European Foundation Of Quality Management Research Articles

Managing the Performance Management Process: The Importance of Employees’ Performance in Determining the Organisation’s Viability and Efficiency

Many organisations for a number of years have been placing emphasis on performance management (PM) as they have noticed the profound impact of PM on organisations’ human resource capacity and its overall productivity and sustainability. Traditionally, PM was seen as a human resource function but has now become the lifeblood of organisations and subsequently, is a joint effort of all heads of departments/units as well as employees alike. PM is predominantly about managing people and business processes and if not effectively managed can impact negatively on employees’ overall performance by lowering staff satisfaction level, decreasing staff morale and as a consequence impede productivity. Models such as the Balanced Scorecard, the European Foundation of Quality Management (EFQM) or the Ability Motivation and Opportunity (AMO) are crucial in determining how smoothly the PM process flows. How employees are managed throughout the performance management cycle is of utmost importance in determining the viability of any organisation. This paper is intended to discuss the extent to which the PM process can increase productivity, staff morale and job satisfaction within the organisation. Keywords: Performance Management, Performance Appraisal, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Performance Models, Performance Measurement

Effects of the organizational culture and knowledge exploration and exploitation on results in the EFQM model framework

PurposeThis paper aims to adopt Cameron and Quinn’s analysis of organizational culture and March’s learning framework to analyze the type of organizational culture (OC) that promotes learning competences and whether exploration and exploitation competences (ambidexterity) improve the European Foundation of Quality Management (EFQM) results (excellent results). In addition, this research tests if these competences exercise a mediating effect in the relationship between OC and performance.Design/methodology/approachA model is proposed whose relationships have been tested using structural equations. The sample was obtained from the SABI database. Two hundred valid questionnaires were returned via a webpage, in which four managers from each of the 200 organizations responded.FindingsThe results support the proposed relationships. Adhocracy, hierarchy and market culture have a positive relationship with excellent results. A hierarchical culture develops exploitation competences, and a market culture develops learning ambidexterity. Moreover, exploration and exploitation increase results. Finally, these two cultures indirectly influence results through exploration and exploitation competences.Research limitations/implicationsThe proposed model can help managers who implement the EFQM model to better understand how the culture of their organization promotes learning and how these two variables improve their performance.Practical implicationsBecause the EFQM model requires organizations to use a knowledge management system to enhance the effect of the enabliers criteria on excellent results, the managers of these companies must know that only market and hierarchy cultures are suitable for it. Besides, this study highlights the importance of two cultural values for the implementation of the EFQM Model and, therefore, to promote excellent results: market orientation and process control.Originality/valueThis study fills an existing gap in the literature by combining exploitation, exploration, OC and EFQM results in a single model and highlights the importance of market orientation and process control for excellent results and knowledge exploration and exploitation.

An EFQM-Based Self-Assessment Method for Railway Transportation Service Quality: An Application with Intuitionistic Fuzzy AHP

Service quality is one of the most important issues in railway transportation because it is a concept that positively affects customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, corporate image, and intention to repurchase. The European Foundation of Quality Management (EFQM) Excellence Model provides an opportunity to facilitate the service quality-focused self-assessment efforts of the railway companies. This is the first study that integrates intuitionistic fuzzy theory in the application of the EFQM Model of railway industry in Turkey. As the main contribution, it is aimed to find a dedicatedly special weighting schema for the application of EFQM model in railway transportation. For this purpose, Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is utilized with an integration of intuitionistic fuzzy sets that can reveal the decision-makers’ opinions, preferences, and expertise more comprehensively than traditional fuzzy sets can do. Consequently, it is found that the original model should be modified for the railway industry since the weights of all the criteria included in the model are found different than the original ones. The study provides new insights into the long-term benefits of applying the EFQM model as a framework in railway transportation and understanding the associations between the EFQM criteria and railway transportation.

HOW ISO QUALITY MANAGEMENT STANDARDS CHANGE THE COMPANY LEVEL OF EXCELLENCE? STUDY CONDUCTED ON TWO COMPANIES OF POLISH DNA SEQUENCING INDUSTRY USING THE BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT MATRIX

This study examines the level of excellence of two companies, using Business Improvement Matrix (BIM), which is based on European Foundation of Quality Management’s Model of Excellence. It compares those organizations and shows how their quality management systems make an effect on BIM results. The researched companies are genXone S.A., which is in the process of implementing a quality management system compliant with ISO 13485: 2016, and Centrum Genetyki Medycznej GENESIS Sp. z o.o., certified with ISO 9001: 2015 since 2018. Both of them belong to sequencing industry in Poland, using new generation sequencing. This study shows that the company that has implemented its quality management system and has fully adopted its standards achieved a higher level of excellence than the company that just started the process of implementation of their quality management system.

The Impact of ICT Support and the EFQM Criteria on Sustainable Business Excellence in Higher Education Institutions

The problem of sustainable business excellence has been investigated according to different aspects in different fields. For a more detailed analysis, it is necessary to develop an integrative sustainable business excellence model, respecting the baseline model of business excellence according to the European Foundation of Quality Management, with the possibility of defining the relationships and levels of significance of different variables. The primary goal of this paper is to present a developed integrative model to simulate the effects of information and communication technologies, and quality and effects of leadership improvement, as independent variables, on sustainable business excellence in higher education institutions, as a dependent variable. The model was developed by applying dynamic system techniques and evaluated by using statistical methods. In the sample of 17 Serbian and 21 Russian universities, the authors analyzed the information and communication support, leadership and quality, and their impact on sustainable business excellence. According to the simulation analysis, it was concluded that the EFQM model of self-assessment could help produce a more customer-oriented culture in HEIs, through ICT support, leadership and quality criteria enhancements.

Airport Business Excellence Model: A holistic performance management system

This study proposes for the first time the Airport Business Excellence Model (ABEM) as a specific version of the European Foundation of Quality Management (EFQM) and tests it in 143 airports worldwide. Based on diverse theoretical premises and applying a Structural Equation Modelling, the study first maps the main Key Performance Areas (KPAs) with their individual indicators and then explores the complex network of causal linkages among them within the multidimensional airport business system. The causal paths are conceptualized in a performance pyramid, where influence flows from the top Strategic Enablers through Human and Operational Enablers to produce Primary and Secondary Results. In addition, Importance Performance Analysis reveals that Employee Results are the most Critical Success Factor for airport excellence, followed by Leadership and Operational Results. Overall, the study sheds light on the airports' ‘black box’ and exhibits the interactions of its ‘software’ assets nested in the multiple airport stakeholders.

Advancing Energy Performance in Oil and Gas Industry through Systematic Implementation of Energy Efficiency Programs by Applying an Operational Excellence Model

Energy performance has becoming one of the top global discussion subjects due to the facts of hiked in fossil fuel price, changed in living standards, increased in Green House Gas (GHG) awareness as well as fair business practices such as subsidies and environment regulations. It has pushed societal expectations on oil companies’ especially National Oil Companies (NOCs) located in Middle East to rigorously conserve energy and explore ways to enhance its performance. In current industrial practice, Energy Efficiency Programs (EEP) is one of typical initiatives that have been evolving since the late 1990s. However, its progress has just been seen and unfortunately, NOCs are far away from a matured management in addressing EEP expectations. Most of NOCs consider EEP as an ambition, rather than a condition applying to all levels of the businesses. In fact, cost reduction is a main focus rather than to execute right energy conservation strategies and more seriously, lack of a dedicated focus to efficiently use energy resources. This paper presents a methodology that can induce rapid deployment and implementation of a customized EEP. The methodology requires to embed the EEP into the Operation Excellence Model (OEM), a well structured organization’ management framework model as defined by European Foundation of Quality Management (EFQM). Since OEM is company-wide initiative, therefore it can be a perfect vehicle to drive EEP in reaching maturity. Through a successful case study, this methodology has proven to drastically improve the implementation pace of EEP and drive tremendous reduction in energy consumption as well as GHG emissions.

A Comparative Analysis of the Performance of the Czech Excellence Award Winners

The purpose of this paper is to assess whether the implementation of excellence approach in area of a total quality management (TQM) positively affects the financial performance of the Czech companies. This paper test whether the adoption of excellence model approach from European Foundation of Quality Management (EFQM) has the impact on companies in the monitored indicators of the level of excellence in the Czech Republic represented by the group of emerging countries. This study is based on information gathered through an extensive literature review using print media, research databases, and we employed the available reporting for awarded companies. We systemized the variables of business excellence with the higher impact on organizational performance. As an example was involved the Czech companies awarded in National Quality Award (NQA) in the area of excellence. The main findings of this study shows the positive relation in selected financial indicators after receiving NQA and implementation excellence approach. In terms of the Czech Republic, although the NQA system is in place, Czech companies are not so interested, even though they can get feedback and work on their approach within the set criteria of the EFQM model in NQA. Based on selected performance indicators, the positive development of the companies was demonstrated on performance achieved by the TQM-oriented award winning companies.

Using data envelopment analysis to evaluate the performances of food production companies based on EFQM's criteria and to present an improvement plan

In today's world, organisations are always interested in evaluating themselves. This self-assessment can present a common language and conceptual framework for the improvement and management of the organisations. In this paper, first the performance evaluation models including the European Foundation of Quality Management (EFQM) model and data envelopment analysis (DEA) are studied. Then, assessment data of 24 food companies are collected through an EFQM model questionnaire. Then the efficiency scores of each organisation based on the DEA (CCR) are calculated using Lingo software, in which that, organisations are considered as decision making units (DMUs) and enablers and results criteria in EFQM model are inputs and outputs of DEA model. Then, based on the efficiency scores of each organisation, improvement plan with the help of the dual DEA model is presented to increase efficiency scores of inefficient units. Finally, it will be clear that each inefficient unit for improving the inefficiency should focus on which of the criteria.

Proposing an Integrated Model on Knowledge Management for Organizational Excellence

During recent years, modern organizations, especially Iranian ones, governmental or private, have concluded that their knowledge management, resulted from human capitals, is a precious resource whom not being paid attention to and has more and more value than material resources. In development countries and leader companies, there are significant sensibilities over organizational knowledge and it is tried to properly maintain and utilize this resource. Different models have proposed for managing this intangible resource, which each one has its own advantages and disadvantages. This paper, analyzing remarkable executive models on Knowledge Management (KM) in internal (Iranian) organizations, which have invested in knowledge management processes and projects, tries to identify common and effective criteria and subjects of the area and select a proper model in accordance with internal organizational culture. Then it tries to select a proper integrated model applying suitable changes based on improvement of its performance and its integrating with related clauses of Knowledge management in European Foundation of Quality Management (EFQM), in order to co-directing knowledge plan with improvement strategies and organizational processes. Of considered criteria for proposing model, it can be referred to organizational values and cultures as well as its accordance with company's purposes and strategy, which are considered in variability and model development regarding the activities of each company. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2016.v7n4S2p90

Quality Management of Olympic, Non-Olympic and Paralympic Sport Federations

Total Quality Management (TQM) is a strategic process of continuous improvement targeting success in sport with numerous additional benefits. Its application commenced in business, next in public administration and then in the third sector. Some researchers studied clubs but fewer researchers have studied federations. Consequently, the purpose of this article is to measure the TQM of a group of Galician Sport Federations. We used an adaptation of European Foundation of Quality Management (EFQM) questionnaire issued to Federations before this study. The sample was 50 of 59 entities (86.21%) divided in: 26 Olympic Federations (52%), 21 non-Olympic Federations (42%) and 3 Paralympic Federations (6%). The results of the questionnaire gave information about the TQM of the entity and which particular dimensions were managed poorly, regularly, well or very well. Whether they are Olympic, Paralympic or Non-Olympic, results show that all these Federations achieved a “good” score in Total Quality Management, with “very good” indications in dimensions such as Policy, Strategy and Process Management. The Olympic Federations returned “regular” results in the “People” category. Paralympic Federations generated “regular” scores in Leadership, Human Resources, Society Results and Process Results. Similar returns have been found in other studies. Knowledge of the overall TQM scores and the dimensions provides information regarding areas that require to be maintained, changed or developed. Based on the results of the questionnaire, practical beneficial recommendations could subsequently be readily and usefully implemented. We suggest that further researches could help to construct a TQM system for these organisations. Availability of such information would support and facilitate good management of these entities, thereby enabling improved management in all respects: effectiveness, efficiency, efficacy and economy.

A Study of the Level of Satisfaction with the Quality of Educational Services among Students of Nursing-Midwifery in Islamic Azad University of Dezful Based on the Model of European Foundation of Quality Management

This study aimed to examine level of satisfaction with the quality of educational services among students of nursing-midwifery in Islamic Azad University of Dezful based on EFQM model. Statistical population of this survey consisted of all university students who had spent at least one semester in midwifery-nursing faculty of Islamic Azad university of Dezful. 270 students were selected through random sampling method. A questionnaire was developed by the researcher of current study based on customer-centered orientation of EFQM organizational excellence model. Data was analyzed through descriptive statistics and Chi-Square Test. The results showed that level of satisfaction at the educational services of nursing-midwifery and the affiliated hospitals was low (p = 0.99). Based on Freidman test, level of satisfaction at the accountability of staff was the most important factor, and it had the highest priority (mean rank 2/77). On the other hand, level of satisfaction at post-educational services was the least important, and it had the lowest priority (mean rank 2/30).

A BSC- EFQM method for evaluating and detecting performance measurement criteria: A case study of Malavan Footbal team

Article history: Received May 1, 2013 Received in revised format 10 July 2013 Accepted 3 August 2013 Available online August 5 2013 This paper presents an empirical investigation to find important criteria for performance measurement based on two methods of balanced score card (BSC) as well as European Foundation of Quality Management (EFQM) methods. In order to determine the mission, vision, strategy and values we first review different documents including International Federation of football documentations, AFC and Football Federation of the Islamic Republic of Iran and Charter Club. Next, we determine the necessary criteria for performance measurement using interview with decision makers, design a questionnaire and distribute it among 57 players and coaching staff as well as experts, veterans and supporters club. Next, we study the results using t-student test and analyze them. The results are categorized in terms of four criteria of BSC method including internal processes, learning and growth, costumer and financial. In addition, key performance results based on the Excellence Model are classified according to nine areas of leadership, strategy, human resources, partnerships and resources, processes, customer results, human resource results and society. © 2013 Growing Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Quality cost management support system: an effective tool for organisational performance improvement

The purpose of this study was to bring into focus the relationship between the cost of quality (COQ) and performance-improvement measurements, and to suggest that the total COQ be used as an overall measure of organisational performance. Previous research has examined quality costs and different cost minimisation methods, and introduced a variety of methods for measuring the performance of organisations. With a clear understanding of the importance of these two areas of research, the present study links quality costs to operational processes. The authors introduce a prototype management support system that helps measure, monitor, and improve quality costs associated with operational processes. The results of the pilot study conducted in this research show that the quality cost model can be used to measure the overall performance of organisations. In addition, the study links this management support system to the requirements of quality standards such as ISO 9001 and quality awards such as Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award and European Foundation of Quality Management.

EL MODELO EUROPEO DE CALIDAD EN UNA UNIVERSIDAD A DISTANCIA

The need of improving the contribution Universities must give the community and of showing the useful employment of the resources available to fulfil their goals, are, with progressive intensity, claiming for organisational and management systems that could guarantee the success of such institutions. It seems it is nowadays spreading the conviction that the total quality paradigm is a very useful contribution to the organisation improvement: the evidence has showed it in productive institutions and, even, in some ones of service giving. Although educational institutions and, of course, the ones of higher education, are organisations with their own peculiarity, such paradigm is also penetrating in this sector. More specifically, we here put forward one accommodation for a Distance University of the referential model that, corresponding to the mentioned paradigm, suggests the European Foundation of Quality Management.

La seguridad en los cuidados de los pacientes en las emergencias extrahospitalarias

One of the biggest challenges for the public health sector is to ensure the clinical safety of the patient, which is affected by mistakes made in pre-hospital emergency care. A culture of safety is encouraged and health professionals have tools at their disposal to help them maintain that safety. ObjetiveWe propose as a hypothesis that compliance with safety standards in for the care of patients using extra-hospital emergency systems improves care and minimize risks. Our goal is to build a tool that enables us to measure the safety quality for patients in need of non-hospital emergency services. MethodTo create this tool we have taken the SENECA study as a basis, and using the European Quality Model of the European Foundation of Quality Management (EFQM). The indicators were created using the Delphi Method. ResultsA total of 74 indicators were proposed, 9 of which were proposed by the panelists, and 44% being accepted. A definitive tool of 41 indicators was created. The most notable indicators were; “The expiry dates of consumable material and drugs that are stored in the units are controlled” grouped in “Alliances and resources”, and “Patients who do not adhere to treatment due to unresolved doubts” grouped in “Key results”. ConclusionsThe use of the EFQM model to build the assessment tool allows information to be appropriately structured and to organize safety standards and indicators of security in a consistent manner. This methodology helped to propose a suitable tool for measuring patient safety in an extra-hospital situation. The application of this tool will identify areas for improvement related to the patient safety.

Radiology Employees ‘Quality of Work Life in Tehran University of Medical Sciences Hospitals’ Radiology Departments

Radiology Employees ‘Quality of Work Life in Tehran University of Medical Sciences Hospitals’ Radiology Departments

Validez y fiabilidad de un indicador sintético de calidad de la atención hospitalaria

Objective Benchmarking between different health organisations is a useful tool for improving quality, but it requires using valid and reliable indicators so that comparisons may be based on objective data. The aim of this work is to verify the validity and reliability of a synthetic hospital health care quality indicator. Material and methods A cross-sectional study was conducted over a five-year period on the Quality Plan indicators of 10 hospitals, under the model of the European Foundation of Quality Management (EFQM). Reliability was checked using the Cronbach's alpha coefficient. The validity was determined using a cluster analyses (dendrogram), examining relationships between different indicator results, and by means of an exploratory analysis of the correlations between the process indicators and results indicators proposed by the US Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). Results An «acceptable» reliability was found (α=0.759). No clusters were found that corresponded to the set of criteria of the EFQM model, or any significant correlations with the results indicators. Conclusions It is proposed to continue devising indicators that could empirically be shown to be valid in order to be incorporated into synthetic indicators, in such a way that the efficiency of health care management in all hospitals may be compared.

The problem of sustainability of organizational success in public educational institutions: a research on the education administrators in Turkey

The concept of sustainable development aims to improve the future generation's living standards and to change the current generation's quality of life. The institutionalizing of the developments and successes in the field of education which is the fundamental component of sustainable development is very important from the point of view of being able to create a sustainable future. Although the extensive change and transformation efforts being expanded in our contemporary educational institutions have met with measurable success, the same cannot be said about the success of their sustainability. In this study the phenomenon of sustainable development is examined specially within the context of the successful orientation initiatives of public educational institutions. In Turkey, the field research on this subject has been carried out by three educational institutions that hold the European Foundation Of Quality Management (EFQM) based National Quality Prize (NQP). The results off the research show; important problems in the sustainability of the successes secured in relation to quality of education and customer satisfaction in educational institutions in the primary and junior high school domains. It has been observed that the obstacles in sustainable development in education are generally administrator based. Also the sustainability phenomenon of the success achieved in educational institution is influenced by the problems of other public structures.

A comparative analysis and review of national quality awards in Europe

PurposeThrough the analysis of different initiatives of all EU countries in relation to business excellence models, there is a need to map these initiatives and to compare the most “interesting” quality awards of European Union by means of their substantial differentiation from European Foundation of Quality Management (EFQM) model. The aim of this paper is to propose the necessity for a diverse business excellence system, which respects the cross‐cultural differentiations of EU countries.Design/methodology/approachThis research is based on information gathered by means of structured questionnaires, telephone interviews with representative Quality Award organizations and other written material collected from literature.FindingsThe findings are summarized as follows. EU countries do not have a common framework to address business excellence, however the “European Quality Award” based on the “EFQM Excellence Model” is the most widespread in the previous decade. There is a tendency towards own developments on national quality awards in the current decade. There is a clear indication of Quality Awards “nature” across EU: there are the national ones which are supported by their governments in the sense of financial support to organizations and the private ones which are supported by associations, chambers, private organizations and non profit organizations. There is a tendency of all social and business partners (in the governmental and private sector) to participate in the organizations so as to administer and manage the awards and business excellence models. This participation varies according to the political system of the EU country.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper reviews only 31 major Total Quality Awards out of the 51 that are identified excluding entrepreneurship awards and regional ones that tend to represent their national quality awards. Future research could include a sector analysis, such as SMEs business excellence awards, or a thorough analysis of public sector awards.Practical implicationsThe paper reviews all major NQAs in EU and indicates an inclination to move from EFQM model to a more dynamic system of business excellence, which respects the diverse cultures of EU nations. The models, which are called TQM models, business excellence models or national quality award ones are used throughout the paper with the same meaning.Originality/valueThis paper is based on both a structured survey and on literature review. It is the first time that is proposed to be published.