The Quality Maturity Model (so far) Frankie Wilson Brunel University, UK.

Structure of this talk Initial premises Description of the research Results (so far) The emerging Quality Maturity Model Questions (for you) Open floor

Definition Quality = Total Quality Management, continuous improvement Culture = the beliefs, behaviours, norms, dominant values, rules and climate in the organisation. Quality culture = “The way quality gets done round here”. Influences PMs selected and attitude of library management, library staff and parent organisation to these measures.

Assumption 1: Meta-Quality Agile environment - shifting goalposts. Quality of quality processes - can they cope? Not an alternative to many & varied methods of quality assurance - next level of abstraction.

Assumption 2: Performance Measurement The most important element of any library is the people who work there … … and people are people … … so the performance you get depends on what you measure. If all things talked about at this conference are important - why not ubiquitous? Some difficult to measure

“If you don’t know where you are going, any road will do.” Chinese proverb “If you don’t know where you are, a map won’t help.” Watt S. Humphrey Aim of this research to develop a quantitative measure of this “fuzzy” (qualitative, non-evidenced) concept, and so promote wider engagement.

The research context PM6 - presented research on long term impact of benchmarking, to which QMM was an aside - v positive response to QMM (so it is all your fault!) QMM presented was closely based on Capability Maturity Model of SEI. QMM presented was merely a proof of concept.

The research design Research design = Design Science (aka Design Research, Simon,1969) –Alternative to Qualitative or Quantitative –Design; Engineering; Architecture; Information systems (and Librarianship, at its inception) –“Wicked problems” –Iterative –Product is an artifact (“thing”) –Not assessed against ‘truth’ but by utility –Perfect paradigm to bridge research and practice divide (but that is another story)

Research iterations Phase 1 - QMMa from literature Phase 2 - QMMb from data Phase 3 - QMMbeta (amalgamated) Test for validity and utility of QMMbeta QMM fully characterised Online self-assessment tool

Phase 1 - literature Atkinson Baldridge Crosby Deming EFQM Garratt Handy Juran McKinsey 7 S Oakland Peters Peters & Young Senge Swieringa & Wierdsma ……….

Phase 2 Grounded theory (from Straus & Corbin) Semi-structured interviews (vertical slice) and documentary analysis Interview Qs from Phase 1 QMM 10 HE libraries so far (9 UK; 1 SA) From data - categories; properties (specific or general attributes of categories); dimensions (location of property on range).

Results (so far) Central construct is culture 35 elements - group together into 7 facets 6 facets from both literature and data (8 facets in total) Elements stable - it is how they group that differs

Quality Culture A culture of quality is: –Doing things right –Doing the right thing –Learning –Suited to the ‘business’ environment (change seeking in an agile environment) –Explicitly and appropriately aiming to improve quality The culture is created by: –Strong leadership –The people of the organisation

Alignment is the glue

Management of the organisation Strategic plan generation Management alignment (achieving SP) Progress monitoring Performance measurement Project management processes

Environmental sensing Customers (bottom up) –Gathering feedback –Collation of feedback –Action as a result of feedback Organisation (top down) –Gathering feedback –Influencing organisation

Wider context (inside out) –Gathering feedback –Involvement of staff in profession –Contribution to profession

Learning organisation Staff empowerment Staff involvement in change Nature / level of learning Attitude to mistakes Attitude to risk Staff encouragement to innovate

Attitude to change Perception of drivers for change

Attitude to quality Definition of quality (inc locus of control) Attitude to quality improvement Perception of responsibility for quality Type of quality improvement initiatives (“sexy” vs. “vanilla”)

Leadership Vision and value setting Trust Inspiration and motivation

Investment in staff Attitude to staff (as an asset) Training provision Development of staff Recognition of staff

Alignment Vertical alignment Horizontal alignment Consistency Communication flow “little cogs” - staff see where they fit Structure Alignment of attitude to quality Alignment of attitude to change

The Quality Maturity Model

Research into practice Aim is to make tricky-to-measure concepts measurable. Can’t just be theoretically interesting - has to be useful to practitioners. Testing this utility is part of the research … so over to you …

Questions - general Would you find the QMM useful? How should I tell?

Questions - specific 1 What would you find most useful as a measure of performance: –a single number (“3”) –An average - mean (“3.245”); mode (“3”); median (“3”) –A profile (“management of organisation = 3; attitude to change = 4; alignment = 2” etc) –A total out of 40 (8x5)

Questions - specific 2 What do you think of the 8 facets? –Management of the organisation –Environmental sensing –Learning organisation –Attitude to change –Attitude to quality –Investment in staff –Leadership –Alignment

Your thoughts / comments

Thank You for taking part in my research Any thoughts / ideas / suggestions / criticisms very gratefully received.