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News Bites
Information of interest from other publications
related to quality, participation, change, and
leadership
Fourth Quarter ACSI Results Decline
Slightly
The overall American Customer
Satisfaction Index (ACSI) declined slightly in the
fourth quarter of 2002, to 72.9 on a 100-point scale
from 73.1 in the third quarter.
The fourth quarter survey specifically measured
satisfaction with the quality of products and
services in the e-commerce, retail, and finance
sectors.
Satisfaction with e-commerce saw a significant
increase of 6.4% to 78. All companies measured in
that category—retail, auction/reverse auction,
and brokerages—saw improvement. Travel sites
were measured for the first time and had scores in
the high 70s and low 80s.
Retail satisfaction held fairly steady with a
small decline of 0.3% to 75. The financial sector
score declined 2.8% overall to a score of
74.
Excerpted with permission from Quality
Progress, Vol. 36, No. 4, April
2003.
New Baldrige Resources Available
Several new resources are now available at the
Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Program Web site at
www.quality.nist.gov, as described below:
- The 2003 Handbook for the Board of
Examiners summarizes basic information about
the award and about the processes used in
evaluating applicants. Its intent is to help ensure
fair and thorough evaluations of applicants and to
guide examiners in fulfilling their
responsibilities. Although designed specifically
for the MBNA Board of Examiners, many organizations
find the handbook helpful for preparing internal
assessors.
- Getting Started has been updated and
describes a 10-step process for self-assessment for
any organization using the Baldrige Criteria for
Performance Excellence. It also provides reasons
for considering a self-assessment and determining
if your organization is ready. Further resources
for self-assessment and action are
included.
- BALDRIGE: Business/Education Partnerships
are Working Well provides insight into how
organizations can create win-win relationships
through business-education partnerships. Within the
Baldrige community, businesses and education
organizations view each other as key suppliers and
partners. In this CEO Issue Sheet, four Baldrige
Award recipients—Solectron Corporation,
Granite Rock, University of Wisconsin-Stout, and
Solar Turbines—explain how they have
developed partnerships with local school systems
and businesses that benefit both the community and
the organization by training educators in the
Baldrige criteria; preparing students with
practical work experience; keeping the curriculum
relevant to current job and organizational needs;
and providing college scholarships, job shadowing
opportunities, and support for K-8
education.
ASTD Announces Excellence in Practice
Award
During its upcoming International
Conference and Exposition in San Diego, the American
Society for Training and Development (ASTD) will
present five Excellence in Practice Awards for
outstanding workplace learning and performance
programs to the following organizations:
- Delta Airlines Inc., Atlanta, GA, for its
career development course, “Learning Designer
and Learning Facilitator Development and Evaluation
Track,” developed in conjunction with Lead
America Consulting & Training, Rosewell, GA,
and the University of Georgia, Athens,
GA.
- Hewlett-Packard Company/HP Services, Littleton,
MA, for its workplace learning and development
course, “Managing Success Management
Development Program.”
- Hewlett-Packard Company/HP Services, Novi, MI,
for its career development course,
“Management Career Development in a Global
Environment,” developed in association with
ESI International, Arlington, VA.
- Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc., Torrance, CA,
for its workplace learning and development course,
“Toyota Quality Financial Management—A
Customer-Driven Professional Development
Continuum.”
- Verizon Communications, Inc., New York, NY, for
its electronic learning technologies course,
“Forging an Enterprise-Wide E-Learning
Strategy.”
Additionally, 50 citations will be given to 31
organizations from nine countries for programs in
these categories: career development, electronic
learning technologies, managing change,
organizational learning, performance, improvement,
technical training, training management, valuing
differences, and workplace learning and
development.
For more information on ASTD’s Excellence in
Practice program, see ASTD’s Web site at
www.astd.org/virtual_community/awards
.
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