Editorial
From Our Perspective
From the
newsroom…
JR: It sure
was a great experience to work on the July issue of
News for a Change. I’m looking forward to
presenting the second installment of our panel interviews
this month. We’ll be sharing the
panelists’ perspectives on how we need to
prepare for future role changes and organizational
challenges. I’m sure all of the readers have
experienced these problems to some
degree.
DH: Yes, most
organizations in the United States are redefining the way
they address quality and people management. Hopefully,
the insights from the panel will help AQP members be
ready for these changes.
JR: I’m
sure they will. Plus, our focus on the Baldrige criteria
in this issue should prove useful for readers whose
organizations are experiencing turmoil and
change.
DH: In what
way?
JR: In times
of change, it’s often difficult to keep track of
where we’ve been and where we’re
going.
DH:
That’s true. Sometimes all we can sense is the
turmoil around us. When we look back after the change,
we’re not always sure what we’ve
accomplished.
JR: Well,
Baldrige gives us a framework for comparison. We can
assess our performance levels before we launch the change
effort. When we’ve implemented the changes, we can
evaluate our new performance
levels.
DH: That sure
takes the guesswork out of things, doesn’t
it?
JR: It sure
does! We end up with a clear picture of our progress, and
we know where we need to do some more work. But, the
Baldrige can help us do much more than monitor our
progress.
DH: It
can?
JR: Yes, we
can use the Baldrige criteria to determine exactly what
changes we need to undertake.
DH: How can we
do that?
JR: When we
conduct our initial assessment, we can identify which key
organizational requirements aren’t being met. We
can consider the needs of all our stakeholders, including
customers, employees, management, community/government,
suppliers/partners, and stockholders. Then we can set
improvement priorities based on the most significant gaps
or the greatest opportunities.
DH: That gives
us a way to plan change based on facts and data, rather
than just reacting to events happening around
us.
JR: It does,
and that’s News for a
Change.
Quote for the
Month:
“As we enter the 21st century, the rapidly
exploding global marketplace creates enormously different
customer, product, service, organizational, human, and
managerial demands that are redefining
quality.”
—Armand V. and Donald S. Feigenbaum,
1999
Return to
top
August 2002 News for a
Change Homepage
