Matthew W. Ford

Baldrige Assessment and Organizational Learning: The Need for Change Management

Self-assessment using the Malcolm Baldrige Award Criteria for Performance Excellence (CPE) has become a widespread practice among all types of organizations. Empirical evidence suggests that Baldrige Award-based assessment typically results in improvements to managerial processes. Although the notion of process change is embedded within the CPE framework, the criteria do not explicitly address how an organization manages such change. In this article, the linkage between the criteria and change management is described. It is suggested that an effective process change management model can be derived from the framework of the criteria for performance excellence. Using concepts from the literatures on organizational change, assessment, and learning, a model for managing change in the context of the criteria is generated. The change process model parallels the model of strategic change that has been historically well specified by the CPE and refines the criteria notion of learning. These two models are linked by the exchange of information between the organizational performance review item and diagnostic self-assessment activities. Suggestions on how the organizational performance review item in the criteria can be expanded to incorporate change management as an explicit area to address are made.

Conceptual Foundations of Strategic Planning in the Malcolm Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence

Although the Malcolm Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence (CPE) have played a significant role in the practice of quality management, researchers have been slow to embrace the CPE framework. By viewing the CPE as an integrative model of organizational effectiveness that encompasses a number of cross-functional disciplines, one is led to speculate that a large body of literature relevant to the CPE framework exists. Indirectly, through their functional research, scholars from a variety of disciplines have been investigating the theoretical issues that embody the CPE. This article compares the strategic planning category of the CPE against the scholarly literature. The planning framework embedded in the CPE aligns considerably with the conceptual literature on strategic planning. These findings suggest some validity for the CPE framework, which demonstrates the translation of research into managerial practice and might inspire further research.

The Relationship between Management Control System Usage and Planned Change Achievement: An Exploratory Study

Abstract Although the relevance of management control systems to successful change achievement has been conceptually acknowledged, empirical matters such as measuring the contribution of control systems to effective change implementation lack practical investigation. Using data obtained from managers in 22 organizations, we explore the extent to which managers believe their management control systems are employed when implementing planned change. Relationships between commonly employed management controls and implementation success are also estimated. Results indicated that managers used management control systems less extensively than other elements of change process, although usage of control systems increased with implementation. A strong relationship was found between the use of control systems based on outcomes monitoring and implementation success. However, there was no significant relationship between the use of behavior-based controls and implementation success. Overall, the findings suggest that many organizations may underutilize formal controls, particularly those related to outcomes monitoring, when managing change.

Profiling Change An Empirical Study of Change Process Patterns

Profile analysis is proposed as a means for advancing empirical change process research. In the context of organizational studies, a profile can be viewed as a set of sequentially arranged factors that expresses the relative strength of individual factors and holistic patterns inside or between organizational entities. To demonstrate the utility of the approach in change process research, profile analysis was employed in a cross-sectional study. Hypotheses related to Lewin’s three-step model of change were tested using data obtained from managers involved in change implementation. Results confirmed a progression through Lewin’s unfreezing-movement-refreezing sequence during implementation. Profiles that reflected higher systematic use of change process factors were also found related to implementation success. Many future research opportunities are apparent, such as investigating interorganizational change profile types and using profile analysis to enhance longitudinal research designs.

The role of follow‐up in achieving results from self‐assessment processes

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to investigate follow‐up as a salient factor in achieving results from organizational self‐assessment.Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected from 14 organizations involved in self‐assessment. Qualitative methods were used to analyze the follow‐up patterns in high and low achievers to discern key factors of follow‐up and their relationship to self‐assessment outcomes.Findings – The paper finds that high achievers appeared to engage in a consistent set of follow‐up activities. These activities included top management team dialogue that set the tone for follow‐up, a planning process that generated a large, documented action plan, and incentive and monitoring‐based implementation controls using existing structure.Research limitations/implications – Small sample size limits the generalizability of the findings. Larger empirical studies could evaluate the strength of the relationships between the factors of follow‐up and outcomes. Future research should also investi...

Gender Differences in Student Financial Market Attitudes and Awareness: An Exploratory Study

Female college students are generally thought to possess lower levels of financial market knowledge than their male counterparts. However, previous studies have lacked conceptual and methodological focus on market-based dimensions of financial literacy. We hypothesize that male and female college students respond differently to perceptions of threat emanating from financial markets. Findings from an exploratory test suggested that female college students were more intimidated by, and less interested in, markets compared with their male counterparts. Women also possessed lower levels of financial market awareness. These findings persisted after controlling for numerous demographic factors, suggesting a latent factor that may uniquely account for a significant amount of affective and cognitive diversity.

Value-Driven Quality

The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA) criteria represent a fundamental set of key business processes that should form the management system for any quality-minded organization. The criteria are based on 11 core values and concepts that cha..

Making rational use of ‘irrationality’? Exploring the role of need for cognitive closure in nascent entrepreneurial activity

A fundamental question of interest to both researchers and practitioners alike focuses on why some individuals discover and elect to exploit opportunities to create future goods and services while others do not. Past studies have focused on the role knowledge-based resources play in the early stages of new venture creation, yet few have considered the role cognitive motivations play in impacting the processing and use of information during this process. In this study, we theorize that a cognitive need for closure (NfC), or possessing a desire for an answer on some topic as opposed to enduring confusion and ambiguity, is an important aspect of the entrepreneurial judgment formation process. We hypothesize that the need for closure will be positively related to nascent entrepreneurial activity because it provides a cognitive mechanism for dealing with the opened-ended nature of opportunity pursuit. Data drawn from the Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics (PSED) support this hypothesis. More specifically, results suggest that a high NfC is likely to foster the exploitation of discovered opportunity irrespective of their age, gender, position in the family birth order, or unique personal knowledge base. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.

Linking self‐assessment to the external environment

Self‐assessment is increasingly prevalent in many organizations. Although managers perceive self‐assessment as internally driven, the well‐known link between organizational activities and the external environment suggests that outside forces play a significant role. This investigation explores the external motivators of self‐assessment through a field study of 14 organizations. Five factors were found to link the conduct of self‐assessment to the external environment: availability of an externally developed or sponsored model, presence of a boundary spanning individual, affiliation with professional and trade associations, pressure from powerful external entities, and potential for external reward or recognition. These findings suggest that self‐assessment is driven significantly by forces external to the organization. How these external factors combine to form the context of self‐assessment may affect the outcomes of the project.

Beyond performance excellence: research insights from Baldrige recipient feedback

Collectively, the Malcolm Baldrige Award recipients, through a consortium in which many of them participate, have wrestled with the question of how to further improve and achieve higher levels of performance. Through a process of using qualitative text coding to extract, organise, summarise, and interpret vital information from the ‘opportunities for improvement’ provided to award recipients in Baldrige feedback reports, we have uncovered some significant insights about a sample of Baldrige recipients – insights we believe are fundamental to many contemporary organisations. In this article, we focus on understanding these key challenges and opportunities, and the lessons we can learn from them to help organisations accelerate the process of improving performance, no matter what their level of maturity.