ESSAY: Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award

The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, also known as the Baldrige award, is given to companies that have robust quality management systems. There are six different industry categories the award can be received, including education, service, manufacturing, small business, healthcare, and nonprofit.

In chapter 7, p. 98 in the text, please find QUALITY CASE, Delivering Quality and Value at Cargill Corn Milling (CCM). The case study describes how CCM earned the Baldrige Award in the category of manufacturing and how applying the principles of total quality helped align the organization for success.

Assignment:
The assignment is to 1) research the Baldrige Award and become an “expert” on this topic, 2) select an organization (not CCM) that has received the award, 3) describe the criteria on how they earned the accomplishment, and 4) after the organization received the award, did the recognition impact the organization in any way?

Must be submitted in an Microsoft Word document.
Must be 3-5 pages (excluding title page and references page) in length, double-spaced and formatted according to APA style, using the guidelines of the American Psychological Association Manual, 6th edition.
Must include a title page with the following:
Title of paper
Student’s name
Course name and number
Instructor’s name
Date submitted
Must include a separate reference page, with at least two scholarly resources.

ANSWER

Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award

The Baldrige Award is one honor that is desired by most organizations. Started by congress in the year 1987, th award is meant to recognize the best manufacturers, services providers, as well as small businesses that are deemed to have had a great impact on society. The companies are always recognized for their quality management systems. The award is important, especially to the organization that receives it since it is a reflection of excellence in service delivery. The award is also meant to raise awareness of the need for companies/ organizations to embrace performance excellence at all times.

 The criteria for receiving such an award is derived from six key quality improvement areas, which include leadership, how a company establishes and plans to implement its strategies, how a company builds and maintains clients, how an organization uses the available data to manage its performance, and how the workforce is motivated and empowered. The sixth indicator is how the organization designs, managers and intends to improve its important processes and lastly its overall results in terms of customer satisfaction, finance management, social responsibility among others (NIST). This award is the greatest honor that companies can receive for their excellence and it is awarded by the president. Named after one of the most respected secretaries of commerce, the award seeks to enhance the competitiveness of the U.S businesses by recognizing companies perceived to be role models for others within the industry.

An Organization That Has Received The Award

Since its establishment, the Malcolm Baldrige Award has been given to many companies, some receiving it more than once. One such company is MEDRAD Inc., which in 2010 joined a host of five other companies that have so far received the award twice. The other time this company received the Baldrige Award was in 2003. The company is a business of Bayer Healthcare. It is a respected market leader in computed tomography, interventional cardiology as well as magnetic resonance imaging. The company received the excellence award in manufacturing.

Criteria On How They Earned The Accomplishment In 2010, more than 80 organizations had applied for the award. A vigorous site visit was done with the review process being carried out by the Baldrige examiners. In the process of undertaking site visits, eight examiners were tasked with interviewing the more than 700 employees of the company spread both in the U.S. and across the globe. They also reviewed many business documents to confirm the business practices undertaken by the company…