1999 Minnesota Statutes

     43A.211 Minnesota quality college. 

    Subdivision 1.    Purpose; goals.  The Minnesota quality 
 college is a program in the department of employee relations to 
 provide information on continuous quality improvement training 
 resources to state officials and employees in executive 
 agencies.  It is managed by the board established by subdivision 
 2.  The purpose of the program is to help agencies, officials, 
 and employees achieve the mission and goals of their 
 governmental unit, improve government's responsiveness to 
 citizens, increase workplace innovation at the employee level, 
 increase productivity, improve public leadership and employee 
 involvement, and build pride in public service.  Its goals are 
 to encourage cost savings and cost sharing among its clients, to 
 help clients ensure that money for quality improvement training 
 is wisely spent, and to develop and maintain a curriculum that 
 provides a base for the continuous improvement of quality skills 
 in Minnesota's public workforce.  The curriculum must be based 
 on a philosophy of quality that has these components:  customer 
 focus, continuous improvement, and employee empowerment and 
 leadership.  The board shall ensure that state agencies and 
 employees have access to and are provided with information on 
 quality resources, encourage sharing and interagency 
 cooperation, and provide high-quality and ongoing training on 
 how to apply the philosophy of quality in public service.  

    Subd. 2.    Management.  The commissioner shall convene 
 a board to manage the college.  The board must consist of the 
 commissioner; a commissioner from another agency appointed by 
 the governor; a private citizen experienced in the application 
 of the quality philosophy, appointed by the governor; a 
 representative of the exclusive representatives of employees in 
 the executive branch, selected by the exclusive representatives; 
 and two representatives of management-level executive agency 
 employees, selected by the commissioner.  The board shall take 
 action based on a consensus of its members present.  The board 
 shall identify training needs and potential resources to provide 
 different levels of training depending on the requirements and 
 stage of development of each customer.  Levels of training may 
 include basic quality training, special management training, 
 refresher courses, coaching, organizational culture change, and 
 applying quality tools.  The board shall attempt to design a 
 model curriculum, specific components and resources to achieve 
 the curriculum, and specific programs within that curriculum to 
 meet the expressed needs of customers. 

    Subd. 3.    Customers.  The primary customers of the 
 college are Minnesota state agencies, officials, and employees.  
 The board may extend services to local governmental units, 
 federal agencies, educational institutions, and nonprofit 
 organizations within Minnesota, but shall first ensure that the 
 needs of their primary customers are adequately met.  The 
 curriculum must be organized to meet the needs of five separate 
 groups of customers:  elected officials, appointed officials, 
 managers, quality professionals, and public employees. 

    Subd. 4.    Suppliers.  The board may draw upon a range 
 of training resources, including: 

    (1) staff of the customer agency itself; 

    (2) other agencies, including courses offered by the 
 department or the organizational analysis services of the 
 management analysis division of the department of 
 administration; 

    (3) Minnesota public and private higher education 
 institutions; 

    (4) private consultants; 

    (5) professional organizations; and 

    (6) local governmental units and federal agencies. 

    HIST: 1995 c 254 art 1 s 64 

*   NOTE:  This section is repealed by Laws 1995, chapter 254, 
*article 1, section 97, effective July 1, 1999.