This document discusses challenges that organizations face in sustaining business excellence. It summarizes research on Australian organizations that have won Business Excellence Awards. The research aimed to understand challenges these leading organizations face and how they manage them. The document outlines common challenges in areas like leadership, strategy, people, and processes. It then discusses themes among successful organizations for addressing challenges, such as embedding excellence into daily operations, ensuring meaningfulness for all employees, maintaining engagement, and driving ongoing momentum.

1. Staying Excellent: Managing
Challenges to Business
Excellence
Professor Alan Brown
School of Management
Edith Cowan University
Perth, Australia

2. East-West 3,983km North-South 3,138km Area 7,682,300 sq km

5. Background

6. Why do organisations use Business
Excellence Frameworks ?
 Global framework
 Encompass quality principles
 A basis for continuous improvement
 Self-assessment
 External assessment
 Benchmarking
 Discipline
 Business improvement

7. Models
 Over 80 throughout the world
 Many are based on the EFQM model
(Europe) or Malcolm Baldrige Award
(USA)
 Deming Prize (Japan)
 Mexican National Quality Award
 Australian Business Excellence
Framework

8. Baldrige Framework

9. Australian Business Excellence
Framework

11. Framework components
 Strategy and planning
 Leadership
 People
 Process management, improvement and
innovation
 Information and knowledge
 Customer and market focus
 Success and sustainability

12. Levels of TQM adoption
(Dale, 1999)
 Uncommitted
 Drifters
 Tool pushers
 Improvers
 Award winners
 World class

13. The research

14. Aim
 What challenges and impediments do
organisations who are leaders at
business excellence face in sustaining
excellence and how do they manage
them?

15. Focus
 Not looking at explaining failures
 Not looking at implementation issues
 Long term focus
 Successful organisations
 Success is never plain sailing (what are the
weak points in successful organisations?)
 Are there common issues?
 How are challenges managed?

16. The study
 Australian Business Excellence Award
winners
 Advanced/maturity with using ABEF
 Successful performance (based on ABEF and
award status)
 Mixture of industry sectors
 Interviews with main drivers
 Examination of documents
 Industry visits

17. Sample
 Financial services
 Construction, infrastructure, engineering
 Manufacturing and services
 Transport
 Aged care
 Local government
 Pharmaceuticals
 Public sector
All ABEF winners (many gold and silver)

18. Challenges faced

19. Leadership
 How to maintain drive and support
 From senior levels
 From a critical mass
 From middle managers
 How to have consistency
 Communication, messages
 Especially in multi site organisations
 How to communicate culture and values

20. Strategy
 How to engage managers and employees
 How to make it meaningful so everyone can relate to
it in their role (operationalise)
 How to effectively communicate
 How to achieve a balance - not too complex, not too
much information, not too much reporting
 How to achieve consistency in application throughout
the organisation
 How to have participation in developing
 How to prioritise

21. People
 How to personalise it - What about me? -
How does it apply to my job?
 How to effectively communicate
 How to handle cynics – “we’ve done it all
before”
 How to achieve engagement – what’s in it for
me? (managers and employees)

22. Processes
 How to ensure quality is everyone’s
business
 How to embed CI mindsets
 How to build and maintain teams
 How to focus on key processes (big
picture approach)
 How to beat silo thinking

23. Information
 How to ensure people are not
overloaded
 How to be selective in
producing, collecting and providing data
and information
 How to make it easily accessible within
the organisation
 How to capture tacit knowledge

24. Customers
 How to provide timely and accurate
information on customers
 How to ensure that everyone is aware
of their role in delivering customer
service

25. Sustaining themes and
responses

26. Embedding
 How is it integrated into the way the business
operates so that it is a normal part of everyday
business?
 Strategy – work plans, KPI’s, communication
 Processes – seek ongoing improvement
 People – performance management, building
capability, job roles, build CI into position
descriptions
 Leadership – actions, at all levels, decisions
based on values

27. Meaningfulness
 How can the principles and processes have
meaning for all managers and employees?
How does it affect me? How do I contribute?
 Strategy – daily activities, work
plans, linked to operations
 Processes – a big picture approach, focus
on key ones, participation in teams
 People – performance management
 Customers – understanding their needs

28. Engagement
 How can the maximum number of
managers and employees be engaged
with principles and processes?
 Leadership – visible, open, direct
communication eg BBQ’s, “toolbox”
 People – recognition and reward
 Processes – participation in teams
 Strategy – participation in developing
 Information – not overdoing reporting

29. Consistency
 How do we ensure the message and approaches are
consistent throughout the organisation?
 How do we deal with multiple locations?
 Leadership - MBWA, communication, values
based decisions eg care, value
 Information - accessibility
 Processes - teams across the organisation/sites
 People – induction, values
 Strategy - as the guide for action

30. Onerous
 How do we ensure that it isn’t onerous and seen as
an additional burden?
 Strategy - POP, work plans, prioritisation, not just
reporting or ticking boxes, a few key
strategies, strategic pillars
 People - integral to job roles
 Information - not overloading people, limiting
reporting eg exception based, don’t overmeasure
(less is more)
 Processes – simplification, focus on key, not
creating bureaucracy

31. Driving
 How is the effort and momentum
maintained?
 Leadership - passion at all levels, building
middle level management
support, accountability, bring together
regularly
 Processes - self assessment, external
assessment, benchmarking
 People - performance management
 Information - feedback, customers

32. So
 Successful organisations face challenges
 Need to be innovative
 Managing challenges involves:
 Having passionate, committed drivers
 No room for complacency
 Actions not words
 Open, participative workplace cultures
 Internal marketing
 Integration – how we do business