The business excellence model: implications for quality training

Citation

(2003), "The business excellence model: implications for quality training", Measuring Business Excellence, Vol. 7 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/mbe.2003.26707bab.003

The business excellence model: implications for quality training

This is a shortened version of "The strategic impact and application of the business excellence model: implications for quality training and development" by Denis Leonard and Rodney McAdam. It originally appeared in Journal of European Industrial Training, Vol. 26 No. 1, 2002, pp. 4-13, ISSN 0309-0590

Due to a lack of distinction between strategic and operational functions within an organization, a clear divide exists between corporate strategy and that of operations at managerial level. And it is the appreciation of the distinction between strategic and operational functions that distinguish strategists from managers.

So what is the tactical role of the business excellence model (BEM)? And what implications are there for quality training and development in strategy and operations within organizations?

Operational-strategic divide: the tactical role

The pursuit of operational effectiveness is seductive because it is concrete and actionable. Caught up in the race for operational effectiveness, many managers simply do not understand the need to have a strategy.

Total quality management (TQM) should provide an active environmental sensor for the gathering of environmental data to provide fast, dynamic strategic positioning and highlighting emergent strategies. However, it is more often passive and, rather than managers having been aware of new market forces and emergent strategies, they are simply reacting to the situation.

If the BEM does not provide a dynamic corporate impetus or fulfil an environmental sensor it is not a corporate strategic framework nor can it predict the future. The implications for quality training and development are considerable. The operational focus will require comprehensive quality training at a tool and technique level, as currently seen in many organizations, in support of an overall framework such as the BEM. However, such an approach will fail to encourage those involved in quality to fully participate at a strategy formulation level.

This does not preclude the BEM being used strategically. Rather, TQM and the use of the BEM for continuous, and if need be, incremental improvement, can continue in duality with the higher level "strategic layer" which can take a more holistic and "strategic thinking" attitude to the strategic placing of the company.

The key position of the BEM in this operational strategic divide is at tactical level, "translating the strategy into deliverable activities and targets" at the operational level. This tactical level sits below the strategic level where the vision, direction and "right strategies" need to be created. It is at this tactical point that the BEM aids in the determination and allocation of the key processes, which need to be improved on through initiatives at an operational level. This action will achieve the goals determined at the strategic level to drive the organization toward its corporate strategy.

So, is there a divide between strategy and operations when it comes to quality? To find out, 19 organizations were selected for in-depth study. These organizations were selected based on their involvement in TQM and strategy as evidenced by their use of the BEM (EFQM, 2001) and participation in national quality awards. These organizations all had 250+ employees and had well-developed operational and strategic plans.

A strategic driver

Out of the key issues that emerged is that of the BEM in a "strategic driver" role, or its impact on corporate strategy.

The BEM's role is providing a structured "clear" way of driving performance improvement forward and doing this by delivering strategically-determined goals through initiatives and activities. This action is, therefore, below strategic level, where higher level decisions are made the BEM is actively used, therefore, at a more tactical level. This was reinforced by many of the companies' quality training and development programs which adopted a strategy implementation approach to quality training and development programs. Thus, quality training and development was based at a tactical rather than strategic level.

At a strategic level the BEM may structure planning but its true impact is in delivering those plans.

One manager reflects that:

The business excellence model, as such, I think, is seen as a means of translating … a strategic direction into deliverable activities, you know, we have … we have really recognized quite recently that the BEM per se was not sufficiently well-defined to provide strategic direction.

Crucially, the BEM was considered by this organization as "not sufficiently well defined to provide strategic direction", something that other organizations have not yet fully understood:

Often, it is the structured approach and co-ordination that is of consequence. BEM tends to be used as part of assessment and data gathering for strategic decision making, but has no greater impact or role in that regard.

The BEM, therefore, is not in itself a strategic indicator or model for success, especially if used in an off-the-shelf manner with no wider underpinning of a TQM philosophy that has become ingrained in the strategic functioning of the company. In this way the use of self-assessment will not be stopped, as it is a part of the strategic process.

The BEM is clearly not a "strategic driver" for organizations. Those that perceive it as such have had inevitable difficulties in attaining results in relation to the model assisting in setting "strategic direction". Most of the organizations in the research perceive and apply the model as a framework which aids the structured thinking of the organization and as a context through which initiatives and projects can be co-ordinated at a tactical level to ensure that strategic goals are delivered at operational level. The "strategic drivers" are external to the BEM process and are not influenced by the BEM. Failure to understand these distinctions has led many organizations to give mixed messages in their quality training and development programs, resulting in failed opportunities and mis-used resources.

Conclusions – a grounded model

What has emerged from the research is an application of the BEM that is characterized by three key layers. These layers are reflected in the organizational level in which they are used, that is the strategic, tactical and operational applications of the model. The most critical of these is the tactical since it is the linchpin or fulcrum of the usage of the model in practice. It is this tactical level that tangibly represents the "strategic-operational divide" that is such an inherent part of the use of the model in practice. The challenge to organizations is to apply differentiated TQM training and development, based on the level of TQM application within the organization, i.e. strategic, tactical or operational. The grounded research shows how the BEM is used at each of these organizational levels – strategic, tactical and operational – and is summarized in the following paragraphs.

1. 1.

   Strategic level – At strategic level, the decisions are made as to what initiatives will be initiated; the BEM allowing a visualization of their positioning and impact within the organizational process. The BEM has no impact on the formulation of the strategic plan or the corporate strategy itself, therefore it was not viewed as a "strategic driver".

   Quality training and development efforts need to address issues at the strategic level if organizations are to fully realize the benefits of TQM and the BEM. Lack of investment in training approaches such as strategic benchmarking, process reengineering and innovation as part of the overall TQM process will lead to incrementalism rather than larger-scale strategic improvement. This level of training and development requires long-term investment in strategic TQM, as distinct from being restricted to short-term operational TQM projects.

2. 2.

   Tactical level – It is at this level that the co-ordinating and structured benefits of the BEM are applied. The initiatives and activities that are available, or that are to be introduced, are aligned with the aid of the model to "deliver the strategic goals". The other crucial role that the BEM plays at this level is to "assess and measure" organizational performance.

   There are three key tangible impacts of the BEM by which it actually translates strategic direction into deliverable activities. They are planning, structure and measurement.

   However, the scope for the effectiveness of training and development at this level is diminished due to the strategy having been already formulated. Organizations, which settle for this approach, have in many ways limited their use of TQM and the BEM.

3. 3.

   Operational level – At the operational level the initiatives are actually implemented and the deliverables must be achieved. This level represents the main part of BEM application in terms of the planning being put into practice and where the results are made or lost.

   At operational level, quality training and development is mainly that of tools and techniques. Typical examples are problem definition, cause and effect and brainstorming. If organizations restrict their efforts to this level then their use of TQM and the BEM loses its strategic impact and the program tends to become a quality audit-based approach rather than having strategic significance. Many organizations start their TQM training and development at this level. However, there is a need to progress to tactical and strategic level TQM training and development to achieve large-scale improvement in performance measures.