Assignment Cover Sheet Course ADM 412 OB Title of Assignment Applied Paper Submitted by: Date of Submission: CERTIFICATION OF AUTHORSHIP: By including this cover sheet, I certify that I am the author of this submittal and that any assistance I received in its preparation is fully acknowledged and disclosed. I have also cited any sources from which I used data, ideas, or words, either quoted directly or paraphrased. I also certify that this paper was prepared by me specifically for this course only and was not previously submitted in any other course. I understand that papers may be run through plagiarism detection software and I agree to this process. I have read the Student Bulletin Academic Dishonesty Policy regarding cheating and plagiarism and understand its consequences and penalties. Abstract The paper assesses my previous employer against the Malcom Baldrige National Quality Award performance excellence criteria using the seven performance excellence criteria categories as outlined in the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Baldrige Performance Excellence Program assessment tool entitled “Are We Making Progress.” The Malcom Baldrige National Quality Award The Malcom Baldrige National Quality Award was created by the 100th United States Congress on August 20, 1987 by Public law 100-107 (Library of Congress, n.d.).  The award is named for Malcolm Baldrige, the 26th Secretary of Commerce, who served under President Reagan from January 22, 1981 until his accidental death on July 25, 1987 from a rodeo accident in California.  Secretary Baldrige was well-known for his award-winning managerial accomplishments and contributions to the United States Government.  During his tenure, Secretary Baldrige reduced the Department of Commerce’s administrative staff by 25% and its annual budget by 30% through process improvements and efficiencies (National Institute of Standards and Technology, 2016).  The Malcom Baldrige National Quality Award is the United States’ topmost national level award given to an organization in recognition for their performance excellence.  This annual award can be presented to as many as 18 organizations across six categories: healthcare, small business, service, manufacturing, education, and nonprofit (National Institute of Standards and Technology, 2017).  The Baldrige award has four functions.  First, it encourages United States’ companies to advance productivity and quality through acknowledgement of the award without losing their competitive edge via increased profits.  Second, it recognizes an organization’s quality improvement accomplishments as a benchmark for other companies to emulate.  Third, it creates processes and measures to be used by various industry categories in assessing their own quality improvement initiates.  Fourth, it specifies procedures and benchmarks for other United States’ organizations who wish to cultivate a change in their organizational behavior and norms by providing detaile ...

1. Assignment Cover Sheet
Course
ADM 412 OB
Title of Assignment
Applied Paper
Submitted by:
Date of Submission:
CERTIFICATION OF AUTHORSHIP:
By including this cover sheet, I certify that I am the author of
this submittal and that any assistance I received in its
preparation is fully acknowledged and disclosed. I have also
cited any sources from which I used data, ideas, or words, either
quoted directly or paraphrased. I also certify that this paper was
prepared by me specifically for this course only and was not
previously submitted in any other course. I understand that
papers may be run through plagiarism detection software and I
agree to this process. I have read the Student Bulletin Academic
Dishonesty Policy regarding cheating and plagiarism and
understand its consequences and penalties.
Abstract
The paper assesses my previous employer against the Malcom
Baldrige National Quality Award performance excellence
criteria using the seven performance excellence criteria
categories as outlined in the National Institute of Standards and
Technology’s Baldrige Performance Excellence Program
assessment tool entitled “Are We Making Progress.”
The Malcom Baldrige National Quality Award
The Malcom Baldrige National Quality Award was created by
the 100th United States Congress on August 20, 1987 by Public
law 100-107 (Library of Congress, n.d.). The award is named

2. for Malcolm Baldrige, the 26th Secretary of Commerce, who
served under President Reagan from January 22, 1981 until his
accidental death on July 25, 1987 from a rodeo accident in
California. Secretary Baldrige was well-known for his award-
winning managerial accomplishments and contributions to the
United States Government. During his tenure, Secretary
Baldrige reduced the Department of Commerce’s administrative
staff by 25% and its annual budget by 30% through process
improvements and efficiencies (National Institute of Standards
and Technology, 2016).
The Malcom Baldrige National Quality Award is the United
States’ topmost national level award given to an organization in
recognition for their performance excellence. This annual
award can be presented to as many as 18 organizations across
six categories: healthcare, small business, service,
manufacturing, education, and nonprofit (National Institute of
Standards and Technology, 2017). The Baldrige award has four
functions. First, it encourages United States’ companies to
advance productivity and quality through acknowledgement of
the award without losing their competitive edge via increased
profits. Second, it recognizes an organization’s quality
improvement accomplishments as a benchmark for other
companies to emulate. Third, it creates processes and measures
to be used by various industry categories in assessing their own
quality improvement initiates. Fourth, it specifies procedures
and benchmarks for other United States’ organizations who wish
to cultivate a change in their organizational behavior and norms
by providing detailed information on how other organizations
achieved this transformation (Evans, 2017, p. 62).
Criteria for Performance Excellence
The Baldrige criteria for performance excellence provides a
framework or outline that organizations can review and
incorporate into their operations to increase efficiencies and
effectiveness. These criteria are designed to focus an
organization’s efforts on those activities that foster
improvements and add to the overall well-being of the

3. organization; shedding those unnecessary actions that detract
from performance excellence and waste resources. The criteria
are structured in a hierarchical layout by categories that address
the main area, then continually drill further down to specific
areas to concentrate on (Evans, 2017, p. 66).
This framework is made up of seven categories of criteria to
help achieve performance excellence: leadership, strategy,
customers, measurement, workforce, operations, and results
(American Society for Quality, 2018).
1. Leadership category: This category examines the criticality
of leadership, how positively the leadership affects the
organization, and how the organizations interacts within its
surrounding communities.
2. Strategy category: This category addresses how the
organization develops long- terms plans, postures its resources
in support of those plans, and lays out the necessary sequential
actions to execute the plans.
3. Customer’s category: This category identifies how the
organization interacts with its customers to create partnerships
and foster long-lasting relationship where all parties involved
have a vested interest in their community culture.
4. Measurement, analysis, and knowledge management category:
This category reveals how well the organization uses data,
analysis, and feedback to support key operations, processes, and
decisions.
5. Workforce category: This category provides insight into how
the organization employs, develops, compensates, empowers,
protects, organizes and structures its workforce.
6. Operations category: This category examines how key
processes and procedures are designed, managed, and reviewed
to ensure they support the organization’s core functions.
7. Results category: This category provides details on how well
the organization executed its core functions, effectiveness of its
strategies and operations, supported its customers, managed its
workforce, and how it compares to its industry competition.
Previous Employer Performance Excellence Assessment

4. I am currently a federal employee and have worked for several
federal agencies in the past decade. My explorer performance
excellence assessment is on my former federal agency
employer; I moved to a different federal agency less than a year
ago and do not have the longevity with my current agency to
provide an accurate assessment. The assessment on my former
federal employer is based solely only on my personal
experiences; no surveys or other instruments were used to
gather data for my responses.
My assessment responses are based upon the National Institute
of Standards and Technology’s Baldrige Performance
Excellence Program assessment tool entitled “Are We Making
Progress” (National Institute of Standards and Technology,
2016). The assessment tool uses 40 statements to evaluate the
seven Baldrige award categories of criteria. My assessment for
the seven categories are as follows:
1.
Leadership category: This category has seven
assessment statements and I strongly agree with all seven. My
previous workplace ensured every member knew the
organization’s mission, vision, goals, and values. Leaders at all
echelons set the example to abide by and created a positive
work environment. I felt like a valued employee whose input
was sought after and acted upon if warranted.
2.
Strategy category: This category has five assessment
statements and I strongly agree with the first four statements
and disagree with the last one. My previous workplace asked
for strategic inputs, developed long-term plans, and shared the
plans with all employees. However, the organization was not
able to make changes quickly when needed; the locally
developed strategic plans were submitted to a higher-
headquarters for evaluation and possible implementation. This
hierarchical process was very slow and seldom resulted in any
changes.

5. 3.
Customers category: This category has five assessment
statements and I strongly agree with all five statements.
Everyone at my previous workplace knew the customer priority
list in the event of multiple tasking were levied on us. All
employees were assigned a group of customers in which they
communicated with on a weekly basis and had fully authority to
resolve current and future requirements up to a predetermined
threshold.
4.
Measurement, analysis, and knowledge
management category: This category has five assessment
statements and I strongly agree with all five statements. My
previous work center used a central processing system that
tracked everyone assignments, detailed the progress of the
requirements in terms of the days and percentages, and provided
all the necessary metrics to analyze the entire organization’s
workload. Employees could easily identify issues and a means
to correct it or expedite a resolution.
5.
Workforce category: This category has six assessment
statements and I strongly agree with all of them. My previous
work center had an environment of loyalty and trust. People
knew they would get recognized for their accomplishments and
pulled aside in a private setting when they were not meeting
standards. Employees were mentored and encouraged to reach
beyond their current position.
6.
Operations category: This category has four assessment
statements and I strongly agree with all of them. Everyone was
given all the necessary infrastructure, tools, and supplies to
meet or exceed their work requirements. Employees were only

6. able to improve their work processes with the latitude given to
them with the federal rules and regulations governing our
processes.
7.
Results category: This category has nine assessment
statements and I strongly agree with all of them. Federal
agencies and their subordinate organizations have a lot of laws
and regulations they must follow that private organization do
not have to follow or they are able to modify. My previous
organization was a high-performing organization given the
parameters in which it had to operate; it had good leadership,
the proper organizational structure, and the correct mix of
employees and skill sets to accomplish their mission and goals.
Additionally, my previous organization has been continuously
recognized as one of the premier units within our agency for its
dedication to the mission, high performance ratings, and
customer feedback. In regards to the question posed by the
Baldrige Performance Excellence Program assessment tool “Are
We Making Progress”, I conclude that my previous organization
is definitely making progress.
References
American Society for Quality. (2018).
Learn About Quality: Malcolm Baldrige National
Quality Award (MBNQA). Retrieved from American Society for
Quality: http://asq.org/learnabout-quality/malcolm-baldrige-
award/overview/overview.html
Evans, J. R. (2017).
Quality and Performance Excellence (8th
edition). Mason: South-Western/Cengage Learning.
Library of Congress. (n.d.).
Public Laws - 100th Congress (1987-1988). Retrieved
from Congress.gov: https://www.congress.gov/public-

7. laws/100th-congress
National Institute of Standards and Technology. (2016,
September 26).
Malcolm Baldrige Biography. Retrieved from National
Institute of Standards and Technology:
https://www.nist.gov/baldrige/how-baldrige-works/about-
baldrige/history/malcolmbaldrige-biography
National Institute of Standards and Technology. (2016,
September 21).
Baldrige Performance Excellence Program - Are We
Making Progress. Retrieved from National Institute of Standards
and Technology: https://www.nist.gov/baldrige/self-
assessing/improvementtools/are-we-making-progress
National Institute of Standards and Technology. (2017,
November 7).
Baldrige Performance Excellence Program. Retrieved
from National Institute of Standards and
Technology:https://www.nist.gov/baldrige/baldrige-award