He later hired Bourne to oversee a comprehensive program to improve quality and accessibility by enhancing cooperation both within and across the campuses. Bourne splits her time between University Hall and Jesse Hall, where she also serves as a consultant to Interim Chancellor Richard Wallace and directs the UM-Columbia CQI programs. The concept of quality improvement was first introduced by W. Edwards Deming, the renowned consultant perhaps best known for his work in Japan, where starting in 1950 he taught top corporate executives and engineers methods for the management of quality. The war-battered Japanese took an interest in his statistical methods, which eliminate inspection and emphasize quality as the responsibility of all workers. His teachings are credited with dramatically altering the economy of Japan.
Higher education is now, more than ever, a competitive environment.
It calls for doing business differently more efficiently. Bourne earned a doctorate in education from MU and has worked as a family counselor an experience she has found helpful in her current assignment. Just as families have dysfunctions, organizations have to look at what is counter-productive. The goal of the cash receipts team was to improve the accuracy and efficiency of the cash receipts process, from the receipt of money to the reconciliation of bank and books. A central objective of UM CQI programs, Bourne says, is to use technology to enhance academic and support services.