Question

Summarize and discuss the purpose of the Malcolm Baldridge Quality Award.

Answer 1

Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award is given to the organizations of U.S. who work in the sectors of business, health care, education, and non-profit sectors for excellence in their field.

Malcolm Baldridge Award is given by the president of the United States and it recognizes the performance of both public and private organizations. It is the only formal award set up for this purpose.

It was established by the U.S. Congress in 1987 and the purpose of this award was to raise awareness of quality management tools and systems and recognize U.S. companies that have successfully implemented quality management systems at their organizations.

It can be given for six fields i.e. manufacturing, service, small business, education, healthcare and non-profit organizations.

It was set up after the name of late secretary of Commerce Mr Malcolm Baldrige, a guru of quality management principles

Organizations applying for Malcolm Baldridge Quality Award are judged on achievement and improvement in seven areas which is also known as Baldrige Criteria of Performance Excellence, they are:

• Leadership
• Strategy
• Customers
• Measurement analysis and Quality Management
• Workforce
• Operations at the organization
• Results of the organization.

The optimum purpose for which this award was set up was to recognize the organizations which were following the quality management systems at their organization. The organizations in order to receive this award follow an integrated approach of implementation of quality systems and results from them.

This award promotes organizations to implement Organizational learning and agility, ethics and transparency and in turn they deliver value and results which is ultimately beneficial for the economy and industrial sector of the U.S.

Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award is a reputed award in the U.S. and it promotes organizations to work at top of their abilities to achieve excellence.