24 June 1997 Lincoln – first university to win top national quality improvement award

Lincoln University has become New Zealand's first educational institution to win the country's top overall award for quality improvement projects.

In an annual competition run by the New Zealand Organisation for Quality and judged by an independent panel nominated by the organisation's national council, Lincoln were co-winners of the Bank of New Zealand Quality Improvement Prize along with a team from the Central Customer Support Centre of the bank itself.

Lincoln University's winning entry was for improvements to the quality of its student registration process led by a team known as ‘OnQ’.

The internationally acclaimed concept of Total Quality Management was embraced by Lincoln in 1992 to enhance the "client focus" of the University's activities and encourage "consensual decision-making" among staff and management.

Localising the TQM initials to LQI – Lincoln Quality Improvement – staff organised themselves into teams and applied the principles and steps of TQM to a wide range of issues and problems. Areas tackled ranged over everything from performance benchmarking to aspects of mail handling, catering, cleaning and caretaking, grounds maintenance, pollution control, conference organisation, library services and recreation services.

The process was confined initially to administrative and support personnel and did not include the teaching and research staff.

For the ‘OnQ’ team the starting point was the recognition that while the student registration process is one of the key administrative functions of the University, historically it had come in for a lot of criticism on the basis of being slow, unwieldy, and not particularly client friendly. For example, in 1993 the year the ‘OnQ’ team was formed, registration queues often stretched 100 metres, four abreast, with too few staff laboriously conducting computer based checks.

Working through the LQI process and coming up with recommendations, the team has seen the process transformed to one of reduced queues, more accurate checks, happier students and more courteous staff. At the same time the layout for registration has been simplified to improve traffic flow, non-essential checkpoints have been eliminated, staff training has been provided to ensure appropriate expertise at all points of the process and signage has been improved.

Significantly, queuing time was reduced by 40 percent in the first year and a further 25 percent in the following year.

Taken together the team's analysis and problem-solving resulted in what the award nomination report described as "astonishingly successful" quality improvements.

Today, four years down the track since it was first convened, the ‘OnQ’ group still meets and has become a de facto 'management team' for the University's student registration process.

Members of the award winning ‘OnQ’ team are Academic Registrar Roger Smyth, Student Academic Services Assistant Manager John Goodrich, Management Information Systems Operations Manager Mark Henare, Undergraduate Student Administrator Karen Townley, Student Loans Officer Denise Cuthbertson, Pay Clerk Julie Garing and Works Clerk Gay Henderson.

The BNZ Quality Improvement Prize publicly recognises teamwork and commitment to quality improvement which results in successful, measurable improvement and nominations are open to any quality improvement team, permanent or project-based, in any New Zealand organisation.

The bank’s own award-winning group, which shared the top prize with Lincoln University, was the Loans Quality Assurance Team from the Central Customer Support Centre, Wellington. The team identified an opportunity to improve the quality of loan action sheets being sent to them from their ‘customers’, the network of branches.

Improvement steps taken included training, newsletters, open days and structured call programmes. Results from the improvements included reduced costs, improved quality of input received by the team, a dramatic improvement in the level of service provided to the branches and subsequently to the public, lessened risk and improved image.

Like Lincoln University, the BNZ remains committed to the principles of quality management and regards it as an integral part of its approach to client service.

• The New Zealand Organisation for Quality provides leadership in the advancement of quality management and best business practice. The organisation's strength lies in the diversity of its members whose skills and experience span the spectrum of New Zealand enterprise.

In addition to the Bank of New Zealand Quality Improvement Prize, NZOQ offers the Carter Holt Harvey Quality Prize for the best practical paper by an NZOQ member (the 1997 winner was Don Barnes of Massey University) and the Beca Quality Prize for the best theoretical paper by an NZOQ member (1997 winner, Diane Baguley, Beca Carter Hollings and Ferner Ltd).

Further details about the organisation, its activities and awards can be obtained from the NZOQ national office, PO Box 622, Palmerston North, telephone 06 350 5825: fax 06 350 5820: Email: Quality@NZOQ.org.nz.

Ian Collins, Journalist, Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand