TQM Self-Assessment Awards
TQM Self-Assessment Awards
TQM Self-Assessment Awards
Self-assessment may be conducted in many different ways. Assessment against the Model particularly,
for award purposes, is performed using the RADAR® philosophy, which sits at the heart of the
Model. RADAR® stands for:
Results
Approach
Deployment
Assessment
Review
Based on the simple ‘Plan – Do – Check - Act’ cycle, an organisation must:
• Determine the Results it is aiming for from its policy and strategy
• Plan and develop integrated Approaches
• Deploy the approaches
• Assess and Review these approaches, to identify, prioritise, plan and implement improvements
Assessment is normally a team activity with the team considering the organisation’s position against each
of the sub-criteria. A score is assigned to each sub-criteria based on the response to the questions given
above. The score is based on identified strengths and improvement opportunities.
Once the assessment is complete, an overall score is calculated; the maximum possibilities based on
points out of 1000 points.
From Quality
www.dti.gov.uk/quality/selfassessment
to
Excellence page 1 of 4
An organisation new to TQM and business excellence might score in the region of 200/300 points,
whereas an award winner should score around 700 points.
Approaches to self-assessment
There are a number of approaches that can be used to carry out a self-assessment, including:
Guidelines are published on self-assessment by the EFQM and BQF, but whichever method is used, the
emphasis should be on understanding the organisation’s strengths and areas for improvement, rather than
achieving a score. Self-assessment provides an organisation with vital information in monitoring its
progress towards its goals and business excellence, and it can be conducted at several stages in an
organisation’s history:
• Before starting an improvement programme, possibly in parallel with a “cost of quality” exercise
• As part of a programme launch
• Every one or two years to steer and monitor progress
The general steps involved in under-taking a self-assessment, whichever method is used and whenever it
is done in an organisation’s history, are represented as:
Strengths
Planning Data Action
Assessment & areas for
collection planning
improvement
The first step is to plan the activity, including which self-assessment methodology to use and the number
of people who will be involved.
The method for collecting the data may vary from getting a team together in a room and asking them what
they think, to conducting a detailed analysis. Once the data is collected it has to be assessed, and this will
depend on the way it was collected.
A major outcome of the self-assessment will be the identification of strengths and areas for improvement,
leading to action planning.
From Quality
www.dti.gov.uk/quality/selfassessment
to
Excellence page 2 of 4
Business Excellence Awards
Organisations can gauge their achievements in business excellence by applying for one of the many quality
awards that exist around the world. The early awards include the Deming Prize, which originated in Japan
in 1951, but may be given to any company worldwide, and the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award
(MBNQA), started in 1987 in the USA. These awards continue to generate great interest and provide role
models throughout the world.
In Europe, there is the EFQM’s Quality Award, based on the Excellence Model®, and in the UK, the UK
Business Excellence Award and regional Excellence Awards, e.g, the Midlands Excellence Award. All are
based on the same framework as the European Award.
A primary motive for applying for an award is to compare progress against other organisations and not just
to win an award. The detailed feedback received is a highly valuable benefit to organisations, but it is not
necessary to apply for an award to get these benefits, as they should be achieved by conducting a good
self-assessment.
Organisations achieving a UK Business Excellence Award have been subjected to rigorous process lasting over
9 months. As the process is so systematic and reliable, organisations approaching world-class performance
often subscribe to it for self-assessment purposes, to receive an accurate score and detailed feedback.
Identical to the approach used for the European Quality Award, the BQF process involves many people -
the applicant, the assessment team and the jury.
Applicant produces
Assessment
75-page submission
team trained
document
Assessment team
score application
Assessment team
reach consensus
Jury short-list
organisations
Selected applicants
get site visit
Jury chooses
winners
From Quality
www.dti.gov.uk/quality/selfassessment
to
Excellence page 3 of 4
In the process, the applicant produces a 75-page maximum submission document detailing the approaches
and results, against the criteria of the Excellence Model® the assessment teams undertake training to
‘calibrate’ themselves against each other. Teams are then assigned to applications and every member of
the team individually assesses the application. The team then meets to reach consensus on the strengths,
areas for improvement and to reach an agreed score reflecting the applicant’s achievement.
The jury meets to compare the results from all the applications assessed. From these a number are chosen
to move to the next stage where the assessment team visits the applicant to verify the evidence
presented in the submission and to clarify any points that are not clear.
A revised report is presented to the members of the jury, who choose which companies to recogonise.
There is no limit on the number of awards given in any year but a certain level of performance has to be
achieved to receive an award. There are two categories of award:
From Quality
www.dti.gov.uk/quality/selfassessment
to
Excellence page 4 of 4