Recent issues facing higher education have created uncertainty over the traditional philosophies underlying higher education administration. As a result, some institutions are investigating Total Quality Improvement (TQI) as an alternative teaching and administrative practice. However, TQI implementation efforts sometimes fail due to poor attitudes of faculty and other employees toward the philosophy and toward change, in general;This study investigates the attitudes of faculty and Department Executive Officers (DEOs) at Iowa State University toward some aspects of TQI by identifying possible group differences between DEOs and faculty and between/among faculty subgroups. To achieve the objectives, an instrument was developed by the researcher based on some issues more often raised in the literature regarding TQI and higher education. The Total Quality Improvement Attitude Scale (TQIAS) was mailed to a sample of 436 faculty members and the total population of 59 DEOs with appointments at Iowa State University during the Spring semester 1994. Useable questionnaires were received from 262 (60%) faculty members and 45 (76%) DEOs;The results of this study are first reported on an item by item basis and then on factors extracted from the data. The results of the item-by-item analysis reveal several significant differences between faculty and DEOs and among faculty across academic rank, gender, college of appointment, tenure, and length of time as a faculty member. Results of the factor analysis yield significant differences across academic rank, college of appointment, and length of time as a faculty member;The findings of this study can be used both within and beyond the concept of TQI. The research yields information, regarding the views of faculty toward controversial topics, that may be useful in evaluating programs, policies, goals, and priorities of the university. The findings also can be beneficial in providing a better understanding of the campus culture and attitudes of campus subgroups.