In today’s business environment, satisfaction of the customer is a key issue in many organizations and this also relates to the success of the business. Organizations are turning to quality management frameworks regardless of whether the organization is dealing with products or services for the overall success of the organization. Quality management involves controlling of quality of products and services, assurance of the quality and continuous improvement of the products and services. The business world is very competitive in the modern day and therefore organizations strive to meet the customers requirements in the best way they can and therefore the use of quality management frameworks (Kanji, & Asher, 1996).
Malcom Baldrige National Quality Award is predominantly a U. S. A. organization that awards the best performing businesses in the private and also in the public sector (Heaphy, & Gruska, 1993). The award recognizes those organizations that have excelled above the others in performance and incorporates organizations in education, small businesses and service industry just to mention a few. The award is given by the president of the United States of America and for an organizations to scoop the Malcom Baldrige National Quality Award, there are certain qualifications that the organization has to fulfill which involves, effective overall organization operations, good customer relations and consistent improvement in products and services (Heaphy, & Gruska, 1993). The award has contributed to improving the competitiveness of organizations in the U.S whereby organizations have to be on the look out for others and in turn become the best in order to win. Organizations also have become aware of what others in the field are engaging in to win customers and therefore we can say that they gain tips on what their competitors have done to become the best for instance, how to improve customer relations, organization capabilities and how to continuously improve on products in regard to the competitors.
The Deming prize as a quality management framework is a rather practical approach to quality management. Organizations who qualify for the award must show results of how they have improved in their own area of specialization. Being a Japanese Award event for Japan companies, the award has been extended to other organizations and therefore incorporates all organizations of the world. There is no criterion for the Deming prize for the participants are given autonomy to improve in their organizations in the best way they can and come up with results that reflect quality management improvement. Deming Prize is important in contributing to the organization’s success through demonstrating that organizations are unique in their own ways and their operations. In addition, the award helps organizations by showing that there exists no uniform recipe to quality management improvement and that each organization can excel in its own way (Aquayo, 1991).
European Quality Award (EFQM) recognizes both the private and public sector organizations just like the Malcom Baldrige National Quality Award. This varies from health, education and with focus to other sectors like the manufacturing and automotive industries. This Award has laid a foundation to organizations whereby winning organizations are identified as great contributors to economic growth in the international arena. For a company to scoop among the most prestigious award from Europe, the company must be exceptional and a pace setter for other organizations. Contestants in the award are scrutinized under the EFQM standards which involves, having good partnerships with other companies, adding quality value to customers, demonstrating the capabilities of positive results in relation to quality management, having clear and effective plans for the future, running the organization by the set vision and mission and encouraging and enhancing innovation in employees and customers for better growth of the organization.
Canadian Award for Business Excellence is an award that was started with the aim of recognizing excellence quality in both private and public sector irrespective of the size of the company (Davidson, 2001). It is Canadian based and also an annual award ceremony where companies are evaluated in accordance to the categories put forth by the National Quality Institute (NQI) (Davidson, 2001). The award also utilizes some set standards among them how leaders have been involved in the overall appraisal of the organization to its excellence, the process of making effective decisions that can be implemented in meeting organization’s vision and mission and good relationships with the customer. This award helps in the success of an organization by showing that for an organization to overall improve on its quality, key figures in the organization for example the leaders also have to be involved.
Australian Business Excellence Award is a framework that is used to judge Australian companies for excellence and operates on a number of set criteria through which companies have to pass through to be considered for the award. The company nominated for the award have to pass through eight bottlenecks among them being that the organization has to be an example to others in the market, have a clear focus, be involved in the continuous improvement of the quality of its products and services and be result oriented and sustain the results just to mention a few of the requirements. Interesting to note in that the organization has to be adaptable and widely use research and development techniques to acquire data to help in its improvement of quality (Friesen, & Johnson, 1995).
The Quality Award in China is designed to improve the quality of companies in China and also to improve on the way companies compete in the Chinese market scene. The Award is also designed in such a way that helps organizations adapt to the socialist way of life in China and serve the people of china collectively. This award helps companies to compete and thereby improving their competitiveness not only in China but also in the whole world (Friesen, & Johnson, 1995). The Award encourages businesses to continuously be on the look out in improving the quality of their products and services and therefore be in a position to do business with other companies in the world.
The ISO 9000: 2000 is based on principles that are heavily rested on the principles of management and which are designed to help the companies or organization to meet the requirements of the customers (Hoyle, 2003). The standards stipulate the requirements that companies have to fulfill. Organizations which are certified enjoy benefits than organizations which are not certified for the ISO 9000: 2000 is among the most recognized quality management tools in the world. Companies which are certified register greater levels of customer satisfaction and increased opportunities for trading on the international level among other benefits and therefore a tool that is useful for increasing the success of the organization or the business. The ISO 9000: 2000 documents are available to most countries in the world and therefore do not discriminate companies on their sizes for it is open to all (Hoyle, 2003).
Companies cannot afford to turn a blind eye to the frameworks of quality management control for they act as a blueprint through which companies mirror themselves in regard to what is expected of them by even their customers. Through quality management, an organization is able to continuously engage in seeking ways through which to improve its products and services and therefore satisfy its customers and therefore succeed in the business (Mortimer, & Mortimer, 2004). The customer is the number one priority for any organization and therefore all organizations should be geared towards improving their services and products and hence growth.
Reference
Aquayo, R. (1991): Dr. Deming: The American Who Taught the Japanese about Quality: New York: Fireside; 1st Ed.
Davidson, E. (2001): Who’s who in Canadian Business: Canada: University of Toronto Press: 21st Ed.
Friesen, M. & Johnson, J. (1995): The Success Paradigm: Creating Organizational Effectiveness Through Quality and Strategy: Westport, CT: Quorum Publishers.
Heaphy, M. & Gruska, G. (1993): The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award: London: Addison Wesley Publishing Company.
Hoyle, D. (2003): ISO 9000: 2000: An A – Z Guide: London: Butterworth – Heinemann: Vol. 1.
Kanji, G. & Asher, M. (1996): 100 Methods for Quality Management: London: Sage Publications.
Mortimer, D. & Mortimer, S. (2004): Quality and Risk Management in the IVF Laboratory: New York: Cambridge University Press.