Juhani
Anttila
Venture Knowledgist Quality Integration
Helsinki, Finland
www.QualityIntegration.biz
MALCOLM BALDRIGE CRITERIA AIM AT EXCELLENCE
OF THE OVERALL ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE
Criteria purposes
Malcolm Baldrige
(MB) criteria are the basis for an effective organizational self-assessments.
They are one of the most recognized model
of performance excellence and criteria for a national quality
award (see www.quality.nist.gov). The criteria have three important roles in strengthening organizations'
competitiveness:
- to help improve organizational performance practices, capabilities,
and results
- to facilitate communication and sharing best practices information
among organizations of all types
- to serve as a working tool for understanding and managing performance
and for guiding planning and opportunities for learning
Malcolm Baldrige
criteria are, in fact, a useful framework for quality management as
understood in the ISO 9000 definition, and meaning factually the same
as quality of management.
Criteria for performance excellence
goals
The criteria are designed to help organizations use an aligned approach
to organizational performance management that results in
- delivery of ever-improving value to customers, contributing to marketplace
success
- improvement of overall organizational effectiveness and capabilities
- organizational and personal learning
Core values and concepts
The criteria are built upon a set of core values and concepts recognized
in modern organizations. These values and concepts are the foundation
for integrating key business requirements within a results-oriented
framework. The values and concepts are the embedded beliefs and behaviours
found in high performing organizations. They are the foundation for
integrating key business requirements within a results-orientated
framework that creates a basis for action and feedback.
The core values and concepts of the Malcolm Baldrige model are:
- Visionary leadership
- Customer-driven excellence
- Organizational and personal learning
- Valuing employees and partners
- Agility
- Focus on the future
- Managing forinnovation
- Management by fact
- Social responsibility
- Focus on results and creating value
- Systems perspective
Criteria for performance excellence
framework
The core values
and concepts are embodied in seven assessment categories of the Baldrige
Criteria. These are organized into seven Categories, these into 19
Examination Item, and these in turn contain a total of 32 Areas to
Address. In the full MB assessment procedure, performance descriptions
of the organization being assessed are made by Areas to Address and
the assessments (scoring) by Examination Item. A part of the Examination
Items refer to Approaches and Deployment of business realization,
whereas others refer to performance Results.
The criteria categories
(see figure) are:
1. Leadership
2. Strategic planning
3. Customer and market focus
4. Measurement, analysis and knowledge management
5. Human resource focus
6. Process management
7. Business results
Figure. Malcom Baldrige criteria structure
There are also simplified assessment procedures available for
an easy starting to the use of MB criteria.
Reference
Anttila J. Vakkuri
J. Good Better Best. Helsinki: Sonera Corporation, 2000
[This
material has been presented in different forms in differerent seminars
or conferences]