجلة العلمیة)
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Enhancing Change Management at University level Education in Egypt in the Light of Gemba
Kaizen Model
By
Amany Mohamed Sherif Soliman , PhD
Lecturer of Foundations of Education,
Faculty of Education, Assiut University, Egypt
Email:amanyshrf@yahoo.com
} المجلد الخامس والثلاثون– العدد الأول –ینایر 2019م {
http://www.aun.edu.eg/faculty_education/arabic
ملخص الدراسة
هدفت الدراسة إلى الکشف عن مدی إسهام إدارة التغییر فی تطبیق نموذج جیمبا کیزن Gemba Kaizen لتحقیق الجودة فی مؤسسات التعلیم الجامعی فی مصر. وتناولت الدراسة مراجعة الأدبیات حول التعلیم الجامعی وأهدافه ووظائفه ومکوناته ومشاکله. کما سلطت الدراسة الحالیة الضوء على نموذج جیمبا کیزن وتطوره وأهدافه ومبادئه وخصائصه واستراتیجیاته ، التی یمکن استخدامها فی مؤسسات التعلیم الجامعی للتغلب على المشکلات التی تواجه الجامعات المصریة حیث یؤدی استخدام نموذج جیمبا کیزن إلى تحقیق الجودة فی الأداء الجامعی عن طریق تطویر الامکانات والخدمات المتاحة فعلیاً فی البنیة المؤسسیة للجامعات. واستخدمت الدراسة المنهج الوصفی لتوضیح العلاقة بین نموذج جیمبا کیزن لتحقیق الجودة ونشر ثقافة التمیز وإدارة التغییر فی التعلیم الجامعی فی السیاق المصری. وکشفت نتائج الدراسة عن أن استخدام نموذج جیمبا کیزن یساعد فی خلق ثقافة التغییر لجمیع الأفراد. بالإضافة إلى إجراء بعض التعدیلات النوعیة فی تطبیق نموذج دائرة دیمنج الشهیر(PDCA) ، حیث یضمن استخدام نموذج کیزن تحقیق التحسن المستمر فی الجامعات وتعزیز قدراتها عن طریق نشر ثقافة الجودة بین أعضاء المؤسسة الجامعیة وتفعیل إدارة التغییر بطریقة تحقق تحسین نتائج العملیات لتحقیق الأهداف والوصول إلى درجة zero – defect .
Abstract:
Keywords: change management , Gemba kaizen, university level Education,
1- Introduction:
University education is considered a strategic element in the educational policy. It forms the most important component of education as it offers the graduates upon whom economic progress depends. Nowadays, the world is changing rapidly and in a way that is different than before. The spread of technology, applied education, workplace learning and knowledge economy are boosting the change. These challenges should be faced by the universities improvements and replacing their traditional ways in performance. University students, staff and administrators must have excellence in their performance and seek for continuousimprovement. They want to discover innovative ways of representing performance. The institutions in general need to develop advanced approaches to measure the impact of their hold up on quality teaching.
The research problem revolves around the problems and challenges that hinder the enhancement of change management which results in the improvement of university education in Egypt. More specifically, there are many problems and challenges which affect the quality of the university education performance and the culture of change, which need to be resolved and overcome. These include: problems of admission policies and materialistic devices and equipment, and problems related to the absence of curriculum correlation to labor market. Many countries like Japan have used one of the administrative techniques which is based upon its significant change to develop their institutions, which is Gemba Kaizen approach. It is a simple administrative technique whose philosophy focuses on continuous improvement which reduces costs and Waste besides to increasing productivity. Moreover, the study attempts to enhance the change management at university education institutions in the light of Gemba Kaizen model.
The study Significance originates from the fact that university education is a basis for progress in general and economic progress in particular. The study importance stems from the point that the excellence of university education and its excellence depends on the change management process and it completely achieved through the application of Gemba Kaizen technique which have positive impacts on the graduates and their efficiency. Moreover, this topic is considered one of the vital matters which need much attention. The current paper aims at enhancing change Management at Egyptian university education instiutions in the light of Gemba Kaizen model.
Many previous studies (e.g. Mustafa, 2010) indicated that Egyptian universities need to revise the educational frameworks and hierarchies to cope up with the recent developments, which is a solution to diagnose and recover the problems without using the traditional administration. Also, the study of (Farouk et al., 2007) showed that the current state of university education and university education in Egypt refers to the existence of many serious problems that face university education in Egypt, as defined by the general framework of the vision of Egypt 2030. These problems and challenges are represented in the deterioration of its quality. This represents an obstacle for improving the quality of life and enhancing the ability of the Egyptian society .Thus, Egypt will be far from coping up with the advanced countries. Undoubtedly, a qualitative leap in the quality of university education will lead to an increase in national productivity and the development of human capital stock. There is therefore a need to restructure university and tertiary education, responding to demographic changes on the one hand, and rapid and progressive dynamism in the local, regional and global labor markets on the other hand. The ability of university and tertiary education to cope up with these changes depends on three specific objectives: expanding and developing university and collective education, encouraging scientific research and satisfying the emerging needs of labor markets.
Thus, the questions of the study are represented in the following:
1- What are the most important features of university education in Egypt?
2- What is meant by change management at university education institutions?
3- What are the main features of the Gemba Kaizen model?
4- To what extent is change management enhanced at university education institutions in the light of Gemba Kaizen model?
As for study limits, the study handled university education in Egypt, change management process and its linkage to Gemba kaizen model.
For this reason, the research was to study the problems that hinder university education from enhancing the change management process which results in the process of continuous improvement. In the current paper, the researcher outlines the definition of university education, its goals, importance and problems. Then, the researcher sheds light on change management and its characteristics and principles at university institutions in the light of the Gemba Kaizen model .
2- Literature Review:
University education is a fundamental factor of a nation’s development, as it is seen as central to economic growth and social development. It plays a crucial role in enhancing the quality of life and standard of living. An effective university education system enables a nation to not only to speed up its development but to construct its development process according to its people’s needs (World Bank, 2000).
The university education in Egypt is one of the main vital educational stages. The process of giving interest to this stage is considered one of the important indicators of progress as university education serves the society, scientific research and students. Egypt’s university education system is responsible for the nationalist reforms and achievements. (Mahmoud et al., 2004) asserted that university education has to replace its traditional methods in management in order to be capable of carrying out its tasks and its future programs which can be can be represented in the following:
- University education linkage to production, and appreciation of talents and scientific skills; to emphasize the principle of equal opportunities in the development of the individual's abilities and talents.
- Development of education and training programs in the light of global developments at the basic sciences and the findings of local technical development and research.
- Offering the necessary resources and rewards to ensure continuous education by providing the learners with regular information at various fields.
- Modernizing the universities to keep up with the development of modern sciences, whether by developing the existing disciplines at colleges or by establishing specialized colleges and universities.
- Supporting technological development and innovation processes and organizing them at the level of different enterprises and institutions.
The philosophy of university Education:
According to Badran &Eldahshan (2001), the philosophy of university education is determined in the light of modern changes and challenges based on reality and perceptions related to four aspects:
The nature of knowledge:
The knowledge in the 21st century is characterized by continuous increase, expansion and permanent change, which means that it is not possible to be aware of it. However, it is possible to prepare persons to follow its movement and to have the ability to access, choose and make sure of its validity.
The nature of society:
Society in the 21st century has become a wider open society with a constantly changing nature, and therefore university education is responsible for helping the individuals to follow the society change and cope up with it.
- The nature of the individual:
The nature of the individual in this century is not determined by the limits of the place. The scientific and technological development has led to the disappearance of many old borders and limitations and the emergence of new borders and restrictions. University education is required to prepare the individuals to live in this society and move freely from one society to another.
- The nature of values:
Values change continuously and new values appear at the global level. The university institution will need not only to instil some of these new values, but it is responsible for enabling the individuals to deal positively and critically with these new and universal values.
The university education goals and functions:
The modern variables have imposed on university education a set of goals. The extent of university education ability to achieve and meet these goals reflects its excellence. These goals are represented in the following:
1. Preparing graduates with high-level skills in order to be responsible citizens besides to providing them with modern information and high-level skills to cope up with the large and accelerating changes at the local and global levels.
2. Providing students with self - learning skills, and the ability to create, innovate, and to adapt to the changing life conditions.
3. Offering the opportunity for continuous learning and self-learning which enables the members of society to renew their knowledge and experience on a regular basis so that they can cope up with the scientific and technological developments at the field of specialization (Badran&Eldahshan,2001).
4. Helping students to participate at the development of their community and to encourage them to seek for continuous learning.
5. Helping persons to understand, interpret, preserve, promote, develop and disseminate national, regional and international cultures as a way to enhance cultural diversity.
6. Helping to protect and promote community values by ensuring that young people are taught upon the basic values of democratic citizenship, and on the open aspects s of independent critical thinking that promotes the democratic style and critical thinking in society.
7. The Contribution to solve the global problems facing societies and to encourage intellectual cooperation at the international levels (World Bank ,2000).
In its first article, the act of Organizing Universities (1972) defines the basic functions of the university as "it is concerned with all aspects of university education and scientific research carried out by colleges and institutes in the field of community service and upgrading it in terms of community service; to contribute to the building and strengthening of society, forming the future of the nation and serving humanity'' (Act of Organizing the universities,1972) .Hence,the main objectives and functions of university education are defined in education and teaching to prepare and develop human resources, do scientific research and community service. The main guidelines of the university education educational policy are formulated in dependence on the indicators represented in; increasing the university education opportunities ; the needs of the production sectors and services of specialists, the absorptive capacity of the university faculties and the views of the committees of the university education sectors to prepare the students who are proposed to be accepted at the colleges within the scope of each committee, and the suggestions of the professional unions, and the numbers of the students who success in high school and success levels (Dahawy,2013).
Change management at university education institutions:
Change occurs as a result to meet the requirements and needs of present and future. Accordingly, there are several aspects which are influenced by change at university institutions. These aspects constitutes the composition of university education and they are represented in the occurring change in the workforce and organizational powers, as well as the interaction among them which results in forming the third aspect known as processes. The institutional culture as the fourth aspect forms the suitable environment for change success.
1- Human capital:
The areas of change include the human elements (learners, staff, faculty, leaderships, administrators, employees, workers).the change here is related to the competencies mastered by human capital to change and prosper.
2- Organizational capital:
The areas of change include all what the institution possess from administrative units and centers which facilitate and manage work inside the institution. Change requires reframing and redesigning the instiutions ' elements and parts.
3- Processes:
This aspect refers to the processes that occur due to the interaction between the human capital and the organizational capital . these processes cover the change management itself and the management of human and organizational capital. The process of interaction between the first two aspects leads to the presence of cognitive capital.
4- Institutional culture:
It is obvious that change occurs if the institution exits in an environment characterized by a climate of institutional values that support organizational capital (Queensland Government,2013).
The Seven principles for effective change management:
In order to be able to deliver more desirable outcomes, university education institutions have to take into account seven change management principles. Th ese principles are represented in the following (Gordon Stanley,2006):
- Start with the end in mind:
This means that individuals or stakeholders know what they want to achieve and they have to own a clear vision of how much better things will be if the contemplated initiative is successful. This represents the key to effective alignment and core project communications.
- Understand the institution’s culture:
It is obvious that stakeholders' attempts to understand the institution culture takes long time, and this constitutes a good factor before embarking on a change initiative. Any undertaking that doesn’t align with, act on, or uphold the institution’s values will likely encounter resistance.
- Communicate, communicate, and communicate:
The same information needs to be communicated in various ways and via numerous techniques to create the critical mass of knowledge needed to make the message matter.
- Walk a mile in the shoes of those whose roles will change:
The employee experience should be treated the same way as the customer experience. Therefore, it’s important to understand every step of the employee’s change journey and how it could affect his or her day-to-day work.
- Create win-wins and align incentives:
Find ways for the university, departments, and individuals to benefit from the envisioned changes.
- Embrace relentless incrementalism to help achieve radical change:
Starting with a bold goal in mind and taking small steps relentlessly can build organizational capital.
- individuals won’t get what they don’t measure:
Stakeholders and leaderships in particular have to be aligned on the project’s vision and change management success criteria from the start.
Characteristics of change management:
Change management is distinguished by several characteristics represented in the following(Burnes ,2009).:
- It includes several stages and processes which have a start and an end. These stages and processes have a general aim which is development and improvement. Every stage or every process has its minor goals, and this reflects that change is planned work with clear goals.
- All strategies and plans employed at the stages and processes of change are chosen according to regulations and needs of the educational institution. This shows that change is actual and applicable.
- It is directed toward achieving the needs of learners, staff, and society and labor market. Consequently, it achieves the principles of total quality and sustainable development.
- The processes and goals of change management do not achieve the aspirations and needs of a particular group inside the institution or outside it, but it meets the needs of the whole members.
- Transparency, justice and validity.
- Positive response to the current position and its changes which are used as opportunities for development and innovation.
- Continuity is considered one of the main features of change management. As a change is a response to the different cultural variables, hence it still occurs.
Kaizen refers to improvement. The process of improvement includes all persons at any institution. This concept emerged in Japan, as the Japanese have realized that kaizen is a strategy to attract customers due to its focus on continuous improvement (Imai,1986) . This philosophy assumes according that Imai ‘’our way of life – be it our working life, our social life or our home life – deserves to be constantly improved’’ (Imai,1986,p.3).
As for its significance, Kaizen stems from the Japanese words ‘Kai’ and ‘Zen’, which translate roughly into to break apart and investigate and to improve upon the existing situation. Kaizen is a Japanese term that means continuous improvement, taken from words 'Kai', which means continuous and 'zen' which means improvement. Some translate 'Kai' to mean change and 'zen' to mean good, or for the better.The Kaizen Institute defines Kaizen as the Japanese term for continuous improvement. It is a scientific method which depends on quality control so that persons do their tasks without defaults. Kaizen philosophy implies that persons should never be satisfied with what was accomplished last week or last year (THESSALONIKI,2006) .
Gemba Kaizen is considered an essential part of lean management concept which focuses on getting rid of waste and the sources of loss regularly, and this is the main philosophy of Gemba Kaizen. The word 'kaizen' means time management, while the word 'Gemba' means place management. Thus, Gemba Kaizen concentrates on the beneficiaries' status in the first place. The beneficiary items here are the inputs and outcomes of the administrative processes at any institution.
There are many concepts that are associated with the Gemba Kaizen term such as Gemba, Gembutsu and Muda. The word' Gemba' is the actual position of the institution where the defaults and problems occur in addition to change and improvement. Thus, Gemba Kaizen is A set of managerial tools that are internationally used to make the processes of the institution at the first level globally. The word' Gembutsu' refers to the real tangible object in the work position such as equipment, tools and etc. The word 'Muda' refers to the un useful activities that do not give any added value for the institution, and kaizen in this case attacks every muda that exits in gemba or work position (Joshi,2013).
At the university education context, Gemba kaizen refers to persons' awareness that Improvement begins with the admission that their institution has problems, and this requires change. Thus, the term kaizen mainly focuses on continuous improvement process in which everyone at the institution has a role in a team work to challenge the status quo. As presented by Imai, Kaizen is an umbrella concept that embraces different continuous improvement activities at the institution as depicted in the following figure.
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- Gemba Kaizen: the three pillars:
According to M. Imai, there are three pillars of kaizen housekeeping, waste elimination and standardization. Imai confirmed that in order for the management and employees to be ensured success on activities on these three pillars, they are required to put into consideration that there are three factors should be taken account . These factors are visual management, the role of the supervisor and the importance of training and creating a learning organization( Imai,1997).
1- Housekeeping:
Housekeeping is a process of managing the work place , known as ‘’Gemba’’ (workplace ) in Japanese, for improvement purposes .as proposed by Imai , the word ’’Gemba ‘’ means ‘’real place’’, where value is added to the products or services before passing them to next process where they are formed (16). To achieve suitable and right housekeeping, the 5S methodology is used. The term "5S" refers to five Japanese words which imply that their practices at any institution or organization lead to clean and manageable work area. The five Japanese words are seiri, seiso, seiton, seiketsu and shitsuke. The equivalent English words of the 5S's are sort, straighten, sweep, sanitize, and sustain. The 5S evaluations fulfill orderliness at the work area at any institution and they make persons careful and keen on the improvement of theirinstitution.
The significance of the 5S can be represented in Creating safe working environments and cleanliness. Also, the use of the 5S can lead to revitalizing Gemba , improving individuals motivations , reducing physically strenuous work, creating a sense of belonging and love for the place of work for individuals who belong to the institution( Imai,1997).
2- Waste (Muda ) elimination:
In Japanese, the word "muda" Muda means waste. Muda is any non-value-added task. Hence, any resource which does not add value for the institution processes forms Muda and it needs removed. Muda in university education may include, for example, Signature approvals, bureaucracy, Walking or routing documents, and etc.In Gemba Kaizen philosophy, the aim is to eliminate the seven types of waste (7 deadly wastes) caused by overproduction, waiting, transportation, unnecessary stock, over pro Because eliminating muda costs nothing, muda elimination is one of the easiest ways for the institution to improve its Gemba's operations.
3- Standardization:
It is obvious that Standards set by management should be reviewed in a constant way. There should be continuous collecting and analyzing data on defects, and encouraging teams to conduct problem-solving activities.in this case, the standards will be in a proper form, and if deviations occur, the individuals realize that there is a problem. Then employees will review the standards and either correct the deviation or advise management on changing and improving the standard. Accordingly, Imai developed the PDCA cycle(plan-do-check-act), known as Deming cycle to be used and employed in kaizen philosophy. It is a never-ending process and is a basis for continuous improvement, as depicted in figure (2) .
Fig. 3 PDCA Cycle
The management plans, each employee follow the plan activities and inspectors check, and the management correct or secure every step. It is evident that there is a systematic work in which every person follows his task or his own PDCA cycle ( Imai, 1997). Linked to this, Kaizen PDCA cycle could be explained in the following examples:
-PLAN refers to selecting the theme, understanding the objectives, and analyzing the data in order to identify root causes;
-DO is the process of establishing countermeasures based on the data analysis;
-CHECK is confirming the effects of the countermeasures; and
-ACT is to establish or revise the standards to prevent recurrences, and reviewing the above processes and working on the next steps.
- The outcomes of the application of Gemba Kaizen model on enhancing change management at university institutions in Egypt:
3. Methodology:
For this study, the qualitative approach was used to gather data relating to the relation between the application of Gemba kaizen model and the enhancement of change management culture at university institutions in Egypt. The variable of the study was structured via various studies. The application of Gemba kaizen model at university institutions in Egyptian environment helps in enabling the university members whether staff, faculty, administrators or students to possess the culture of change management. As Gemba kaizen focuses on continuous improvement, the university members will be affected by this philosophy. Hence, they will be able to change for the sake of improvement and quality. The study hypothesis "the application of Gemba kaizen model creates the culture of change management among university insistutions members in Egypt" is fully indicated as it is depicted in the following diagram which shows the correlation between Gemba kaizen apication and the creation of change management philosophy for individuals:
Change management is a philosophy of work which is based on scientific bases, as it uses and applies the scientific approach in thinking, planning, implementing and following-up. Moreover, change management is not a reaction, but it is a planned action which has reasons, justifications and strategies.it is an administrative philosophy which looks forward to the future and it is characterized by effectiveness and motivation for the educational institution. It can be said that change management consists of a set of strategies, techniques, tools and methods which are suitable for the various suggested procedures. Change management affects university education institution positively in a way that it transfers unacceptable competitive position of any institution into a distinguished competitive position (Rosemary, 2005).this can be fully shown as depicted in Figure.1:
As Gemba kaizen is a process of continuous improvement. Therefore, the application of this sequential process affect the individual positively in a way that they possess the will and desire to change and they will be able to work cooperatively in order to prosper in the future, this is done in an institutional climate and with the participation of community members. The linkage between Gemba kaizen application and Change Management occurrence is shown the ambition of individuals to succeed at every step of any given situation or process due to their convenience of change.
This step refers to the top management roles at the institution, and this cover the following:
2- Do- implementing the change :
This step is the process of implementing change, in these steps; the stakeholders carry out the change or new practice and document the activities of implementation.
3- Check-monitoring and reviewing change:
It is the step in which the top management participate at the process of reviewing and monitoring change according to the plan. There should be a comparison of the results in terms of the original goals and objectives of the plan. This step is very vital as it is used continuously at the whole steps of improvement.
4- Act-revising and planning how to use learnings :
In this step, the stakeholders revise and plan how to use the leanings. The following questions are taken into account
It can be said that the four steps plan, do, check and act constitutes the main stages of Gemba kaizen methodology. By carrying out these steps, university education institutions will be able to enhance change management philosophy and individuals can reduce the problems resulting among the administrative levels at any institution.. According to the PDCA cycle, the change is a process which is cyclical in which employees know their tasks to implement change , which results in achieving continuous improvement.
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