Promoting change and easing quality management into higher education institutions

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the benefit of aligning quality management with organisational change and to describe the circumstances for which such alignment is possible.
Design – The paper starts by drawing a parallel between difficulties associated with organisational change and those found when implementing quality management systems in higher education. From this initial analysis characteristics of quality management systems conducive to organisation change are highlighted. A case study is presented that includes several (but not all) of the characteristics that support organisational change and lessons from the implementation of this quality management system are used to draw conclusions.
Findings – The study found that quality management systems that accept variability and diversity are better fit to create the necessary conditions for organisational change to take place. It was also found that within the higher education institutions context, the promotion of academic success is a good candidate for a unifying shared belief at organisational level, and, because change is easier when supported on a shared belief, quality management systems benefit from being centred on the core objective of academic success.
Practical implications – Because knowledge is above all local and regional, reporting local experiences contributes to a better understanding of the challenges facing those wishing to implement effective quality management systems in higher education institutions. Key features highlighted with the presentation of the case study should also assist developers of quality management systems.
Originality – This paper is the first to discuss the successful implementation of quality management system  in higher education institutions in connection to academic success, used as a driver for organisational change and as a unifying shared belief.

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Higher education; quality management systems; academic success; shared belief; change culture.