Frequently Asked Questions
What are the Baldrige criteria?
The Baldrige performance excellence criteria are a framework that any organisation can use to improve overall performance.
Seven categories make up the award criteria:
- Leadership: The leaders are the people in your business that are responsible for guiding and managing the business. This section asks you to describe how the leaders set business direction, performance expectations, behaviours and how they monitor the performance of the business. It also asks you to describe how the business ensures compliance with legal and regulatory requirements, public responsibility and how ethical behaviour is encouraged.
- Strategy and Planning: Strategy and Planning is the process by which the future direction of the business is determined i.e. strategy. Planning involves determining the actions, responsibilities and resources that will ensure the business achieves its short - and long - term strategies. In this section you are asked to describe how you establish strategy and plans, communicate these and monitor your performance to plan.
- Customer and market: Customer and market focus asks you to describe how you determine the market requirements and expectations, determine the requirements and expectations of your customers, acquire new customers, build relationships with your customers, monitor customer perception of your success and develop future opportunities.
- Information and Analysis: Information and analysis of this information is the foundation of a performance-oriented business. It means having a fact based measurement system with the use of information and data (knowledge) to support key business activities, to make decisions based on fact, as well as analyse the performance of the business. In this section you are asked to define the key information and data used by the business, how this is analysed and made available to others both inside and outside the business.
- Workforce: Excellent businesses encourage their people to develop and use their full potential while contributing to the achievement of the business' short and long term goals. In this section you are asked to describe how the work and jobs are organised, how training and education provides the skills and knowledge required and how the employee work environment is measured and improved to ensure satisfied committed employees.
- Processes: Processes are the way things are done to carry out the business. Key Processes are those processes that "touch" the customer and may include the design, development, manufacture and delivery of products and/or services to customers or suppliers.
- Results: The results are the outputs from the business activities. In this section you are asked to describe the business' performance and improvement in five key areas – products and services, customer, financial and market, workforce and business effectiveness. You are asked to provide the actual results and where possible the trends (performance over time).
The Awards Entry for Manukau is time consuming, is it worth it?
Yes. Past winners agree the entry is well worth the effort. It enforces investing in quality principles and performance excellence pays off in increased productivity, satisfied employees and customers, and improved profitability—both for customers and investors.
Is it tougher for small organisations to receive an award?
The small business recipients have proven that any organisation can improve by using the criteria’s performance excellence framework. Given the importance of smaller businesses to the New Zealand economy, Westpac Manukau Business Excellence Awards have found that using the Baldrige criteria as a basis for the Awards has actually strengthened the awareness of the awards programme among these local businesses and benefits gained are cited in their testimonials.
Can only Manukau businesses enter these awards?
Yes. Only businesses with their premises located within the Manukau boundaries are eligible to enter these Awards.
Do the award criteria take into account an organisation’s financial performance?
Yes. The criteria include many factors that contribute to financial performance, including business decisions and strategies that lead to better market performance, gains in market share, and customer retention and satisfaction. Organisations are urged to use financial information, including profit trends, in analyzing and reporting on improved overall performance and to look for the connection between the two.
May an organisation hire a consultant to help prepare answers for the Westpac Manukau Business Excellence Award Entry application?
Applicants for the award are asked to supply facts and data to substantiate their claims concerning their management practices. You may provide the facts to a hired consultant to assist you to complete your award entry application. An organisation must show through facts and data that it has an excellent management system in place and that it is continually looking for ways to improve (for details or consultants/writers available, contact Enterprising Manukau).