Baldrige Award Winning Quality: Eleventh Edition Covers the 2001 Award Criteria
This is an essential reference for managers planning to apply for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.
TABLE OF CONTENTS Baldrige Award Winning Quality: Eleventh Edition Covers the 2001 Award Criteria
Chapter 2: Preparing an Application for the Baldrige Award
Overview
Preparing an application for the Malcom Baldrige Award is a great deal of work. In fact, the time invested in creating this 50-page proposal is what intimidates many potential applicants. Although the size of the application was reduced from 70 to 50 pages several years ago, most applicants go through at least four or five drafts before sending off the final document to Washington, D.C. Some state award programs have been sensitive to the time commitment for preparing a full 50-page application and have developed separate categories for organizations just getting started using the Baldrige criteria, and asked for a 25 page or less document. Arizona is one of the state quality award programs that pioneered this abbreviated award, and the process is now being used by other states such as California and New Mexico.
The quality level of Baldrige Award applications varies considerably. Some are expertly written, contain only pertinent information, and are printed in four colors, so they look like an annual report. Others are poorly written, are missing information, and are typed on an old typewriter. The quality of your company is being judged based upon the quality of this report, so it is crucial that the application report be complete, clear, and error-free. In this chapter, I outline some major issues on how the application should be written and provide guidelines concerning mistakes to avoid when preparing your application. Examples are provided to help illustrate what to do and what not to do.
As a...
Copyright Mark Graham Brown 2001 under license agreement with Books24x7
