HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITÉ LIBRE DE BRUXELLES SOLVAY BRUSSELS SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS & MANAGEMENT MBQPM4 JUSTIN DAVID LIMON MEETING STUDENTS’ NEEDS THROUGH THE USE OF QUALITY MANAGEMENT AT PSB COLLEGE VIETNAM MASTER FINAL PROJECT MASTER IN BUSINESS QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT Tutor’s name: Dr Jacques Martin Ho Chi Minh City (2014) Acknowledgement My time studying at Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management has been a tremendously profound experience It has helped me to further develop myself not only academically, but also on a personal level I‟ve grown a lot since the beginning of the program and it has given me the tools I need to continue growing for the rest of my life I am extremely grateful for the support and guidance given by Dr Jacques Martin Without his vast experience and eagerness to help, this report would not be possible His unique insight in quality management and particularly strategic management has inspired me to develop a strong interest in the field I also want to thank my wife, Ly, and my daughter, Stella, who gave me the motivation and encouragement to further my studies and pursue a master‟s degree Finally, I want to acknowledge PSB College Vietnam and all of its staff and students Working at the school has been an extremely enjoyable experience They‟re the reason why I chose to write about quality management in education Contents Executive Summary Introduction & Background Part 1: Research, Problems, and Strategic Analysis 1.1 Research Methodology 1.2 Research Findings & Problem Identification 1.3 Strategic Analysis 14 1.3.1 Porter‟s Five Forces Model 15 1.3.2 SWOT Analysis 16 1.3.3 PESTL Analysis 18 1.3.4 Current Strategies 19 Part 2: Recommended Solutions 20 2.1 Strategic Action Plan 20 2.1.1Mission Statement 20 2.1.2 Strategic Direction 21 2.1.3 The Balanced Scorecard 22 2.2 A Modernized Corporate Culture Through Human Resource Management 25 2.3 Managing Knowledge at PSB College 27 2.4 Sustaining a Competitive Advantage Through Innovation 30 Conclusion 36 List of References 38 Appendix 40 Questionnaire for PSB College student research: 40 Executive Summary Colleges and universities must meet the ever-changing needs of its students and employees When a school doesn‟t strive to meet the needs of its stakeholders, it risks falling behind its competitors For PSB College Vietnam, students are showing a growing concern towards the school in three major aspects: the availability of information, the approachability of staff, and the usefulness of information being taught at the school This report will provide an in-depth analysis of the root-cause of the problems along with tackling the problems with solutions that will be both effective and long-lasting Four areas will be zeroed-in on in order to alleviate student dissatisfaction towards PSB College They include strategic planning, human resource management, knowledge management, and innovation It‟s strongly believed that in order to achieve growth and long-term success, PSB College must follow this action plan If the college continues with the path they are currently on and don‟t invest resources towards corrective action, the school will struggle to compete with its highly competitive rivals and will fail to meet the needs of its demanding customers Introduction & Background PSB College Vietnam is a franchise of PSB Academy in Singapore PSB College was founded in 2004 and is a 100% foreign and privately-owned school It has accreditation from the Ministry of Education & Training in Vietnam and EduTrust in Singapore PSB College offers three awards: Certificate in English Proficiency (CEP), a Certificate in Business Administration (CBA), and a Diploma in Business Administration (DBA) I have been working at PSB College for over one year, during which I have grown to become very dedicated to the success of the school The main reason for writing this report is to help the college be able to better meet the needs of its current students and help PSB attract new students I believe that by applying the tools of quality and performance management, PSB College can not only grow, but achieve long-term success This report is divided into three sections First, an overview of the research methodology, along with a strategic analysis and identification of key issues within the organization will be discussed Research methodology includes student surveys, which will give a quantitative outlook on what is expected from the school‟s customers The strategic analysis will discuss the current strategy of PSB College, along with a SWOT analysis and an industry analysis using Michael Porter‟s Five Forces model The key issues within the organization will be both from gaps in student expectations, along with drawbacks often expressed by other employees of the school Second, an action plan for improvement will be explained These are based on applying quality management to the fields of strategic management, human resource management, knowledge management, and innovation Part 1: Research, Problems, and Strategic Analysis 1.1 Research Methodology In order to fully understand what the students expected, I created a survey that focused on four main aspects: academics, instruction, facilities, and personal information These four categories are the main interests in which PSB will be able to fully understand which areas of the organization have gaps in concerns to what is expected from the students and analyze which corrective actions, based on their strategy, will help PSB improve upon their deficiencies The questionnaire consists of eleven questions across the four different categories Under academics, I asked the students the following questions: “When I have a problem, I feel comfortable approaching the academic staff”; “The academic staff are effective in solving my problems”; “It‟s easy to get information about the school (such as scores, schedules, and events).” The answers are based on a scale of 1-5 (strongly disagree, disagree, somewhat agree, agree, strongly agree) I chose these questions so as to not pressure the students into feeling obligated to express too much concern or satisfaction The questions were kept generalized so that the answers would still give a useful impression of the academics department while not creating controversy The second category involves teaching The students were asked to evaluate the quality of teaching, their satisfaction on the variety of courses offered at PSB, and the students‟ opinion of how useful the knowledge learned in the modules will help them in the future Again, a scale of 1-5 was used with the same attributes as above The third category reflects the student‟s opinion on PSB‟s facilities They were asked whether they think the facilities of PSB (for example the library, the student lounge, classrooms, and restaurant) are of high quality as well as how well students think that technology is being used on campus These two aspects are important because besides academics and instruction, the use of the facilities on campus and the availability of high quality resources are one of the most important factors when it comes to a student being successful Access to good facilities and the availability of technology are crucial for any school which wants to be competitive in this day and age Finally, the students were asked more personal questions related to their experience at PSB College They were questioned about how long they had been studying at PSB, and whether they would choose PSB College again These factors will help to correlate trends when compared to the first three categories Upon the collection of all surveys, feedback was received by 72 students Considering that there are about 250 students currently enrolled in classes at PSB, a roughly 30% response rate will give a good idea of what students at the school think Using SPSS Statistics, variables were created for each question and all data was inputted into the variables for each student‟s response In addition to the survey, informal, unstructured staff interviews were performed in order to gather information discreetly and without causing discomfort within the organization as the writer is a part-time employee Thus, any sort of formal sit-down interviews with staff or students would have seemed intrusive and might have been problematic The writer feels confident that the sum of all research performed, including the student survey, informal gathering of thoughts and opinions from other employees and students, as well as thorough review of research papers and academic journals spanning from business to psychology is sufficient towards pinpointing problems within the organization and developing strongly justified solutions 1.2 Research Findings & Problem Identification The main reason for using student surveys is because “it is evident that student evaluation, whether of courses, teaching quality or the overall student experience, is extremely important and has a significant role to play in the quality assurance process (Leckey and Neill, 2001)” After entering the data collected from the student surveys into SPSS, extensive analyses were performed As stated earlier, 72 respondents were recorded out of a total of roughly 250 students at PSB College The data should give a good idea of what the overall consensus is in regards to the four categories surveyed (academics, instruction, facilities, and personal information) Below is a table which shows the statistical data of each variable (the scores are based on a scale of one to five, one being the lowest and five being the highest): Descriptive Statistics N Mean High Quality Facilities Teaching Quality Would Choose PSB Again Uses Technology Well Variety of Courses Comfort to Approach Staff Useful Knowledge Staff Solve Problems Availability of Information Valid N (listwise) 72 72 4.1250 3.7917 Std Deviation 60369 76798 72 3.5417 97775 72 72 3.2361 3.1111 74101 1.04215 72 2.8472 94436 72 72 2.7917 2.5417 78610 90285 72 2.0556 62549 Based on a scale of one to five, the aspect which received the highest mean score was the students‟ opinion on facilities, followed by the teaching quality and whether the student would choose PSB again Using the data, one can clearly see that the majority of the lowest-rated aspects fall under academic administration, with the availability of information being lowest, followed by staff‟s ability to solve students‟ problems and students‟ comfort level in dealing with PSB‟s academic staff Another important finding indicated in the table shows that students tend to feel that the knowledge being taught to them won‟t help them in the future The above histogram clearly shows that important information is very difficult for students to get at PSB Based on the graph, one can see that there were no scores higher than for the availability of information Most students rated this aspect a “2.” The scatterplot shows that when comparing how long the student has been studying at PSB with their opinion on how well information is provided to them, that there is no relationship This means that all students experience the same difficulties in obtaining information When students lack information such as their schedule or important dates for events and scores from coursework, lots of problems arise Information is vital in any organization, and even more importantly, a school When students lack information about their studies, they tend to lose respect and trust for the institution These results indicate a problem not only with the level of communication between academics and students, but also school-wide As a lecturer at PSB, information does not flow freely and is not always shared willingly If PSB takes the necessary action to resolve their communication problems, which are rooted in knowledge management, they could greatly improve the rating of students‟ dissatisfaction with information sharing 10 Next is staff‟s ability to solve problems The histogram shows a positive skew, with most respondents reporting a score of three or lower in regards to staff‟s ability to solve students‟ problems The median response was 2.54 The scatterplot shows that there is no correlation between how long a student has been studying at PSB and whether or not they feel that the academic staff is able to solve their problems This means that all students at PSB are experiencing the same situation with staff 27 improvements should be praised and treated as equally important as, say, the successful hiring of a top-level executive This means that even the smallest gains in, for example, customer service feedback scores or sales volume, should be interpreted as an important improvement in regards to the total quality aspect of the organization This continual improvement is what moves the company and, more importantly, the employees forward in their efforts to strive for better results To remedy the situation, PSB needs to establish a culture that fits with TQM, rewards employees for their input and results, communicate the culture to current employees, and then recruit future employees who will fit with the new culture PSB must find people who will fit with the organization‟s new and updated culture and quality policy, but how does it find the right fit? Waldman suggests three possible methods of linking the right people with the exact corporate culture First, he illustrates an “individual gravitating toward organizations with norms and values congruent with their own.” (Waldman, 1994, p.525) This indicates that people will be led, based on their own set of morals and values, to a company that is similar to their mindset Second, he explains “organizations selecting congruent individuals.” (Waldman 1994, p.525) This means, as stated above, that after the organization has interviewed and screened a number of candidates, they select the candidate that best corresponds with the corporate culture (not necessarily selected based on qualifications or job skills superiority) Finally, he suggests “socialization processes to ensure congruence.” (Waldman, 1994, p.525) In this scenario, the employee will be introduced to the culture of the organization and be allowed to adapt to the new environment The role of total quality management and corporate culture as part of the human resources department shows that there is an “interdependent relationship between strategic planning processes and the HR function.” (Teo, 2002, p 97) Clearly, the many functions of the human resources department all strongly rely on one another in order to maintain improvements and a competitive advantage However, as one can clearly see from prior research, the connection between having a total quality-oriented strategy, combined with a well-implemented culture of quality, which are all run through the human resources department, will help to ensure the long-term success of PSB College It‟s imperative that PSB‟s management must realize that one of the focal points of dissatisfaction amongst students is that they feel disconnected from the academic staff and that staff frequently makes mistakes when handling students‟ problems If the human resource department at PSB creates a better environment for the workers by adopting a quality-driven mindset amongst its employees, consistently motivating employees, and hiring people who fit with this new culture, positive results will take effect in no time 2.3 Managing Knowledge at PSB College According to Bergeron (2003) “Knowledge management (KM) is a deliberate, systematic, business optimization strategy that selects, distills, stores, organizes, packages, and 28 communicates information essential to the business of a company in a manner that improves employee performance and corporate competitiveness.” In essence, knowledge management deals with managing the intelligence and information of an organization in that it gives it a competitive advantage Although information technology in this day and age is a key driver of knowledge management, knowledge management is not dependent upon where the information comes from For colleges and universities, there are three main sources of information: teachers, academic staff, and students As has been stated previously, PSB‟s students have expressed dissatisfaction in regards to the availability of information (mainly their scores, schedules, and key events) Additionally, lecturers have also expressed criticism about the availability of information relating to exams, students‟ issues, events, upcoming classes, and product offerings In this section, the importance of developing and implementing an effective means of sharing information and creating knowledge between these three sources of information at PSB College will be discussed The first important step for PSB to begin managing knowledge is to appoint a manager as the point person for all knowledge related aspects of the organization These new responsibilities don‟t require creating a new position at PSB In fact, a top-level manager could inherit these responsibilities in addition to their current work “In essence, the task of the knowledge manager is to coordinate, facilitate and update knowledge on a continuous basis to leverage it to the benefit of the company (Finestone and Snyman, 2005).” The knowledge manager at PSB College will facilitate in the creation, fostering, and sharing of new ideas and information between staff, teachers, and students A knowledge organization is an organization which will “utilize their knowledge by making it available to their employees, management, and customers They will determine where, when, and how to apply this knowledge, and evaluate who has and who needs the knowledge (Liebowitz, Beckman, 1998) PSB College must become a knowledge organization Knowledge workers make up a knowledge organization and PSB College has several knowledge workers, yet it is still not a knowledge organization In order to become one, the school must “empower and leverage knowledge workers by making them an essential component of a knowledge management system.” The academic staff and lecturers are all knowledge workers, so in combination with the new organizational culture proposed in the previous section, having a newly appointed knowledge manager should greatly improve PSB‟s recognition and empowerment of its knowledge workers Customer-centric knowledge management is “a management approach that focuses on knowledge about the customer It aims at improving customer satisfaction, which in turn strengthens the firm‟s competitive position in the market (Wang, Rustung , pg 29)” In this area, the relationships between teachers and students as well as academics and students can be greatly improved A three-step process can be used to implement a customer-centric knowledge management system First, there needs to be student information processing, which needs to be collected and stored in a database Such information can include schedules, important events, marks, students‟ progress reports, quiz results, study habits, and attendance records This information will be tracked for each student using information technology, 29 where it will be available for harvesting, extraction, and analysis The results of the information can be turned into knowledge which would be used to help the student in any way he or she needs This method will save time, reduce costs associated with time, increase efficiency and effectiveness of student queries or problems, and most importantly, improve students‟ performance, thereby increasing student satisfaction This process is illustrated below: Internally, in parallel with the proposed ambition to establish an improved organizational culture at PSB College, the school must make a change in its attitude towards fostering collaboration and innovation “Continuous innovation must be at the center of knowledge management This is because the optimum value of knowledge is realized when ideas are turned into innovative solutions (Wang, et al, 2001, pg 31).” It‟s clear that working together and promoting innovation are crucial to a successful organization Using knowledge gained from collaboration can have tremendous effects on both the culture of the school and its innovation capabilities Developing a new corporate culture and creating an environment where knowledge can be shared go hand-in-hand There are three areas critical to the joining of these two concepts that PSB needs to improve upon First, communication needs to be improved A better understanding of oral, written, and intercultural communication will facilitate the sharing of knowledge The college can utilize the growing popularity of social networking to extend communication channels amongst both employees and students According to Chow and Chan (2008), a higher level of social network and shared goals contributed to the willingness of organizational members to share knowledge An understanding of intercultural communication is necessary due to the international nature of the school Staff must communicate with lecturers (who are western) and their counterparts (who are in Singapore) Another major factor in combining KM with the culture of PSB College is trust According to Huotari and Iivonen (2004), trust is based on expectations of other people‟s willingness and ability to fulfill our needs and wishes Additionally, there are three main characteristics of trust: “1 Trust is based on expectations and interactions, Trust is manifested in people‟s behavioral patterns, Trust makes a difference (Huotari and Iivonen, 2004, Pg 8).” It‟s clear that in order to have an effective system in sharing knowledge, there needs to be trust There needs to be increased transparency through knowledge management at PSB and therefore the academic office must invest more trust with both lecturers and students This transparency will support an improvement in workflow and collaboration between the school and students, thereby improving students‟ satisfaction in respect to the academic staffs‟ supply of important information 30 Finally, a well-planned rewards system should be implemented to motivate staff in their new knowledge sharing, idea generating and creativity-led working habits According to Dewhurst, et al (2009), employee motivation is sagging throughout the world and morale has fallen at almost half of all companies Rewards for sharing knowledge and producing creative ideas and solutions don‟t necessarily have to be financial In fact, Dewhurst, et al (2009), provide compelling evidence that non-financial rewards can be even more effective than financial ones Popular examples of non-financial rewards include praise and commendation from management, heightened attention from leaders, and opportunities to lead projects or task forces The following table proves that PSB College can create a high quality knowledge sharing environment without increase compensation or payroll costs, but by means of nonfinancial employee incentives It‟s quite clear that there are three main objectives for PSB College when it comes to managing knowledge Firstly, there needs to be a repository of knowledge in the form of an information-rich database The database needs to be contributed to by all parties: students, lecturers, and college staff Secondly, there needs to be consistency between the corporate culture and how it allows the school to be a knowledge organization Since the school is full of knowledge workers, it needs to empower its staff towards generating new ideas and creative problem solving To this, there will be improvements in communication, trust, and rewards systems By following through with these initiatives, PSB College can become a fullyfunctioning knowledge organization and the resulting transparency will alleviate issues students and employees have with the availability of useful information 2.4 Sustaining a Competitive Advantage Through Innovation According to Chesbrough (2006, pg 8), “innovation is a core business necessity” and “companies that don‟t innovate die.” In order for PSB College to remain competitive and 31 survive in the long-run, it must incorporate innovation into its business model Managing innovation, however, is not a simple task “Although 96 percent of executives see creativity as integral to their business, surprisingly, only 23 percent have succeeded in making it an integral part of their business.”(de Bes, Kotler, 2011, pg 1) In this section, the ideas of Keeley, Quinn, and Walters involving the “Ten Types of Innovation” will be used to help PSB College analyze innovation within its industry and identify gaps where no other schools have adopted innovation Using these gaps, initiatives will be detailed whereby PSB can take action to innovate and further develop its product offerings in order to better meet students‟ needs According to Keeley, et al, there are three categories of innovation, each category consisting of various types of innovations The first category of innovation is called configuration “These types of innovation are focused on the innermost workings of an enterprise and its business system.” Under configuration there are four types of innovation Profit Model deals with how an organization makes money Network innovation involves how the organization connects with others in order to add value Structure is how talent and assets are organized and aligned in the organization Process entails how superior methods are used in order to work The next category is called offering, which “are focused on an enterprise‟s core product or service, or a collection of its products and services.” There are two types of innovation under offering, which are “product performance” and “product system.” Product performance deals with how the organization develops and distinguishes features and functionality or product offerings Product systems are about how complementary products and services are created, for example, creating a product “ecosystem” where products can be bundled together Finally is the experience types of innovation, which “are focused on more customer-facing elements of an enterprise and its business system.” Within the experience category lie the final four types of innovation Service innovation deals with how an organization supports and amplifies the value of the products it offers Channel involves how products are delivered to customers and users Brand is about how the product offerings the business itself are represented Lastly, customer engagement is about how the organization fosters compelling interaction with the customer As can be seen, the types of innovation at the top of the model are the ones closest to the organization‟s internal functions and furthest away from the customer The types of innovation move closer to the customer as one continues down the model As has been stated by Keeley, et al, these ten types of innovation provide a framework which “is simple and intuitive It is a useful tool you can use both to diagnose and enrich an innovation you‟re working on or to analyze existing competition.” 32 (Keeley, et al, 2011) Since one of the main problems identified through research was that students felt the content of the courses they were studying was not going to be very useful in their future careers, innovating academics and other functions of PSB College will lead to a significant increase satisfaction scores from students In order to effectively formulate and implement innovation into the organization, an industry analysis must be conducted first After the types of innovation which should be focused on have been decided upon, the school can proceed to develop an innovation strategy 33 The industry analysis relies on identifying whether each type of innovation has or has not been used by the main competitors in the industry If there is a type of innovation which has not been used by any of the competitors, then it is a blind spot Blind spots in the analysis are areas where if the firm successfully develops an innovation plan in that type, then it can achieve a competitive advantage in the industry Green indicates that an innovation type has been used successfully White shows where innovation has not been used and yellow indicates a blind spot in the industry The three main schools in the industry are PSB College, Kent College, and ERC Vietnam Upon performing the innovation analysis, it‟s apparent that several of the different types of innovation are used in this industry However, more importantly, it‟s obvious that there‟s one type of innovation which no school has implemented: product systems According to Keeley, et al, “average innovators” used an average of 1.8 types of innovation in their strategy These companies produced poor results in their innovation analysis However, “top innovators” used an average of 3.6 types of innovations in their strategy It was concluded that companies who develop strategies that develop innovation in multiple types of innovation had more successful product launchings It is for these reasons that it is strongly recommended that PSB College develop an innovation strategy based not only on product systems, but also product performance and brand 34 (Keeley, et al, 2011) Generally speaking, PSB College serves two kinds of potential students in Vietnam It‟s seen as a stepping stone for people who want to study overseas, but either can‟t because of visas / paperwork issues or had already studied overseas but decided to move back to Vietnam Additionally, PSB is viewed as a shorter program for some students who just need a diploma in order to qualify for a job that they already have lined up (mainly through family) As previously stated, PSB should pursue three types of innovation, which are: product systems, product performance, and brand Since product system is a type of innovation in which there is a blind spot amongst international 2-year colleges in Vietnam, it‟s critical that PSB take action in this aspect first In order to develop their product systems, it‟s recommended that PSB develop their direct partnerships with local corporations and overseas universities This will help PSB offer transitioning programs to help bridge the gap for students after they graduate; whether they look for work or wish to continue on to a four-year university One innovative program that PSB College should pursue is one where partnerships are formed with localized international companies in order to provide high-level pre-employment training in which each training course is accredited by an organization For example, if PSB College could form a partnership with ANZ Bank in which PSB trains alumni (both PSB alumni and alumni from other schools who are looking for work) in customer service skills based on ANZ‟s training standards, they would get a certificate with both PSB‟s and ANZ‟s accreditation The benefits of this program for students is that they have more relevant skills and knowledge which will help them find jobs related to what they have trained for The number of college graduates in Vietnam is increasing every year Diplomas and bachelor‟s degrees alone are not enough for new graduates to get their first job After developing partnerships with several corporations and designing an array of courses, PSB would quickly establish a competitive advantage through a type of innovation which has not been used by any competitors 35 Another kind of innovation that should be used is product performance Since PSB has a narrow market (a niche school), it should realize who its target customers (those who want to travel overseas or get a good local job) are In product performance innovation, PSB shall utilize a Deming wheel which “is a continuous quality improvement model consisting of a logical sequence of these four repetitive steps for Continuous Improvement (CI) and learning (Singh, J and Singh, H, 2009) The four phases of the Deming wheel are Plan, Do, Study, and Act In „Plan phase‟, the objective is to plan for change and predict the results In „do phase‟, the plan is executed by taking small steps in controlled circumstances In „study/check phase‟ the results are studied Finally in „act phase‟, the organization takes action to improve the process (Singh, J and Singh, H, 2009).” According to Laraia, Moody, and Hall (1999, pg 26), in order to be successful, the people need the power and ability to actually effect process change At PSB College, the lecturers need to have the ability to continuously update module contents and information to keep the courses relevant Under plan, lecturers and office administration will meet with Singaporean counterparts to work on what‟s needed for the upcoming modules Then, under do, the changes and improvements will be implemented into the modules For check, academics will collect survey and exam feedback Then, lecturers will use this feedback to find gaps between what students learned and what they were intended to learn, as well as gaps in what students expected from the course and what they actually got from it Then, for act, lecturers in Vietnam and their counterparts in Singapore will utilize the input from students and academics in order to innovate course offerings even further This model will ensure a continuously high-quality program at PSB College It will benefit students because the program is student-centric, meaning that most input into the cycle is based on student feedback Additionally, it will help lecturers maintain up-to-date knowledge and allow them to keep current on business ideas and practices This kaizen approach will instill a concept of innovation and improvement into the college, as well as meet students‟ needs Combined, the school will discover increased profitability and sustained competitive advantage 36 Finally, in relation to brand innovation, PSB College should leverage its brand‟s reputation Throughout Asia, PSB College is recognized as a high-quality institution which offers reasonable prices In Ho Chi Minh City, there is an increasingly large number of expatriates, particularly from South Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan, and the Philippines PSB needs to establish its reputation amongst these expatriates by adapting its marketing and directing a good portion of marketing resources to these communities throughout the city If PSB can successfully attract students from these demographics, they could reach enrollment targets faster and increase revenue and profitability Additionally, the school would be much more diverse demographically which could even contribute towards improving the organizational culture of the school PSB would also have a competitive advantage in being able to identify its brand as a truly international education experience while still being located in Vietnam Conclusion When it comes to the success of a college or university, the first measurement should be the satisfaction of its students It‟s the students who invest their time, money, and trust in the institution For a private, for-profit college such as PSB College, it‟s even more critical that the satisfaction of the student is central foundation upon which to build the rest of the organization It has been proven in this report that at PSB College, there is a deficiency in what the students want and what they are getting at the school The three main areas in which the schools is lacking are in academic staff, teaching content, and the availability of important information It is strongly believed that if the college develops a plan, closely monitors the important variables and indicators highlighted in this report and follows through with the action plans with continuous improvement, the school will achieve higher student satisfaction rates By developing a strategic plan, the school will gain a better sense of direction and a clear understanding of what its goals and objectives are This will create a fundamental base upon which the school will use to make decisions When the college develops a new corporate culture through the human resource department, it will create a whole new atmosphere The staff benefit because they will be able to freely share ideas and there won‟t be a stigma towards employees who don‟t work overtime Additionally, students will benefit because the new atmosphere will create an environment where academic staff are more approachable and the school will have more openness As soon as the school implements its knowledge management program, the school will see a significant improvement in its availability of useful knowledge, especially knowledge which can be freely shared between administration, lecturers, and students This will create a more effective and efficient workflow which will spur new ideas, encourage creativity and set the stage for innovation Finally, when PSB analyzes its industry‟s use of innovation, it will find that there are blind spots in which it can use to create innovative opportunities where no other competitor has attempted 37 It‟s obvious that the action plan presented in this report does not come with high financial costs and with the right people in place, can take effect relatively quickly If PSB wishes to sustain long-term growth, development, and continuous improvement, it‟s essential that it takes action now 38 List of References Austin, J E (2002) Managing in developing countries: strategic analysis and operating techniques Simon and Schuster Bergeron, B (2003) Essential of Knowledge Management, John Wiley & Sons, NJ Bowen, D.E and Lawler E.E., 1992, Total Quality-Oriented Human Resources Management, Center for Effective Organizations Chesbrough, H (2013) Open business models: How to thrive in the new innovation landscape Harvard Business Press Chow, W S., & Chan, L S (2008) Social network, social trust and shared goals in organizational knowledge sharing Information & Management, 45(7), 458-465 Cole, G (2002) Online mission statements: Briefly stated First Monday, 7(8) De Bes, F T., & Kotler, P (2011) Winning at innovation: the A-to-F model Palgrave Macmillan Dess, G G., & Davis, P S (1984) Porter's (1980) generic strategies as determinants of strategic group membership and organizational performance.Academy of Management journal, 27(3), 467-488 Dewhurst, M., Guthridge, M., & Mohr, E (2009) Motivating people: Getting beyond money McKinsey Quarterly, 1(4), 12-15 10 Finestone, N., & Snyman, R (2005) Corporate South Africa: making multicultural knowledge sharing work Journal of Knowledge Management, 9(3), 128-141 11 Huotari, M L., & Iivonen, M (2004) Knowledge-Based Organizations Through Trust Trust in knowledge management and systems in organizations, 12 Johnson, G., Scholes, K., & Sexty, R W (1989) Exploring strategic management Scarborough, Ontario: Prentice Hall 13 Keeley, L., Walters, H., Pikkel, R., & Quinn, B (2013) Ten types of innovation: The discipline of building breakthroughs John Wiley & Sons 14 Lapoint (nd) Components of an Effective Mission Statement, http://www.mcm.edu/~lapointp/missionstatementcomponents.html 15 Laraia, A C., Moody, P E., & Hall, R W (1999) The kaizen blitz: accelerating breakthroughs in productivity and performance John Wiley & Sons 16 Leckey, J., & Neill, N (2001) Quantifying quality: the importance of student feedback Quality in Higher Education, 7(1), 19-32 17 Liebowitz, Jay, and Thomas J Beckman Knowledge organizations: What every manager should know CRC Press, 1998 18 Maslow, A.H., Lewis, J.K (1987) Maslow's hierarchy of needs Salenger Incorporated 19 Porter, M E (2008) The five competitive forces that shape strategy Harvard business review, 86(1), 25-40 20 Sharma, A (2009) Implementing balance scorecard for performance measurement ICFAI Journal of Business Strategy, 6(1), 7-16 21 Singh, J., & Singh, H (2009) Kaizen philosophy: a review of literature The IUP Journal of Operations Management, 8(2), 51-72 39 22 Stewart, A C., & Carpenter-Hubin, J (2001) The Balanced Scorecard.Planning for Higher Education, 37-42 23 Teo, S.T.T, 2002, Effectiveness of a Corporate HR Department in an Australian Public Sector Entity During Commercialization and Corporatization, Int J of Human Resources Management 24 Waldman, D.A., 1994, The Contributions of Total Quality Management to a Theory of Work Performance, Academy of Management Review 25 Wang, K., Hjelmervik, O R., & Bremdal, B (2001) Introduction to knowledge management: Principles and practice Tapir Academic Press 26 Zingheim, P.K and Schuster, J.R., 1992, Linking Quality and Pay, HR Magazine, [online] Available through: Schuster-zingheim.com 40 Appendix Questionnaire for PSB College Students: Please answer the questions as best as you can Section A: Administration = Strongly Disagree, = Disagree, = Somewhat Agree, = Agree, = Strongly Agree When I have a problem, I feel comfortable approaching academic staff The academic staff are effective in solving my problems It‟s easy to get information about the school (events, schedules, marks ) Section B: Instruction = Very Poor, = Poor, = Average, = Good, = Very Good The quality of teaching at PSB is The variety of courses offered at PSB are… The value of the contents being learned, in regards to how they will help me in the future are 41 Section C: Facilities = Strongly Disagree, = Disagree, = Somewhat Agree, = Agree, = Strongly Agree The campus offers high quality facilities (classrooms, restaurant, lounge, library ) The campus uses technology well Section D: Personal I have been a student at PSB College for… < Months 6M – Year 1Y – 2Y 2Y-3Y >3 Years For the next question, use the following scale: = Strongly Disagree, = Disagree, = Somewhat Agree, = Agree, = Strongly Agree I would choose PSB College again ... evaluate the quality of teaching, their satisfaction on the variety of courses offered at PSB, and the students‟ opinion of how useful the knowledge learned in the modules will help them in the. .. there are three categories of innovation, each category consisting of various types of innovations The first category of innovation is called configuration “These types of innovation are focused... ensure the long-term success of PSB College It‟s imperative that PSB s management must realize that one of the focal points of dissatisfaction amongst students is that they feel disconnected from the