Quality management in
corporate language training
Lincq Workshop
November 2013
What do we mean by quality?
• Quality is a very general notion – the origin is Latin
«qualis» = what kind of?
• It was applied in production and service industries as
Quality Assurance (QA) and Quality Management (QM)
• QA and QM have been based – operationally - on a
number of models – customer satisfaction, process
management, fitness of / and for purpose, zero defect
etc.
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The Lincq project
• In our project we aim to provide guidelines for
corporate language strategy and policy at two
levels
– How to make language training effective and
useful for the success of the company
– How a strategy for corporate plurilingualism can
be a factor in the overall quality of a company
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Models of quality 1
• A process model of quality – quality involves
analysing all the processes involved in delivering
a service – for example, a language course – and
making sure it is produced efficiently.
• Processes can be divided into three phases –
planning, implementation and outcome. In
industry the objective is to achieve zero tolerance
of error and a slogan for process management is
“get it right, the first time, every time”
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Models of quality 2
• A client satisfaction principle quality is achieved when
customer needs are met, when
client expectations are exceeded.
To do this you need to identify
your client.
• This is quite complex – the person
who “consumes” the service is
often different from the one who
is paying for it, so you have direct
and indirect clients. Some people
who work in an institution do not
have direct contact with external
customers but provide services for
their colleagues – who are
internal clients
• Who are the clients in the
education /training systems you
work in – the employee? The
employee’s boss? The HR
department?
• Think about who are the clients in
your working situation. Are they
direct, indirect, internal,
external?
• Think about yourself as a client?
Who provides services for you?
What needs and wishes should
they satisfy to provide a high
quality service?
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Models of quality 3
•
Quality based on results – one way
of defining quality is based on results
– in tests and examinations, for
example. The principle is that unless
you can prove the effectiveness of
educational activity by measurable
results, you cannot claim quality.
• What are the
advantages and
disadvantages of using
public examinations and
test results as indicators
of quality?
• Can you think of other
bases for measuring
results of corporate
language strategy?
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Models of quality 4
• Quality based on personal
development – in this model
quality is based on the
motivation, the attitudes and
skills of the people involved. In
order for it to help maintain
and improve quality, the
institution needs to establish
an environment which enable
staff to develop and cooperate.
• These can be through staff
development programmes,
action research, peer
observation, innovation.
•
Describe – from your own professional
experience – good practice in creating a
working environment which promotes
quality.
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Models of quality 5
• Value driven quality.
Education is not just a
mechanical industrial
process, but embodies and
tries to communicate
values. The work of the
Council of Europe in
language learning seeks to
promote plurilingualism as
an instrument of tolerance
and respect for other ways
of life and other values.
• What are the explicit values
which affect quality in your
working environment?
What are the unstated
ones?
• What values might (or
should) be specific to
language teaching and
learning?
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A new paradigm?
• Quality based on a combination of trust and
legitimacy
– Procedures and practices which contribute to
establishing trust between stakeholders
– Systems, tools, resources which provide evidence
to legitimate the trust
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Plurilingualism and corporate quality
• A strategy which encourages a plurilingual approach to
languages in corporate life can be a factor of quality:
– Clients and stakeholders are more likely to be addressed in
their own language
– If the linguistic skills and backgrounds of employees are
acknowledged and recognised they are more likely to
identify with the company
– The company can communicate better, with more nuance
and more richly
• Encouragement of laplurilingualoismis part of the
ethics of good employment practice, and a feature of
its public image
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Quality criteria
• What does quality mean in your profession –
as a teacher, a trainer, a manager? What
rationale enables you to say:
– That was a good lesson / course / project?
– It’s an effective school / centre / training provider?
– This was a successful learning experience?
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• What guidelines can we give for quality as a factor in
corporate quality?
• Purpose – Why are we encouraging language training? Is the purpose
a ‘fit’ purpose for successful corporate strategy?
• Evaluation –How does it compare with set standards?
• Management – what can we do to ensure that quality is maintained?
How can we make it better? What standards do we apply to this?
• Guarantees – how do we know we can rely on the quality of a
particular thing or activity? How can it be reliably accredited? By
whom?
• Resources – how can Council of Europe resources contribute to
developing corporate language strategies
Questions for the workshop
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Commitment to quality
• Try and express for yourself your commitment
to quality in your job. “For me quality means
…..”
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Some quality slogans
“quality is that which meets the customer’s expectations”
“quality is that which exceeds the customer’s expectations”
“ a quality product is not an average product or a minimal product. Would
you want to be operated on by an average surgeon?”
“Say what you do. Do what you say you do. Check that you are really doing
what you say you do.”
“Do the right things. Do things right.”
“there can be no improvements where there are no standards”
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