European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) benchmarking model is a framework for organizational management systems which can be implemented in any kind of organization, regardless of sector, structure or size for achieving continuous quality improvement. The essential elements which support the structure and content of the non-prescriptive framework are the Fundamental Concepts of Excellence.
Fundamental Concepts of Excellence
Figure 1.0
The EFQM Excellence Model
The excellence model is based on nine criteria’s; out of which 5 are ‘Enablers’ and 4 are ‘Results’. What an organization does and how, is covered by the Enabler criteria, while the Results criteria covers the achievements of the organization, but both the criteria’s are interconnected; Results are caused by Enablers and Enablers are improvised using the feedbacks from Results. The diagram form of the model is given below.
Figure 1.1
The above model is an advanced tool for improvement of organizations that are based on Total Quality Management. This model is completely based upon the Fundamental Concepts of Excellence and it shows that, it can be applied even to selected processes in an organization and not just for the complete organization.
THE CONCEPTS
Results Orientation:
For achieving continuous improvement in the organization, stakeholder’s satisfaction and retention are vital. In today’s world it is important to anticipate and measure the expectations and needs of the stakeholder’s, monitor their perceptions and review the performance of the organization. Information’s regarding both the current and future stakeholders must be collected in order to set, implement and review the organizations policies, objectives and targets in order to achieve a balanced set of stakeholder results.
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Customer Focus:
Customer satisfaction is the end result of any organization because only through this the organization can achieve its goals and policies. Needs and expectations of present and potential customers must be understood and focused clearly, so that customer loyalty, market share and customer retention is maximised. Excellent relationships with customers must be formed my anticipating and meeting the customers present and future needs, by achieving this the organization can gain sustainable customer value which will help them to maintain a permanent excellence.
Leadership and Constancy of Purpose:
Leaders are required for establishing ethics, values, culture and governance structure for the organization which will provide a unique identity, thereby attracting stakeholders. Leaders at all levels of the organization should be on a constant drive and inspire others towards excellence; they should always remain as a role model for others. In the same way, during turbulence they should display constancy of purpose and steadiness thereby inspiring the confidence and commitment of the stakeholders. Moreover, a clear leadership is needed for uniting and motivating all the other leaders and employees of the organization through which continuous improvement can be achieved.
Management by Process and Facts:
Effectiveness and efficiency in delivering the aims of the organization along with its products and services can be maximised through a set of interrelated and interdependent systems, facts and processes. These needs are addressed by the management system by considering the current and projected performance, through which the stakeholders are kept satisfied. For attaining continuous improvement or for maintaining a permanent excellence, both the top level and low level management must work together which can be achieved by having a well defined effective management system.
People Development and Involvement:
Organizations improvement is incomplete without continuous improvement of capability and performance of individuals. Recruitment of people must match the strategies, policies of the organization and development of the individuals must be promoted in such a way that, they realise their full potential and unlock the same. Employees must be empowered through shared values and culture of trust so that their active involvement can be enriched to generate and implement new ideas for improvement.
Continuous Learning, Improvement and Innovation:
Knowledge capture and sharing is the key for updating organizations status, which can be achieved by carrying out both internal and external benchmarking. Continuous learning must be carried out from own activities as well as from others in order to maximise learning across and within the organization. By practicing these methods, openness will be created for accepting and using the ideas of stakeholders which will facilitate for seeking opportunities to achieve continuous improvement and innovation that will add value.
Partnership Development:
Nowadays, Demands and competitions are increasing each day for every organization and for surviving this they should develop partnerships with other organization for attaining mutual benefits like enhancement of stakeholders value, efficiency, effectiveness along with the reduction of risk and cost. Partnerships can be formed with customers, competitors, suppliers or anyone from the society on a mutual benefit basis through which, sharing of resources, knowledge and expertise can be achieved for improving each other’s standard.
Corporate Social Responsibility:
Organization must be transparent and accountable with their stakeholders for achieving customer loyalty and enhanced confidence of stakeholders. In short, the organization must adopt a highly ethical approach to maintain their image for sustaining in the market. Permanent excellence of the organization is possible only by engaging stakeholders with their policies, goals and managerial activities, by which the organization can meet and exceed the expectations of the local as well as that of the global community not only for the present but also for the future.
EFQM IMPLEMENTED ORGANIZATIONS
National Probation Service, UK:
Objective- To implement EFQM Excellence Model for self-assessment, in order to improve the target completion rate and for increasing the efficiency of new area probation for achieving continuous improvement
EFQM Methods- NPS made use of fundamental concepts for assessing and improving the ‘Enablers’ of the organization for achieving the required ‘Results’.
SPA leadership model was introduced for training the managers of all levels for ensuring the continuous improvement of organization. SPA’s self assessment was carried out with stakeholders by distributing questionnaires for validating the organizations policies and strategies.
NPD’s diversity strategy was benchmarked for planning, improving, and managing the people resources. Empowerment, coaching and training of employees were improved by providing distant education materials, more usage of internet and by updating them with new technologies. In addition, the health and safety of workers were improved which naturally increased the satisfaction of workers and this was assessed by Oxford University
Strathmore Partnership Improvement Initiative was developed for measuring the effectiveness of their partners. SPII helped to understand and identify potential partners especially HMP Coltrane.
NPD’s national model for process design and management was adopted by SPA for supporting it policies and strategies for generating satisfaction of stakeholders. An action plan approach is being used on the process for making all the enablers of the organization to work efficiently and effectively in order to attain the required results.
Conclusion- The key performance results along with the people, customer and society results was analysed and the outcomes of the seven keys are:
Every year the target completion rate was increased thereby ensuring continuous improvement
Stakeholders satisfaction and values were increasing compared to the previous year reports
UK Food Industry:
Abstract- Customer satisfaction is the prime key for success in any food industry and this remained an unachievable factor for the UK food Industries. EFQM was used to assess and identify the key areas of improvement which will help to them define new strategies thereby attaining customer satisfaction
EFQM Methods:
A benchmarking club was formed with managers from four major food industries and they were asked to analyse the factors that was behind customer dissatisfaction.
The group worked along with their benchmarked organization and the public to identify the key causes for customer satisfaction and they came up with six key drivers for satisfaction.
The companies policies must be formulated by focusing the customers and the communication and relationship within the organization as well as with the customers must be maintained clearly and smoothly.
Products must be distributed along with special offerings, so that customers get attracted and feel satisfied on purchasing the product. It was also discovered that certain minor errors lead to major effects, such as, poor labelling of products lead to unsatisfied customers.
Conclusion: Customer satisfaction was increased along with customer loyalty. This was achieved by identifying the key areas of improvement using EFQM Excellence Model and enriching them thereafter in order to achieve a continuous improvement rate.
CONCLUSION
The above case studies illustrate the success rates of EFQM Excellence Model. Many other organizations such as, Jaguar, Toyota and Philips has also seen success through this model. From these case studies it is evident that, implementation of the model in the organization will help to identify the key areas of a process which has to be improved, thereby paving way for the organization to achieve continuous improvement.
KAIZEN AND EFQM
Definition:
Kaizen means continuous improvement involving everyone – Managers and Workers alike. Kaizen makes use of various terminologies, elements and concepts like GEMBA, JIT and Deming cycles.
Figure 1.2
Kaizen Methods:
Kaizen refers to the improvement of both process and people in an organization and it is a never ending journey towards improvement.
It involves all the top level management along with the low level management for achieving its goal.
Customer focus is the key element of Kaizen, where in, each and every step towards improvement is taken based on the customer’s definition on quality.
GEMBA and 5S are practiced at work place for improving the efficiency at the shop floor level.
PDCA quality cycles are utilised for understanding the efficiency of a process before standardising the process.
Integrating Kaizen with EFQM
The 5 WHY system of Kaizen helps the employees to analyse the process, which is one among the 5 Enablers of EQFM model.
Therefore, understanding a process for gaining knowledge over it and also for validating its status against the organizations policies and strategies can be carried out together.
In the same way, EFQM can be applied to specific processes and for doing that we need to understand what the process is about. The 5 M checklist (Man, Machine, Material, Method and Measurement) in Kaizen helps to focus on the vital key factors of any process, thereby providing an opportunity for selecting the key areas of that process for implementing EFQM.
Both Kaizen and EFQM Excellence Model are focused on customers and that is because none of the organization will be successful without customer satisfaction.
The brainstorming sessions that is conducted with both the internal and external customers can be simultaneously utilised for both the theories of quality improvement.
Process is a sequence of activities that is trying to add value for a customer. The logic of PDCA cycle which is used in Kaizen is based on the maturity scales of each element of all the processes and these levels reflect one of the EFQM Excellence models tool called, RADAR (Results, Approach, Deployment, Assessment, Refinement).
EFQM is based on process management and characteristics of those companies that manage their processes successfully show that, they make use of extensive benchmarking and stretch goals for achieving breakthrough performance. Kaizen methods, Six Sigma concepts must be implemented and practiced properly for achieving stretch goals. Therefore integration of both Kaizen and EFQM in an organization will help them in a much easier and faster way to improve their standard and move towards continuous improvement.
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