Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award

The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award is given by the United States National Institute of Standards and Technology. The original stated purpose of the award were to
promote quality awareness recognizing quality achievements of the US companies publicize successful quality strategies The current award criteria are stated to have three important roles in strengthening US competitiveness:
To help improve organizational performance practices, capabilities and results To facilitate communication and sharing of the best practice information among US organizations of all types To serve as a working tool for understanding and managing performance and for guiding planning and opportunities for learning 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 market success Improvement in overall organizational effectiveness and capabilities Organizational and personal learning

The seven categories of the criteria are:

1. Leadership
2. Strategic
3. Planning
4. Customer & Market Focus Measurement
5. Analysis and Knowledge Management
6. Workforce Focus
7. Process Management Results

Commonalities of Malcolm Baldrige National Quality
Award recipients are:

1. All operations and functions concentrate on total
customer satisfaction. This applies whether serving
internal or external customers.
2. There are mechanisms in place to determine customer
satisfaction levels. Customer satisfaction is
constantly monitored, and programs are in place to
improve it.
3. The Quality Culture is cascaded down from the
senior management leadership team. They have
defined the corporate vision and have deployed it
throughout the company.
4. Senior management is involved with monitoring,
mentoring, and encouraging the new culture. They
constantly reinforce positive performance.
5. Supplier relations have changed from simply buying
based on price alone to buying from the lowestcost-
to-do-business-with suppliers. Suppliers are
expected to have systems in place to ensure delivery
of defect-free parts or service on time.
6. The role of middle management is changed. Middle
management is often the most threatened group
of employees. At the same time, they are often the
group expected to be most instrumental in facilitating
and driving cultural changes.
7. There are internal controls in place to identify defects
and mistakes. There are active programs to eliminate
errors.
CREATING THE CULTURAL STRUCTURE
8. Benchmarking is used as a tool to drive improvement
of the company in all aspects of doing business.
9. There is some form of employee empowerment. Or,
at least, there is a system that allows and encourages
employees to use their intelligence and take the initiative
required to make things better.
10. There are metrics in place to measure the quality
levels of all operations and functions. Attached to
these are programs for continuous improvement.
11. Training, training, training. As employees are asked
to assume new roles, to redefine what makes them
successful, to learn new skills, and to learn the new
cultural norms, training is imperative.
12. There are aggressive goals. People are challenged to
work more efficiently. They are taught the skills
and techniques required to achieve higher levels of
performance.
13. Teams are abundant. In some cases there are crossfunctional
and multilevel teams. At the very minimum,
work units are identified as teams and are
taught the interpersonal skills required to function as
a team. Supervisors transition from the traditional
command-and-control role to the role of coachmentor-
facilitator.
14. There is a reward and recognition system in place.
As new behaviors are expected from everyone, positive
examples are recognized and celebrated.