The challenge for excellence Foreword
Companies all over the world are being faced with a remarkable change in the level of risk taken in their activities; at present, a mistake could cost a company much more than in the past as often there is limited time to recover.
In this particular context "the challenge for excellence" becomes always more important, and key factors of success must be addressed, such as:
- position of main competitor in the market
- position of the company in the market
- tools to modify and improve the position of the company in the market
There is an enormous possibility for movement for all the companies in the world, including those which are already certified in accordance with a Management System standard (e.g. ISO 9001): the certified companies have indeed already addressed the key factors mentioned above, but they have to use the most suitable tools to measure and develop various performances. Since 1988, some very reliable tools have been developed in various parts of the world with the aim to measure performances, review and improve the various processes, and enhance the ability to understand the customer's and other stakeholder's expectations.
There are mainly "self assessment" tools: the first of them was developed in the USA within the framework of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA) and is awarded every year by the US President to the best companies in the States.
The basic principle behind these tools is to define a model of excellence, including a suitable measurement system, which supplies objective evaluations of the various improvement trends and locates relevant positioning on an excellent map. Evaluating the position and comparing the data of other (best in class) companies allows strong and weak points of an organisation to be underlined.
Later, a similar tool was developed in Europe: it was named EFQM and it allows companies to measure their approaches and results in order to improve.
How the EFQM excellence model fits in with the ISO 9000 standards
The ISO 9000 standards fit very well in with excellence models in general and with the EFQM model in particular.
We can state that:
- ISO 9001 aims to achieve and maintain essential requirements for an effective management within a company.
- ISO 9004 aims to address the implementation of an effective and efficient management within a company.
- EFQM puts in place a reliable self-assessment system, able to give a clear indication of the effectiveness and efficiency of a company, allowing for a comparison with the best in class.
In 1998, IQNet created a specific framework named IQNet Business Excellence Class (IBEC) with the aim to promote EFQM, along with other excellence models among the certified companies.
Being an international association of certification bodies in more than 100 countries, IQNet intends to promote the growth of the concepts of excellence in the certified companies. This includes accepting differences among various models around the world, which were often generated by specific environmental needs, yet also preserving the basic idea. This idea continually addresses the company, promoting the installation of an effective measurement system able to facilitate the achievements of improvements in the processes and their results. For the time being, only two models are accepted within IBEC: MBNQA and EFQM, which give references for excellence respectively in America and in Europe.
To the companies able to achieve the scores set by the two excellence models, IQNet delivers the IBEC recognition in addition to the MBNQA or EFQM ones.
IBEC concept:
IQNet is a member of the EFQM Foundation
EFQM was formed in 1988 in response to the need to improve competitiveness of European organisations. It has grown from the original founder membership size of 14 of Europe's most significant businesses to now including over 800 organisations of all sizes, in the private and public sectors across more than 30 countries. IQNet is one of the members of this foundation, as it believes in the EFQM objective, which corresponds perfectly with the IQNet objective: to enhance the competitiveness of the companies.
EFQM: a five-step path to excellence
EFQM has recently developed a five-step path to excellence for interested organisations, which facilitates the approach in a nine criteria model. Starting with level 1 through to level 5, a company can improve its processes and relevant results to an absolute excellence level in terms of effectiveness and efficiency.
Level 1: Committed to Excellence
This level is designed for organisations that are at the beginning of the journey to Excellence. The emphasis is on helping the organisations to understand their current level of performance and to establish improvement priorities. The self-assessment is performed by the company answering a simple questionnaire based on the nine EFQM criteria. An improvement plan is fixed taking into consideration three of the most important outcomes of the self-assessment, which then have to be implemented within nine months. The successful achievement of this plan, validated by a third party (by EFQM recognised validators), entitles the organisation to use the relevant mark on their commercial and promotional materials; the successful company also receives the recognition of "Committed to Excellence".
Level 2: Recognised for Excellence
This level is designed for organisations with experience in self-assessment and using the EFQM excellence model. It is based on the full model including all 32 sub-criteria. It offers to the interested companies the benefits of a structured approach to identify areas of organisational strengths, but also areas for improvement. These areas will be underlined in a specific document that is prepared at the end of the self-assessment. This document is reviewed by a third party assessment team (recognised by EFQM), which provides a feedback report with recommendations for further improvements together with a scoring profile that allows companies to compare themselves with other organisations. Organisations confirmed as "Recognised for Excellence" (at least 350 points) can be considered as well managed organisations, only one step away from being an European Quality Award finalist. These companies are entitled to use the relevant mark on their commercial and promotional materials being awarded as "Recognised for Excellence".
Level 3-4-5: EQA finalist - EQA Prizewinner - EQA Winner.
These levels are designed for companies, which are unquestionably committed to excellence, self-assessment and continuous improvement. A team of EFQM recognised assessors visit the organisation in order to match the content of the self-assessment documents with independent evidence, verifying the scores and producing a detailed feedback report. A company can be classified within these levels when it can prove that it has been improving its most important results for 3 - 5 years, and in some cases, as the best in class; these systematic improvements have been a way of life across the organisation for at least 5 years by having a significant number of organisation-wide improvement programmes. The score shall be at least 450 points. The companies which are classified within these 3 levels have their prior assessor team reports reviewed by an expert jury who chooses the yearly Award finalist, the Prize Winner and the European Quality Award Winner. The companies of these 3 levels are entitled to use the relevant marks on their commercial and promotional materials, respectively awarded as EQA Finalist, EQA Prize Winner, and EQA Winner.
Dr. Fabio Roversi,
President of IQNet
Dr. Fabio Roversi
President IQNet