Utilisation of business excellence models: Australian and international experience

A bio-inspired model of organizational excellence

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to validate the enablers of bio-inspired model of organizational excellence proposed by Agarwal and Vrat (2015a). It is also aimed to test its usefulness as an instrument in evaluating the degree of organizational excellence achieved.

Design/methodology/approach

– Survey methodology has been used to investigate the hypotheses. Data have been collected through a self-structured questionnaire with closed-ended questions. Structural equation modeling and analytic hierarchic process have been used to test and analyze the data.

Findings

– The results of hypothesis testing indicated that out of 19 paths only ten were significant. However, in the revised model only six paths out of those ten significant paths were retained and three new suggested paths were incorporated to make the final model. Besides, calculation of relative weights of each enabler shows that being self-driven occupies the top-most rankings, supply chain optimization occupies the second rank and promptness and reliability and maintainability occupy the bottom ranking in driving performance excellence, being resulting outcomes.

Research limitations/implications

– The major limitations of this research are: verification of the proposed model is done on only two test companies, and results of which are compared with one excellence award model only. Besides, the score resulted for test companies are based on self-assessment by them and thus require further validation.

Practical implications

– The validated model can be applied for assessing degree of organizational excellence achieved by any company. The results of the assessment would serve as key focus areas for improvement.

Originality/value

– The research is first to benchmark the human body for assessing the degree of organizational excellence achieved. The uniqueness of this model is that the various parameters of excellence assessment which are derived from human body, perceived as a benchmark in being the most well managed system.

The leadership criterion: challenges in pursuing excellence in the Jordanian public sector

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to explore the challenges that face leaders when implementing business excellence programmes in the Jordanian public sector.

Design/methodology/approach

– The study adopted a content analysis approach to analyse the excellence assessment reports that have been produced by the King Abdullah II Centre for Excellence. The sample comprises ten public organisations which have participated in the King Abdullah Award for Excellence more than once and acknowledge in their reports that they have failed to achieve satisfactory results.

Findings

– The key challenges to effect the implementation of leadership criteria in the public sector in Jordan were found to be poor strategic planning, lack of employee empowerment, weaknesses in benchmarking performance, and a lack of financial resources, poor integration and coordination, and poor measurement system.

Practical implications

– This study proposes a conceptual model for the assessment of challenges that face managers when seeking to implement excellence in leadership in the Jordanian public sector.

Originality/value

– Leadership challenges in the public sector are generally widely studied, but it is important to gain a better understanding of how these challenges can be overcome. In comparison to many existing studies, this research has provided specific and detailed insights these organisational excellence challenges in the public sector and provides a conceptual model for use by other researchers into the future.

Deploying business excellence – success factors for high performance

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to improve the understanding of how organisations successfully deploy business excellence (BE) by comparing the tools and strategies implemented by organisations at different levels of BE maturity.

Design/methodology/approach

– The study used a combination of a questionnaire, discussion groups and interviews with respondents including private sector organisations across India, Japan, Republic of China, Singapore and Thailand. These countries were selected due to them being considered as having the most advanced BE organisations in Asia by the Asian Productivity Organisation (APO) that commissioned the study. Once triangulated, the quantitative data were analysed through use of the IBM SPSS Statistical software package.

Findings

– The study has shown that on average, organisations with higher BE maturity outperform their less mature counterparts. The study also revealed that organisations with a high BE maturity were more likely to use specific tools and were more likely to use some of these tools more effectively. Finally, the study identified differences in strategic approaches to BE between organisations with high and low BE maturity.

Research limitations/implications

– Only five Asian countries were considered due to resource limitations. However, the study of 74 organisations represents one of the most comprehensive to date with 30 of these organisations being award winners.

Practical implications

– The findings offer guidance to those organisations wishing to progress from a low level of BE maturity to a more advanced level. The findings have already assisted the APO and its 20 member countries in the development and implementation of strategic interventions at a regional and national level.

Originality/value

– No other study in Asia has been conducted on such a large sample of BE-orientated organisations. The study was also unique in its focus on the tools and strategies that should be used for successful BE deployment. In addition, the study is one of only a few in Asia that has studied the results of BE on organisational performance.

Receiving a national quality award three times

Purpose

– In recent decades, a framework for management performance has proven to be an important management practice for achieving organisational performance excellence. In this sense, the purpose of this paper is to analyse how a specific company manages to achieve performance excellence through the attainment of the Brazilian National Quality Award.

Design/methodology/approach

– The study adopts a case-based approach using a single unit of analysis that might be considered a revealing case. The company studied is one of the largest companies in the information and financial analysis sector in Latin America and is part of a major worldwide corporation. Semi-structured interviews with senior managers and document analysis were used for data collection, with content and inductive analysis performed a posteriori.

Findings

– The main results outline the approach adopted by the company for each performance excellence award criterion and highlight some of the relevant organisational practices, especially those related to the nature of the company’s businesses. The findings show that the top management has been an essential driving force in transforming the managers at all levels into agents of improvement at the studied company. Additional key points are the deployment of the company’s “shared values” throughout the company and the implementation of a medium- and long-term comprehensive strategic plan focused on the award criteria. The company’s strategic system has been a driving force of its success.

Research limitations/implications

– For a more extensive empirical validation, further replications using other samples are needed to ensure the external validity of these findings.

Originality/value

– This paper is one of the few published studies discussing business excellence in emerging economies, which is not observed very often in developing markets. In addition, the paper focuses on promoting a culture of quality, a less common phenomenon in the economies of developing countries than in those of developed nations. Finally, this paper may be useful for practitioners and academics interested in the subject of quality and performance excellence.

Deployment of business excellence in Asia: an exploratory study

Purpose

The purpose of this research is to investigate the use of business excellence in Asian organisations. The study examines the effectiveness of business excellence in the organisations that adopt it as well as the approaches used to deploy business excellence. Finally, the study investigates the attitudes of organisations with respect to business excellence awards.

Design/methodology/approach

A questionnaire survey of 74 organisations across five Asian countries was carried out in order to collect quantitative data. In addition, qualitative data was collected from 21 discussion groups held in all five countries and from 13 interviews held with senior executives of organisations that had won business excellence awards.

Findings

The organisations believe that business excellence is important in helping them reach their organisational goals. The results also show that participation in and winning business excellence awards is a key objective for many organisations in the region. However, the region still suffers from some barriers to long‐term commitment to business excellence including lack of development of a business excellence culture, a lack of resources and a failure to fully educate the majority of staff in business excellence.

Research limitations/implications

The study was directed at organisations that were deploying business excellence. It therefore provides an insight into their activities but it does not explore levels of adoption of business excellence in the study countries and consequently, does not investigate reasons for non‐adoption in organisations that have not used business excellence.

Practical implications

National productivity organisations and national award administrators have a crucial role to play in ensuring that Asian organisations are aware of business excellence initiatives and that the necessary support structures and activities to facilitate deployment are made available.

Originality/value

While there are many studies on the adoption of business excellence in western countries, no such studies have been carried out in Asian countries to date. Even in the west, few studies have obtained the views of so many national award winners (30 in this study) and few have investigated the role of the award administrators. Given that the adoption of business excellence in Asia lags western countries, it is important to understand how it has been adopted in Asia and the perceptions of the organisations that have adopted it.