skip to Main Content

Part 1 (use APA Format with at least 2-3 references) In Criteria #6 of the MBNQA

In Criteria #6 of the MBNQA (Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award Information & Resources), there is more detail on designing your work systems, work system requirements, implementation and cost controls as well as an approach for emergencies. Why are these important? How can benchmarking and baselining help an effective organization measure its success? Why should we measure and what is the value of measurement in process management? Why should we have processes and what benefits do they provide? Is it necessary to measure the effectiveness of your process? Why or why not? Please explain.
Part 2: (Respond this post with a short paragraph or two – Joanne Lee)
The work systems of an organization entail the key systems and processes that contribute to the organization’s mission. The Operations Criteria of the MBNQA requires organizations to assess how work systems are determined, what they are, whether they support the mission, and how effective they are through a process management assessment (Baldrige Performance Excellence Program, 2017). The applicability of the MBNQA criterion is consolidated in the Operations Criteria by assessing how an organization achieves the mission based on the strategy, support of leadership, efforts of the workforce, and elevating customer value.
Processes are the “series of actions, changes, or functions that bring about an end or result” (Pentland, 2003, p. 858). Organizations must establish processes within their organization to ensure continuity of operations and quality products or services. Failure to standardize processes result in continuous variation that cannot be controlled, measured, or improved. In addition, measurements and analysis of the work systems are critical to identifying whether the work systems are effective and where there is an opportunity to improve.
The measurements an organization uses to measure their work systems and processes must be factual and useful in improving the work systems in process management. In the case of an assembly line production organization, identifying measures is more straightforward to improve efficiency in the process. A service organization will have a more challenging time in identifying practical measures, as the nature of the work processes includes variance for flexibility, and multiple processes occur simultaneously (Pentland, 2003). Regardless of an organization’s mission, there must be relevant, factual, and qualitative metrics measured to perform benchmarking.
Benchmarking assists an organization in determining the internal perception of the organization, performance standards, effectiveness in performance, or continuous improvement efforts through comparison against best in field organizations, ISO 9000 standards, MBNQA, the Deming Prize criteria or industry certifications performance against the best performing organization (Summers, 2009). Benchmarking will aid an organization in determining areas in which they may improve upon and will transform an organization towards excellence (Yarrow, 2006) and will establish a baseline measurement against performance excellence best practices in the industry. The baseline is a snapshot of the organization prior to implementing any process improvements. It is critical to establish a baseline prior to any changes to determine whether the process improvements were successful. The determination of success in process improvements is necessary to assess effectiveness of processes and improvement in the Results Criteria.

Part 3: Reflection (Small Paragraph minimum 60 words or more)
This posting is for you to reflect on what you learned during the week from others, from the readings, and from any other sources relevant to the class relative to continuous improvement (not where to see a movie, sports event, share baseball stats or get decorating ideas from side conversations). Your reflection needs to include what you have learned that may be new or different and how this will impact your leadership style going forward – think about what you learned and how you can use this to improve everything/anything. I read every submission to the forums, and you should read at least the primary postings – I hope you read everything. If I see a submission similar to an “I agree” type of comment or anything off track, I will remove it, and the student will not receive any credit for it. Each of your comments must be presented as a professional would present it by substantiating it with evidence and critical thought. This means a reasonable paragraph related to the discussion topic – not off topic, short, or compromised in any way (one or two sentences simply will not do). Use a reference and a citation if appropriate in your reflection.

Part 4 Benchmarking
After you have read the information on benchmarking in your text and in the MBNQA Criteria, find an example of benchmarking that would reflect your present job, your industry, or you may use a personal goal if you wish. This is not difficult! For example, when you go shopping for furniture don’t you compare prices? Do you compare prices and grocery stores when you are buying the same items? Benchmarking is comparing results, processes, or other ways of accomplishing organizational goals, except you are looking at what your competition is doing so you can see what your challenges are. Find your example, explain it and post the information here. After you provide your example, respond to this question: What role does benchmarking play in decision-making? How does benchmarking differ from baselining?


Back To Top