The EFQM Model as an Exquisite Tool for the Analysis of Business Excellence and Its Use in the Healthcare Industry

Abstract

The author links together business analysis and business excellence as an ideal that all well- performing organisations wish to achieve while attaining and continuously maintaining superior levels of business performance, thus fulfilling and even exceeding the expectations of their stakeholders. He leans on the EFQM model and uses it as an excellent tool for analysing the business of an organisation throughout all the phases defined by traditional business analysis. This includes the observation of facts and identification of problems, which can be construed as defining the organisation’s strengths and areas for improvement. This entails setting up hypotheses and testing them by applying appropriate measures. After a short introduction, the author makes first a thorough literature review on business excellence in the last two decades with an emphasis on the EFQM Model. He focuses particularly on the assessment and critical attitude of individual researchers who have studied this topic. Further, the author presents the basic concepts and elements of the EFQM model of business excellence, with a particular emphasis on the RADAR matrix as a very useful instrument (management tool) for business excellence analysis. He also presents the use of the model for analysing and assessing the business excellence of organisations in the public sector, specifically in the healthcare industry (hospitals). He presents the key attributes (select healthcare aspects) that define the quality of healthcare services for its key participants, i.e., patients and the payers of these services. These attributes, namely technical performance, interpersonal relationships, amenities and access, patient preferences, efficiency and cost effectiveness, are then highlighted by select business excellence criteria, mainly referring to the stakeholders’ perception of the organisation in question and business performance indicators. The author rounds off his paper with a couple of recommendations regarding the identification of strengths and areas for continuous improvement, which he, as a leading assessor with many years’ experience, including in the healthcare industry, considers as the most important aspect of business excellence analysis.