The European Foundation for Quality Management Model - Essay Example

EFQM Individual Project (3,000 words Select an organization that has implemented the EFQM model and explain (a) how did the organization do self-assessment for implementing the EFQM model, and (b) what processes had to be streamlined while implementing the model? Your name Your grade course Date Individual Project (3,000 words): Select an organization that has implemented the EFQM model and explain (a) how did the organization do self-assessment for implementing the EFQM model, and (b) what processes had to be streamlined while implementing the model? Excellence The word excellence is an all encompassing word which generally gives an assumption of perfection in everything an organization does. In reality however excellence has a dimension as limited as the companies itself. It means that the organization strives to find the best available practice rather than following market leaders or competitors. This finding the best practices and implementing them will result from an exhaustive self assessment and investigation by the organization itself. The level of excellence that an organization has achieved is generally measured by the results the organization has delivered and is very greatly dependent upon the performance management systems used. Organizational excellence is an overall way in which organizations work from balancing stakeholders interests to the management of profits and prioritizing ones needs without losing control with such operational efficiency that doesn’t lead to doubts about its performance and utilization of resources. The achievement of such excellence has since always been a dilemma with multiple theories based on it. But in a nutshell it should be understood that the means of achieving excellence were always and will always be an item of great interest and research and though unanimity will never be achieved, the best way is to strive hard to question how to achieve it and then implement those solutions with utmost efficiency. What should be remembered however is that in the race of excellence there is no finish line. 2-models (briefly describing the models of excellence and highlight any differences among them) The business excellence model largely determines how organizations all over the world handle their operations and how decision making takes place. Different parts of the world have different excellence models which are dependent upon the organizational structure in those regions as well as the preferences of customers and the mindset of the employees. Customer focus and logical decision-making, form the core of all models. One of the earliest excellence models is the Deming Excellence model which is based on 14principles of excellence. It is dependent upon variation and the extreme value of knowledge. This model was initiated in Japan and the most important of the Japanese model of excellence is (Total Quality Management)TQM. The EFQM is a generic model which is based on nine criteria. These nine dimensions include leadership, people, policy and strategy, partnership and resources, processes, people results, customer results, society results and key performance results. The EFQM is based on the USAs Malcolm Bridge award and tries to bridge the gap between US and European companies when it comes to maintaining excellence. The Malcolm Bridge Award is a US award which depends upon providing value to customers and stakeholders, presence of an overall organizational sustainability, improvement of capabilities and effectiveness of organizations and learning of both the organization and its people. (Management awards) The difference between the previous excellence models and EFQM is that they did not have a huge emphasis on the leadership role and they lacked somehow the society part. The European model expects the firms to play a positive role for the society as well and also the leadership criteria in the model has of a lot of weightage, far more than the previous models. (http://www.kivalosag.hu/web/newsletters/Mar_2007.pdf) The business excellence model has 9 different criteria as stated above and ISO 9000 just fits into the processes part. The core of Business excellence is Self assessment and it provides managers with an instrument to define and coordinate the direction of Total Quality management. Thus Self Assessment which is finding out more about the company, bench marking its best practices and streamlining its processes is the best approach towards obtaining complete excellence according to all business excellence models. Singapore . quality awareness is above average in Singapore and the Singapore quality award established in 1994 is reflective of that. The framework is based on the Malcolm Baldridge national Quality award and the European quality award. ISO 9000 is the most pervasive quality tool used in Singapore and Six Sigma methods are used to reduce variation and Total Quality management. The score card is extremely dependent upon the results category. 3-Why Dubai uses its own model (and how it is different than the main models; Deming, Baldrige and European one) The key success factorys and the Key Performance indicators are different for every region. Then comes the organization and its key processes. The Dubai Excellence model is different from all other models because of the extremely different location and culture. The quality awareness in Dubai is reasonably good and is increasing. The Dubai excellence model employs all major quality tools and the basic one is ISO9000. Other methodologies include employee involvement and suggestion programs, process flow charting, brainstorming, customer care strategies, process reengineering, balanced scorecard, process measurement, ISO 14000and integrated management systems. The main focus of the Dubai excellence model is continuous improvement and management based techniques are frequently being used. These include the statistical process control and the integration of the fast growing E-Commerce sector with the economy and industry. Dubai has a huge potential to sustain businesses which is supported by its expertise in International trade, great infrastructures, latest technological systems etc. but the need of a different Excellence system comes from the fact that majority of the UAE economy was till now driven by the government. Another difference between Dubai and other main regions with different Excellence models is that Dubai has commercial free zones. Dubais economy is growing under a very fast rate so the basic aim of the model should not be to only cause growth but also to sustain and maintain it and lead to a balanced growth. Another key aim should be to ensure that the dependence of the economy and the organizations moves away from oil and natural resources. Thus the Dubai Excellence model is suited for a growing economy which allows organizations to restructure themselves in a manageable way and to have a limited impact on the environment. Thus the Dubai Excellence program and the Dubai excellence model comes into view. It is based on the EFQM model and great emphasis is laid on strategy, policy and quality. . The diagram shows the percentages allocates in the Dubai excellence model to different dimensions. All these dimensions are interrelated thus a balanced score card will have to be maintained as score in one criteria will affect the score in the other criteria. The organization The company under consideration is Dubai Aluminum Limited. The company is chosen as it is a large company with a lot of experience so its journey along the years can be tracked. The 30 year journey of the company is filled with both ups and downs but the company is highly successful both in terms of revenue and product quality. then you go for describing the organisation itself eg., Dubai Aluminium Limited (DUBAL) is the seventh largest producer of primary aluminium in the world and has the largest single site smelter complex in the world. It is also the single largest non-oil contributor to the economy of Dubai. The site of the manufacturing plant is Jebel Ali in Dubai. The plants extraordinary site allows it to produce one million metric tonnes of high quality aluminium products annually. Customers of the company are based in 45 different nations of the world. Its products include aluminum products in three different forms. Firstly there are foundry alloys for automotive applications, secondly there are extrusion billet for construction, industrial and transportation purposes and thirdly high purity aluminum for aerospace and electronic industries. its nature (governmental, business, non profit NGO, its structure (what different departments), its size, what kind of goods and services produced Then you should say whether it has a program for achieving excellence, If yes what is their method, what model they are following or have developed one of their own? What is their achievement? Have they succeeded? Hoe they can further improve? As a measure to maintain excellence, DUBAL conforms to the international standards to maintain excellence. For these purposes DUBAL holds accreditations with the ISO9000, ISO/TS 16949, ISO/IEC 27001 and ISO 14001. Though these are no true representatives of performance as performance is directly proportional to results these quality standards greatly d=streamline its processes. These processes constitute over 14% of the excellence model percentage and therefore quality management in processes contributes to overall performance. Self assessment of the company showed that Dubai Aluminum Limited needed It scalability and flexibility to sustain its growth. It also needed to provide timely information to its decision makers and cut maintenance and support costs. Last but not the least, it needed to integrate its business processes. Since the core of reaching excellence is timely self assessment and then proposition of solutions to those problems Dubal modernized its Enterprise Resource Program. It replaced its obsolete business applications with an integrated system to ensure comprehensive functionality specially for the great amount of maintenance needed for continuous process plants. Entire business processes were restructured to ensure the following of the best practices. As for people management and employee contribution the company worked towards Human Resource management and to manage its human resources in the best possible way. It established six cross functional teams which included categories such as process, technical, thinking, business intelligence, change management and data management. It also used the train the trainer technique to maintain constant learning and development in the organization and thus contributing to knowledge management. DUBAL tries to integrate processes by more means. It has improved its communication technology and with improved processes and information it easily adjusts its manufacturing plans to accommodate short term needs while optimizing plant capacity. It has reduced its warehousing and inventory costs by modern data management systems and thus generates greater revenue. New technologies have been used to provide more efficient Aluminum smelting processes. These don’t only improve the production quality but also makes it environmentally more sustainable. The new DX technology reduces the impact of smelter operations on the environment through improved energy efficiency and minimized emission levels. Thus is generates optimum societal results which contributes to 6% in the excellence model. Another key point to be noticed is that this technology is a flagship UAE technology which means that it has resulted from not following in any international giants footsteps but developing its own technology depending upon the companys and the societys needs. This new technology besides increasing capacity and being sustainable also reduces the cost per tonne of aluminum. It is also more dependable and has a longer pot life and better workforce performance. An implementation of technology which results in increased work force performance contributes to employee morale which keeps its employees satisfied. It also contributes to the results part of the score card providing extremely efficient systems. This is achieved by incorporating a Smart wireless network from Emerson process management to manage compressed air. Use of this method cuts energy use by 13% adding to the companys and the environments sustainability. This new wireless network allows for better data management from the system. The company also has strong customer focus, thus generating premium customer results which also contribute to the excellence model. The quality and the timely manner in which the company supplies its products lead to customer satisfaction. This can be easily observed from the number of customers the company has and the fact that the company has retained almost all its customers while finding new ones. (Zawya) When it comes to forming partnerships which is also an integral part of the excellence model, the company does not lag behind. It ensures that in the pursuit of excellence it forms and maintains strategic partnerships which are beneficial to both the company and its partner. The companys major partnership towards excellence is with the Dubai Quality group which is an investor partner in Dubal. The group constantly supports Dubal efforts for example in sponsoring the "Emirates Energy Award". The strengthening of this partnership creates new trading opportunities and strengthens the national economy. The company also partners diligently with the Dubai government and thus plays a key role in the socio-economic development of the local community. Dubal supports community based initiatives which contribute to the development goals of Dubai. One of the examples of this initiative is sponsoring world class sporting and industry events which further strengthen Dubai as a tourist hub. These sponsorships also contribute to Dubais cosmopolitan and innovative flair. The company also provides its products at a premium price as the cost cutting is effectively done by the use of its new technologies and efficient infrastructure system that is present in Dubai. Cargo terminals exclusive for the manufacturing firm are built to ship products worldwide without any hassles. The presence of a tax free zone further eases the process. Dubal further proves that it is an excellence giant by laying new parameters. This is achieved by initiating a new employee suggestion scheme. This scheme achieved hundred percent employee participation, and every employee had at least one awarded and implemented suggestion in 2006. By using this scheme Dubal implemented around 8000 suggestions which saved AED 5 million in the year 2006 alone. Because of this unique Employee suggestion scheme Dubal has been able to save AED 54 million in the 26 years since its inception. These savings contribute to the company and the employee results in the excellence model as the implementation of employee suggestions raises employee morale and motivates him to do better. Simultaneously the company saves money, makes a greater profit and pays its employees at a higher rate than its competitors. Along with it the company itself reaps results in the form of higher earnings and greater revenue. (DUBAL achieves 100 per cent participation in employee suggestion scheme ) Dubal is committed to the safety and health of its employees. It makes substantial investments to recruit the best available talent and then makes efforts to retain it training, career development opportunities and very competitive remuneration packages. Besides that it greatly regulates diversity in the organization as employees include citizens from Asia, Arabia, Europe and America all working together to achieve world class results. (Dubal) Dubal also demonstrates excellence by self designing its own strategies and policies. It looks into its own organizational needs and then satisfies them either internally or by outsourcing its needs. All examples discussed for example the employee suggestion scheme and the DX technologies were in house developed as a result of a lack of work in those areas. In contrast however the Enterprise Resource development and the Wireless technology were outsourced as the company did not have the resources to develop them in-house. Nevertheless all of them were a result of micro self assessment where the company identified its own needs and then satisfied them. If not why not? And even if they are not following how their current practices could be close or far from excellence? What will happen if they try to follow a good excellence model? Will their performance improve? As a result of their excellent performance Dubal has been awarded the ACAN Arab technology award for the Best Manufacturing Implementation in 2007. Dubal was awarded this in recognition of the quickest implementation of the ERP system and recent infrastructural changes. As another proof of their excellence, DUBAL has twice won the Dubai Quality award in 1996 and 2000 which shows that the organizational model conforms to the Dubai excellence model. Dubal creates great value for its stakeholders and simultaneously values them greatly. It has resulted as a model of excellence as a result of its forward focused growth strategy, production of premium quality, reliable delivery timetable, continuous investments in processes and people and strategic partnerships based on excellence. Thus the company continues to shine even after 30 years in business and promises to radiate even brightly. Thus DUBAL is an innovative organization which constantly learns from its mistakes and the outside world. It constantly tries to restructure and renovate itself and has an edge above its competitors in both size and performance. The Key performance indicators from the results section show that the companys optimum performance is a result of continuous improvements and learning and operating refinements. A learning and developing organization is an excellent organization and thus Dubal conforms to the excellence model. References Dubal. 20 years of excellence. Dubai, 2009. DUBAL achieves 100 per cent participation in employee suggestion scheme . 31 March 2007. 27 December 2010 . http://www.kivalosag.hu/web/newsletters/Mar_2007.pdf. 27 December 2010 . Management awards. 27 December 2010 . Zawya. Dubai Aluminiums high-performance technology well received at World Aluminium Conference in Norway . 26 June 2010. 27 December 2010 . Read More