The Criteria for Winning the Malcolm Baldridge Award for Quality

Question

1. Write a summary of the criteria for winning the Malcolm Baldridge award for quality. Include examples of past winners and what they did that set them apart from their competitors. This link gives an example:http://www.allbusiness.com/management/benchmarking-quality-improvement/430696-1.htm

• Select a service organization or venue that you are familiar with and answer the following questions. 

1. Name the organization and provide a URL if they have a website.
2. Does this organization produce a quality service?
3. What do you think quality means, or should mean to this organization?
4.  What is your definition of quality?
5. Use the SERVQUAL model and describe your experience with the organization as described in Gaps 4 & 5.

. Question 2 has to be 1.5 to 2 pages

Answer

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The main purpose of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award is to give recognition to businesses and non-profit organizations that have shown excellence in performance and quality standards. The Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence is the main reference point for the assessment of management practices of businesses and non-profit establishments.

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The criteria, according to Straker, may be regarded as a common language that organizations use in order to share the best practices (40). These criteria form the basis of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award process. The criteria are contained in a self-analysis worksheet that managers of organizations should fill in since they are the ones who know the companies’ practices and strategies well. The worksheet requires the managers to fill information relating to the key strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for improvement (OFIs). After completing your responses to the questions contained in the Baldrige Criteria, the next stage self-analysis. The self-analysis task becomes simple since only seven criteria categories are involved. 

The seven criteria contained in the worksheet include leadership; strategic planning; Measurement, Analysis, and Knowledge Management; workforce focus; process management and results. In each of these categories, one should choose two strengths and two opportunities for improvement (OFI).

One is supposed to rank the level of importance of each of the categories as either low, medium or high. For high importance areas, the respondent is required to give additional information about the strength or improvement goal, the action that has been planned, the timeline for the action, and the person responsible for ensuring the execution of the action.

Some of the winners of the award in 2009 were Honeywell Federal Manufacturing & Technologies, Midway USA, AtlantiCare and Heartland Health. They won the award for showing quality and pursuing excellence.

Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

The URL for Food and Drug Administration is http://www.fda.gov. The main objective of this federal government organization is to ensure that consumer products are of the highest quality and therefore, are fit for human consumption. The products are grouped into eight categories namely: food; drugs; medical services; vaccine, blood, and biologics; animal and veterinary; cosmetics, tobacco products, and radiation-emitting products.

The FDA has been providing quality services of ensuring that different products are of the highest standards before they are released into the U.S markets. The FDA also investigates consumer complaints whenever it is suspected that a certain product is of poor quality.

Quality to the FDA means effective enforcement of the laws that this organization has been established to perform. The laws keep changing in tune with the changes in consumer protection and public health concerns. For instance, today, the FDA is responsible for the regulation of over $1 trillion worth of consumer products every year.

Some of the products whose quality has to pass the standards set by FDA include all foods with the exception of poultry, meat, and several egg products; biological products; drugs; animal drugs; cosmetics; consumer products; and consumer products. Quality for FDA means compliance by manufacturers of all these products to the standards that have been set through legislation.

Quality also means the availability of proper management structures where all employees can work with the autonomy that they need in order to be highly efficient. The FDA also engages in other activities including international programs, criminal investigations, emergency preparedness, training and production of publications. The effectiveness with which these tasks are performed determines whether this organization is considered to be a champion of quality or not.

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I define quality as the art and science of providing what is wanted by following the right procedures. For the right quality to be arrived at, the right processes have to be adhered to. Quality applies as much in manufacturing as it does in professions. I also understand quality to mean the totality of the characteristics which an entity should have in order to satisfy the intended needs.

For me, quality is also about how the expectations of people are met. Incidentally, the processes, researches and quality assessment tasks are very essential for quality to be guaranteed. For quality to be assured, the processes being followed must be such that they coincide with the fulfillment of all the requirements that customers, as well as all other interested parties, are looking for.

In terms of reliability, the FDA performs very optimally. The organization promises to offer quality investigations whenever there are complaints about a drop in the quality of consumer products that touch on public health and consumer protection.

The FDA, in terms of SEQUAL component of assurance, scores quite a satisfactory grade, considering that the logo, through the words “Protecting and Promoting your Health” tells it all. The other dimension is the presence of tangibles, where the organization wins the consumer’s complete confidence. The same case applies to the fourth dimension, which is empathy. The laws that the FDA enforces are a manifestation of empathy towards the needs of consumers. Finally, the FDA adheres to responsiveness through emergency Preparedness and Response programs.

Works Cited

Straker, David.  The Quality Conspiracy, London: Gower Publishing Company, 1998