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The Baldrige Model: An Integrated and Aligned Systems Approach to Performance Excellence
As early as World War II, the American Society for Quality (ASQ) found itself at the forefront of promoting the quality knowledge being developed by some of the greatest business minds in America. The formation of the American Society of Quality Control (ASQC), as it was called in 1946, is credited with gathering and training more than 30,000 quality professionals in statistical quality control1 to meet the government’s adoption of quality standards for military suppliers set by Joseph Juran2 and procedures for statistical process control and acceptance sampling earlier established at Western Electric’s Bell Telephone Laboratories by Walter Shewart, George Edwards, Harold Dodge, Juran, and Harry Romig.3 In the 60s, quality gurus such as W. Edwards Deming, Philip Crosby, Armand V. Feigenbaum, and Juran helped the discipline of quality leapfrog the era of quality assurance and control into the era of total quality management (TQM). Feigenbaum declared that the underlying principle of total quality management is that “quality is everybody’s job.” 4 In the 1980s and 1990s, TQM developed as a catchall phrase in America for a broad spectrum of quality-focused strategies and practices. Having observed Japan’s success in employing quality initiatives, American companies introduced their own to remain competitive. TQM became the center of focus for the American quality movement. In 1988, a major step forward in quality management was made with the development of the Malcolm Baldrige Award. The integrated and aligned systems model on which the award is based represented the first clearly defined and internationally recognized TQM model. The award was developed by the U. S. Department of Commerce to encourage companies to adopt the principles and practices of TQM and improve their competitiveness. A similar model was developed by the European Foundation of Quality Management in 1992 and became the framework for the European Quality Award. Today, hundreds of quality awards based on a systems approach to performance excellence exist in most countries of the world. As the influx of quality practitioners into corporate America grew, so did the need for training in new procedures for quality control, statistics, quality data systems, formal problem-solving approaches, measurement standards, quality audits, and the principles of total quality management. The American Society for Quality (ASQ) was there to provide the professional development and training these quality directors and managers were seeking.ASQ’s reach quickly moved beyond its corporate headquarters in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and offered the global cadre of quality professionals a worldwide forum where they could get together to share and contribute to the expanding quality body of knowledge (QBoK)5. Today, ASQ’s 100,000 members reside in 120 countries, and its numerous affiliations with other quality associations represent nearly every country across the globe. Quality Management Hits HomeIn the mid-1980s, the importance of quality management was brought home to ASQ. To put it mildly, ASQ was a troubled organization. It was a $6 million association with only $166,000 dollars in its reserve fund. Despite the fact that membership was growing, the association was losing money. Only one out of every three phone calls was answered. It took 14 weeks to process a member application, six months to make an address change, and 120 days to close the books on the month. Staff members were burning themselves out on overtime to get the work done. Even members knew of our difficulties. Complaint letters to Paul Borawski, CAE, the newly appointed executive director, would often include some version of the phrase “one would think ASQ would be a quality organization.” ASQ had to dramatically change the way it was managed. Two decades later, ASQ is globally recognized as one of the most successful professional associations in the world. ASQ operates with 225 employees and a $45 million budget. Because of quality improvement initiatives, phones are answered within three rings 98.5 percent of the time, member applications are processed within 48 hours 100 percent of the time, and monthly financial statements are available within 10 days of month end. ASQ identified five drivers of member loyalty and used feedback from members to improve performance trends against each of the drivers. For example, satisfaction with products and services, a key driver, has improved eight percent since 2005. How did ASQ achieve this remarkable turnaround? How did it successfully engage its staff in this success? How did ASQ leverage the QBoK of its members and volunteer leaders to continuously provide innovative products and services in the marketplace? Most importantly, how is ASQ currently ensuring the organizational capability and capacity to sustain this success in the future? There is no doubt in the board’s mind that ASQ’s focus on improving quality enabled the enterprise to survive the 1980s and thrive in the early 1990s. The focus on quality management changed the way ASQ led the organization, organized its work systems, managed its workforce, improved its processes, and leveraged its partnerships. Today, ASQ fully engages its governance board of volunteer leaders in setting the association’s vision and participating in strategic decision making. Leadership communicates more with staff and departments, shares information, and creates opportunities for two-way exchanges of information and feedback. Staff are organized into work teams, resulting in improved communication and cooperation between individuals. Crossfunctional teams are chartered to address issues and problems involving other work units and shared processes. To support the effectiveness of teams, leaders and staff receive training in problem-solving methodologies and tools such as Six Sigma. Most significantly, ASQ board, leaders, and staff make decisions that are based not on intuition but on fact and analysis. ASQ leaders recognize we cannot effectively track progress on whether we are meeting our goals and member requirements without metrics. Beginning in 2000, ASQ introduced the value-driven measurement model, which identified measures of success tied to key areas of value including the customer, staff, financial, and operations. By 2004, this model evolved into the balanced scorecard (BSC) approach, which maps measures at all levels of the organization against five dimensions: customer, financial, process, learning and growth, and impact and community. Results against BSC measures are used at all levels to plan, track, analyze, and improve performance. ASQ headed toward the next millennium with a renewed sense of what it meant to be a quality organization. ASQ had become good, but it desired to be great. Only through greatness can it truly achieve its vision to be the community of choice and champion of the quality movement. Related Sidebar: 10 Tips for Conducting a Successful Assessment From the Executive Director’s Perspective How to Conduct a Baldrige Assessment 
More Articles From Summer 2008 Issue
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Summer 2008
