Case Study Selection Criteria

In view of the aim of the research study, an in-depth investigation was conducted to analyse and understand the factors affecting the implementation of Dubai Quality Award (DQA) excellence model at a senior management level in Dubai based organisations. While the literature review guided the researcher to establish the case study selection criteria, he further discussed the research aim and objectives with Dubai Quality Award’s Secretariat being custodian of the Dubai Quality Award process. Thus opinion of the DQA Secretariat was also obtained for case study selection criteria and about the case study organisations to be selected for this research.

The Dubai Quality Award excellence model has three award categories i.e. Dubai Quality Award Gold, Dubai Quality Award and Dubai Quality Award Appreciation (DQA criteria book, 2003, 2010 and 2013). DQA appreciation category is for entry level organisations whereas Gold and award category winners need to show results for over five years and three years respectively (DQA criteria book, 2003, 2010 and 2013). Therefore, gold and award winners have already experienced and have gone through the entry level phase.

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Therefore, keeping in view the research aim and objectives of the study and the number of years of experience earned by the gold and award winner organisations for their journey towards excellence, it was decided to choose DQA gold and Award categories only for this research study.

The researcher then reviewed the number of DQA gold and award winners from 2000 to 2008 and their industrial sectors. Tables 4.7 and 4.8 presents a summary of this analysis:

Total DQA Winners From 2000-2008

DQA Gold Winners DQA Award Winners

11 33

Table-4.7: Number of Gold and Award Category Winners from 2000-2008 (based on DQA winners list at DED web site www.ded.gov.ae) (Adapted for this thesis)

Sector DQA Gold Winners DQA Award Winners

Service 9 28

Manufacturing 2 5

Table-4.8: Number of DQA Gold and Award winners in Service and Manufacturing Sectors (Adapted for this thesis)

Based on the literature review, discussion with the DQA secretariat and in view of the experience of the DQA Gold and Award winners for implementing excellence model requirements over the years, following criteria was established for this research study:

1. Choose one case study organisation each from the service and manufacturing sectors 2. Choose one gold and one award winner organisation

3. Senior management willing to support the research by providing interviews and other relevant data

116 4.4.4.1 Rationale for case study selection criteria

i- Choose one case study organisation each from service and manufacturing sectors

The Dubai Quality Award is run on a yearly basis. The organisations apply for DQA under either of these sectors. By choosing both industrial sectors, the aim and research objectives of the present research were achieved for in-depth understanding of the phenomenon for both the sectors.

ii- Choose one gold and one award winner organisation

The DQA gold and award winners are required to present results of 5 years and 3 years respectively to be eligible for the respective award category. Therefore, both category organisations had spent a considerable amount of time to attain an experience for implementing excellence framework and hence have gained a practical maturity level towards the journey of excellence. Moreover choosing one gold and one award winner also provided a comparison and in-depth understanding for factors among these award categories as their experience level for the excellence framework implementation is different.

iii- Senior management willing to Support the Research by Providing Interviews and Other Relevant Data

Permission of the case study organisation to access and conduct the research was critical to carry out the research study successfully. The Dubai Quality Award Secretariat also played a role in convincing case study organisations for this academic research which made accessibility easier for the present researcher. To obtain permission from the DQA gold and

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award winner organisations, the following steps were taken:

iii a- Contacting DQA Gold Winners

The researcher obtained telephone numbers of quality and business excellence departments of the DQA gold winning organisations from the DQA secretariat. Then an initial contact was made to all eleven DQA gold winners by telephone. Based on the telephonic conversation, the researcher short listed three winners according to the willingness of participation shown. Formal email was then sent to the short listed organisations requesting a meeting. On agreement with one DQA Gold winner, first meeting was convened with the business excellence department explaining about research aims and sharing research information sheet, informed consent form, ethical consideration and intention for interviews. The final meeting was then carried out with the senior management to explain the aims and objectives of the research. Finally, the senior management of the CSO / B agreed to support the research and asked for signing the NDA. The researcher signed the NDA accordingly.

iii b- Contacting DQA Winners

The researcher obtained telephone number of the quality and business excellence departments of the DQA winner from the DQA secretariat. Then an initial contact was made to all 33 DQA winners by telephone; five of them were not reachable but the initial response was received from the remainder 28 award winners. Based on the telephonic conversation, the researcher short listed sixteen organisations according to the willingness of participation shown. Formal email was then sent to the short listed organisations requesting a meeting. Four of the organisation’s business excellence departments responded accepting the meeting request. The researcher then had a first meeting with the four organisations explaining about the research aims and sharing research information sheet, informed consent form, ethical consideration and intention for interviews. While three organisations refused to participate in

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the research; one organisation i.e. CSO / A accepted to support the research. On request of the quality department of the CSO / A, a final meeting was convened with the senior management to seek their support for this research and thus the agreement was obtained.

4.4.4.2 Justification for not selecting DQA Appreciation Category and Non-Winners

DQA appreciation category and non-winners were excluded due to following reasons:

1. DQA Appreciation category is for entry level organisations as they have only one year experience of applying excellence model practices. Therefore, they are usually at the initial stages of implementing excellence model requirements.

2. Rationale for not considering non-winners for this research was due to the fact that unsuccessful organisations might have various other strategic and/or operational issues and factors which might affect their focus on the study.

3. Another reason for not including non-winner was that the research findings and recommendations may not be acceptable to the DQA winner organisation considering that they are already winners, so these recommendations are not applicable to them.

4. Because of large number of unsuccessful organisations as compared to the successful organisations, sampling might not be appropriate to select non-winner organisations.

4.4.5 Case Study Comparison Criteria and Organisation to be focused for this