Staying Excellent: Managing

Challenges to Business

Excellence

Professor Alan Brown

School of Management

Edith Cowan University

Perth, Australia

East-West 3,983km North-South 3,138km Area 7,682,300 sq km

Background

Why do organisations use Business

Excellence Frameworks ?

Global framework

Encompass quality principles

A basis for continuous improvement

Self-assessment

External assessment

Benchmarking

Discipline

Business improvement

Models

Over 80 throughout the world

Many are based on the EFQM model

(Europe) or Malcolm Baldrige Award

(USA)

Deming Prize (Japan)

Mexican National Quality Award

Australian Business Excellence

Framework

Baldrige Framework

Australian Business Excellence

Framework

Framework components

Strategy and planning

Leadership

People

Process management, improvement and innovation

Information and knowledge

Customer and market focus

Success and sustainability

Levels of TQM adoption (Dale,

1999)

Uncommitted

Drifters

Tool pushers

Improvers

Award winners

World class

The research

Aim

What challenges and impediments do

organisations who are leaders at

business excellence face in sustaining

excellence and how do they manage

them?

Focus

Not looking at explaining failures

Not looking at implementation issues

Long term focus

Successful organisations

Success is never plain sailing (what are the

weak points in successful organisations?)

Are there common issues?

How are challenges managed?

The study

Australian Business Excellence Award

winners

Advanced/maturity with using ABEF

Successful performance (based on ABEF and

award status)

Mixture of industry sectors

Interviews with main drivers

Examination of documents

Industry visits

Sample

Financial services

Construction, infrastructure, engineering

Manufacturing and services

Transport

Aged care

Local government

Pharmaceuticals

Public sector

All ABEF winners (many gold and silver)

Challenges faced

Leadership

How to maintain drive and support

From senior levels

From a critical mass

From middle managers

How to have consistency

Communication, messages

Especially in multi site organisations

How to communicate culture and values

Strategy

How to engage managers and employees

How to make it meaningful so everyone can relate to

it in their role (operationalise)

How to effectively communicate

How to achieve a balance - not too complex, not too

much information, not too much reporting

How to achieve consistency in application throughout

the organisation

How to have participation in developing

How to prioritise

People

How to personalise it - What about me? -

How does it apply to my job?

How to effectively communicate

How to handle cynics – “we’ve done it all

before”

How to achieve engagement – what’s in it for

me? (managers and employees)

Processes

How to ensure quality is everyone’s

business

How to embed CI mindsets

How to build and maintain teams

How to focus on key processes (big

picture approach)

How to beat silo thinking

Information

How to ensure people are not

overloaded

How to be selective in producing,

collecting and providing data and

information

How to make it easily accessible within

the organisation

How to capture tacit knowledge

Customers

How to provide timely and accurate

information on customers

How to ensure that everyone is aware

of their role in delivering customer

service

Sustaining themes and

responses

Embedding

How is it integrated into the way the business

operates so that it is a normal part of everyday

business?

Strategy – work plans, KPI’s, communication

Processes – seek ongoing improvement

People – performance management, building

capability, job roles, build CI into position

descriptions

Leadership – actions, at all levels, decisions

based on values

Meaningfulness

How can the principles and processes have

meaning for all managers and employees?

How does it affect me? How do I contribute?

Strategy – daily activities, work plans,

linked to operations

Processes – a big picture approach, focus

on key ones, participation in teams

People – performance management

Customers – understanding their needs

Engagement

How can the maximum number of

managers and employees be engaged

with principles and processes?

Leadership – visible, open, direct

communication eg BBQ’s, “toolbox”

People – recognition and reward

Processes – participation in teams

Strategy – participation in developing

Information – not overdoing reporting

Consistency

How do we ensure the message and approaches are

consistent throughout the organisation?

How do we deal with multiple locations?

Leadership - MBWA, communication, values

based decisions eg care, value

Information - accessibility

Processes - teams across the organisation/sites

People – induction, values

Strategy - as the guide for action

Onerous

How do we ensure that it isn’t onerous and seen as

an additional burden?

Strategy - POP, work plans, prioritisation, not just

reporting or ticking boxes, a few key strategies,

strategic pillars

People - integral to job roles

Information - not overloading people, limiting

reporting eg exception based, don’t overmeasure

(less is more)

Processes – simplification, focus on key, not

creating bureaucracy

Driving

How is the effort and momentum

maintained?

Leadership - passion at all levels, building

middle level management support,

accountability, bring together regularly

Processes - self assessment, external

assessment, benchmarking

People - performance management

Information - feedback, customers

So

Successful organisations face challenges

Need to be innovative

Managing challenges involves:

Having passionate, committed drivers

No room for complacency

Actions not words

Open, participative workplace cultures

Internal marketing

Integration – how we do business