Question 8

Have you also seen the applications of the Baldrige framework, or its emulation, in other countries, when they set up their quality awards?

The Baldrige criteria is obviously a brilliant model that every organization can use. One of the major changes I forgot to talk about is that it was introduced as a quality assessment, and now we are really talking about performance management and performance excellence. Because of that, it has been readily embraced throughout the world as a de facto measurement or assessment of an organization’s financial performance or health. New Zealand quality award as an example, the European quality award (EFQA) embraces most of the concepts of the Malcolm Baldrige award.India has a similar award; Japan, in addition to the Deming Prize, has embraced the Baldrige criteria. So it has really become the de facto measurement of performance excellence within an organization, even to the point where many MBA courses focus heavily on Baldrige and the Baldrige criteria. [This is] because we are not talking quality, we are talking about an organizational leadership strategy, how that is deployed through the organization, what impact it has on skills and resources, and finally “show me the results.”