Refinement of the conceptual model

• Directors and Senior Manager in the area of quality / BE, selected from organisations that have won a national Quality or BE Award: coded as Interviewee A1 – A3;

• Chief Executive Officer and Executive from national custodians of Quality / BE award: coded as Interviewee B1-B2; and

• Consultants specialising in quality management and BE: coded as Interviewee C1-C2.

The interface of the refined conceptual model is shown in Figure 7.2, which represent the key steps involved in selecting organisational improvement initiatives. Full version of the refined conceptual model is shown in Appendix 5, Supplement 2 (page A5.8 – A5.16). The full model consists of five appendices which are linked to the interface of the refined conceptual:

Appendix A: Brief description of the areas for improvement (page A5.9). This appendix is quite similar to the information given in Table 2.3.

Appendix B: Examples of the main improvement initiatives according to the areas of implementation and levels of BE maturity (page A5.10). This appendix is identical to the lower part of the initial conceptual model (see Figure 7.1).

Appendix C: Brief description of the 53 main improvement initiatives widely used by the organisations (page A5.11 – A5.13).

Appendix D: Descriptions of the BE maturity levels (page A5.14 – A5.16). This appendix is mainly based on information provided in Table 7.1.

Purpose of the organisation Vision, mission and values Strategic planning Main products / services Stakeholders

Organisation’s core competencies

Major facilities, technologies and equipment

Organisational culture Workforce profile

Type and size of the organisation Level of business excellence maturity

Understand organi sational profile

Leadership and social responsibilities Strategy and policy

Customers Processes

Workforce

Partnerships and resources

Brief descriptions of the areas for improvement are shown in Appendix A.

Identify area for improvement

Examples of the main business improvement initiatives that can be

used are shown in Appendix B. Identify initiatives that

can be used

Fundamental purpose, strengths and w eaknesses Benefits / payoff

Costs, time and resources needed

Ability to fit in w ith, complement, or support other initiatives

Brief descriptions of the main initiatives widely used by the organisations are shown in Appendix C.

Research and understand the initiatives

Determine criteria / factors to be considered (e.g. expected values / benefits of using the initiative; suit w ith the direction, strategic plan and goals of the organisation; capability of the w orkforce to make improvement happen; top management commitment and support)

Weighting the criteria

Rating and ranking the initiatives Interpretation and analysis

Filtration / selection process

Rejected Initiatives

Selected Initiative(s) Should have mechanism to

diagnose the problem and /or situation

The interface of the refined conceptual focuses on the steps to select suitable improvement initiatives as follows:

Diagnose problem

Understand organisational profile

Identify area for improvement (Link to Appendix A) Identify initiatives that can be used (Link to Appendix B) Research and understand the initiative (Link to Appendix C) Filtration / selection process

As shown in Figure 7.2, the problems should be diagnosed, the organisational profile should be understood and the area for improvement should be identified prior to identifying, understanding and selecting the appropriate initiative for the situation. The following sub-sections explain the proposed steps involved in selecting organisational improvement initiatives.

7.4.1 Diagnose problem

The organisation should have mechanism to diagnose the problem and/or situation. An example of tool that can be used to diagnose the situation is self-assessment based on established BE Model such as, Baldrige CPE and EFQM Excellence Model (All interviewees).

7.4.2 Understand organisational profile

The elements of the organisational profile that should be understood are as follows: Purpose of the organisation (Interviewee A2 and C1)

Vision, mission and values (Interviewee B2 and C2) (NIST, 2008) Strategic planning (Interviewee A2 and C1) (NIST, 2008)

Main products / services (NIST, 2008) Stakeholders (NIST, 2008)

Organisation’s core competencies (NIST, 2008)

Major facilities, technologies and equipment (NIST, 2008) Organisational culture (Interviewee C1, A1 and A2) Workforce profile (NIST, 2008)

Type and size of the organisation (Interviewee A2)(NIST, 2008) Level of BE maturity (Interviewee B1 and C1)

7.4.3 Identify area for improvement

From the self-assessment, strengths and opportunities for improvement can be identified (All interviewees). Get a team to agree on what the improvement areas are and what they want to focus on (Interviewee A1, B2, and C1). Areas for improvement can generally be segregated as follows: leadership and social responsibilities; strategy and policy; customers; processes; workforce; and, partnerships and resources (see Table 2.3).

7.4.4 Identify initiatives that can be used

Examples of the main improvement initiatives that can be used by the organisations are provided at the lower part of the initial conceptual model (see Figure 7.1). In the full version of the refined conceptual model, the examples of the main initiatives are shown in Appendix B, page A5.10.

7.4.5 Research and understand the initiative

The elements of improvement initiatives that should be understood are listed below: Fundamental purpose, strengths and weaknesses of the improvement initiatives (Interviewee B1) (Dale, 2007; Rigby & Bilodeau, 2005)

Expected benefits to an organisation that successfully implements the initiatives (Interviewee C1) (Dale, 2007; Thawesaengskulthai & Tannock, 2008b)

Expected costs, time and resources needed to introduce and implement the initiatives successfully (Interviewee B1 and A3) (Dale, 2007)

7.4.6 Filtration / selection process

The filtration / selection process involves:

Determine criteria / factors to be considered in the selection process (Thawesaengskulthai, 2007; Thawesaengskulthai & Tannock, 2008a). Examples of the factors are summarised in Section 5.4.4.

Weighting the criteria (Thawesaengskulthai, 2007; Thawesaengskulthai & Tannock, 2008a).

Rating and ranking the initiatives (Thawesaengskulthai, 2007; Thawesaengskulthai & Tannock, 2008a).

Interpretation and analysis (Thawesaengskulthai, 2007; Thawesaengskulthai & Tannock, 2008a).

The expected output from this selection process should be the improvement initiative(s) that will fit within the organisation. Other initiatives will be rejected.

7.5 Evaluation of the refined conceptual model and suggestions for