Quality management system (QMS) certification has been prime agenda for
many public institutions of higher education (PIHE) in Malaysia to gain
competitive advantage in winning their target customers and stakeholders. As
such, the concept of total quality management (TQM) has become an
organizational focus to continuously improving their products and services.
However, the implementation of TQM is not an indicator that every single thing
is in place. The aim of this paper is to discuss thoroughly and investigate some
findings experienced by internal QMS auditors during the internal quality audit
process and obtain their perception toward the audit process at Universiti
Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. The questionnaire, personal (face-to-face),
telephone interview and observation were methods chosen to obtain required
information from selected respondents. The findings revealed that the most
common problem experienced by internal QMS auditors during an internal
audit is the failure to follow documented procedures. The study also indicates
that low awareness of quality among auditees, unavailability of evidences
whenever required, procedures not documented and unco-operative staff are
problems highlighted by internal auditors. The findings of this study provide an
insight into the implementation of TQM in PIHE and further action for
continuous improvement could be taken for the purpose of maintaining the
effectiveness of QMS in organization.
