Ecuadorian Model of Excellence

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In his blog "A View from the Q", Paul Borawski, invites us to think about Global Quality Programs and its application around the world.  He asked the following questions:

Do you live in a country with a National Quality Program? It is used to create models for others to emulate? Does the national program to grow in visibility and perceived value and building national capacity for excellence?

I will answer those questions, starting with the most important statement: More important than an Award of Excellence, is to have a Model of Excellence.

The Models of Excellence are references to position an organization as World Class.

It is important to distinguish in the field of Quality between an ISO 9001, which contains the MINIMUM requirements to say that you have a Quality Management System. In the other hand a Model of Excellence contains best management practices recognized worldwide.

The ISO 9001 standard is therefore under a certification structure, but the application of a model of excellence, by concept is not certifiable.

Based on different Models of Excellence almost every country worldwide have established Awards or Recognitions to organizations that demonstrate meaningful application of these best management practices. . As we can see in blogs of Influential Voices of Quality there are many initiatives in the world.

In Ecuador it has been adopted Malcolm Baldrige Model (USA), which based on principles of excellence, then develops into seven criteria, the results representing 450 points, while generating results (drivers) represent 550 points.

The organization in charge of Ecuadorian National Quality Award is the CorporaciónEcuatoriana de la Calidad Total, which currently delivers the National Quality Award for large and medium enterprises and the prize "FIRST STEPS" for SMEs that start in the way of quality. This work involves private companies and public entities from all the sectors including health facilities and education.

One of the key elements are the Self-Assessment tools, that enables organizations to implement plans to improve the management and that result in improvements in business performance in general and better satisfaction of the stakeholders and better financial performance. I think this is the strength of these models.

In Ecuador it is noteworthy that all companies that have applied to compete for Ecuadorian Quality Award have taken first steps through ISO 9001 certification, and in order to continue its path of improvement, they select Excellence Models as alternative.

Ecuador are not going at the speed I would like, but the concepts of Quality Management Systems and Models of Excellence increasingly become more visible and support the improvement of the whole society.