Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA)

The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA) is presented annually by the President of the United States to organizations that demonstrate quality and performance excellence.

Three awards may be given annually in each of six categories: Manufacturing Service company Small business Education Healthcare Nonprofit

Established by Congress in 1987 for manufacturers, service businesses and small businesses, the Baldrige Award was designed to raise awareness of quality management and recognize U.S. companies that have implemented successful quality-management systems. The education and healthcare categories were added in 1999. A government and nonprofit category was added in 2007.

The Baldrige Award is named after the late Secretary of Commerce Malcolm Baldrige, a proponent of quality management. The U.S. Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology manages the award and ASQ administers it.

Organizations that apply for the Baldrige Award are judged by an independent board of examiners. Recipients are selected based on achievement and improvement in seven areas, known as the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence: Leadership: How upper management leads the organization, and how the organization leads within the community.

Strategic planning: How the organization establishes and plans to implement strategic directions. Customer and market focus: How the organization builds and maintains strong, lasting relationships with customers. Measurement, analysis, and knowledge management: How the organization uses data to support key processes and manage performance.

Human resource focus: How the organization empowers and involves its workforce. Process management: How the organization designs, manages and improves key processes. Business/organizational performance results: How the organization performs in terms of customer satisfaction, finances, human resources, supplier and partner performance, operations, governance and social responsibility, and how the organization compares to its competitors.

How do you define Excellence? Excellent Organisations achieve and sustain outstanding levels of performance that meet or exceed the expectations of all their stakeholders. We can all think of organisations that we would recognise as being excellent. They may well operate in different environments, with different stakeholder constituencies, and come in all shapes and sizes but what they share a common mindset that is based on a number of attributes and ways of working that separate them from the crowd.

How do you define Excellence? The Fundamental Concepts of Excellence outline the foundation for achieving sustainable excellence in any organisation. They can be used as the basis to describe the attributes of an excellent organisational culture. They also serve as a common language for top management. These eight Concepts have been identified through a rigorous process that included benchmarking globally, searching extensively for emerging management trends and, last but not least, a series of interviews with senior executives from a cross-section of industries operating across Europe. Each of the Concepts is important in its own right but maximum benefit is achieved when an organisation can integrate them all into its culture. There Fundamentals Concepts are:

A. Adding Value for Customers Excellent organisations consistently add value for customers by understanding, anticipating and fulfilling needs, expectations and opportunities.

B. Creating a Sustainable Future Excellent organisations have a positive impact on the world around them by enhancing their performance whilst simultaneously advancing the economic, environmental and social conditions within the communities they touch.

C. Developing Organisational Capability Excellent organisations enhance their capabilities by effectively managing change within and beyond the organisational boundaries.

D. Harnessing Creativity & Innovation Excellent organisations generate increased value and levels of performance through continual improvement and systematic innovation by harnessing the creativity of their stakeholders.

E. Leading with Vision, Inspiration & Integrity Excellent organisations have leaders who shape the future and make it happen, acting as role models for its values and ethics.

F. Managing with Agility Excellent organisations are widely recognised for their ability to identify and respond effectively and efficiently to opportunities and threats.

G. Succeeding through the Talent of People Excellent organisations value their people and create a culture of empowerment for the achievement of both organisational and personal goals.

H. Sustaining Outstanding Results Excellent organisations achieve sustained outstanding results that meet both the short and long term needs of all their stakeholders, within the context of their operating environment. The Fundamental Concepts of Excellence form the basis for the criteria of the EFQM Excellence Model.