OK Quality

  1. What is the Oklahoma Quality Award?
  2. Why was the award established? 
  3. What are the Oklahoma Quality Award criteria? 
  4. Which companies/organizations have won the Oklahoma Quality Award?  
  5. When were the education and health care criteria established?
  6. How are recipients selected?
  7. Does quality pay?
  8. Do the award criteria take into account an organization's financial performance?
  9. Does the award amount to a product or service endorsement for the winners?
  10. Why are the Oklahoma Quality Award winners asked to share their successful strategies?
  11. To what extent are they asked to share their strategies?
  12. Do advertising and publicity diminish the image and prestige of the award?
  13. Are organizations and companies simply chasing after the award and ignoring the lessons of performance improvement?
  14. Why are organizations charged a fee to apply?
  15. May an organization hire a consultant to help prepare answers for the Oklahoma Quality Award application?
  16. Is it a conflict of interest for members of the Board of Examiners to work as consultants?
  17. How does the Oklahoma Quality Award differ from ISO 9000?




File can also be downloaded in Word format. faq.doc


1. What is the Oklahoma Quality Award? 

Oklahoma businesses along with the Oklahoma Department of Commerce established the award program in 1993 to recognize Oklahoma organizations for their achievements in quality and business performance and to raise awareness about the importance of performance excellence as a competitive edge. The award is not given for specific products or services. Awards may be given annually at each of three levels: Commitment, Achievement, and Excellence. Manufacturing, service, health care, education and government organizations are eligible for the awards.

The Oklahoma Quality Award Program is built around the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award process and tailored for Oklahoma. The Baldrige recipients are the very visible centerpieces of the U.S. quality movement, a broader national quality program has evolved around the award and its criteria. A report, Building on Baldrige: American Quality for the 21st Century, by the private Council on Competitiveness, said, "More than any other program, the Baldrige National Quality Award is responsible for making quality a national priority and disseminating best practices across the United States." 

The Oklahoma Quality Award Foundation, Inc. (OQAF), a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, manages the Oklahoma Quality Award program.
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2. Why was the award established? 

In the early and mid-1980s, many industry and government leaders saw that a renewed emphasis on quality was no longer an option for American companies but a necessity for doing business in an ever expanding, and more demanding, competitive world market. But many American businesses either did not believe quality mattered for them or did not know where to begin. The Baldrige Award along with the Oklahoma Quality Award was envisioned as a standard of excellence that would help U.S. and Oklahoma organizations achieve world-class quality.
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3. What are the Oklahoma Quality Award criteria? 

The Oklahoma Quality Award performance excellence criteria are a framework that any organization can use to improve overall performance. Seven categories make up the award criteria:

Leadership — Examines how senior executives guide and sustain the organization and how the organization addresses its ethical, legal and community responsibilities. Also examines the organization's governance.

Strategic planning — Examines how the organization sets strategic directions and how it determines key action plans.

Customer and Market focus — Examines how the organization determines requirements, needs and expectations of customers and markets; builds relationships with customers; and acquires, satisfies, and retains customers.

Measurement, Analysis and Knowledge Management — Examines the management, effective use, and analysis and improvement of data and information to support key organization processes and the organization's performance management system.

Workforce Focus — Examines how the organization enables its workforce to develop its full potential and how the workforce is aligned with the organization's objectives.

Process Management — Examines aspects of how key production/delivery and support processes are designed, managed, and improved.

Results — Examines the organization's performance and improvement in its key business areas: customer satisfaction, financial and marketplace performance, human resources, supplier and partner performance, operational performance, and governance and social responsibility. The category also examines how the organization performs relative to competitors.

The criteria are used by organizations of all kinds for self-assessment and training and as a tool to develop performance and business processes. For many organizations, using the criteria results in better employee relations, higher productivity, greater customer satisfaction, increased market share, and improved profitability.
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4. Which companies/organizations have won the Oklahoma Quality Award?

2007 - Moore Norman Technology Center; Leader Communications Inc.; Unity Health Center; Valley View Regional Hospital.

2006 - MESA Products, Inc.; Healthfirst Physician Management Services, Inc.; Metro Technology Centers; Tri County Technology Center.

2005 - Healthfirst Physician Management Services, Inc.; Inverness Village; Nautilus-Tulsa Manufacturing; Oklahoma City Public Schools; Oklahoma Center for Nonprofits; Tulsa Public Schools, and; University of Central Oklahoma.

2004 - Boeing Aerospace Support Oklahoma City ; Bone and Joint Hospital ; St. Anthony Hospital ; Bank of Oklahoma , Operations and Technology Division; Monte Cassino School ; and, Precision Machining and Manufacturing.

2003 – Bank of Oklahoma, Operations and Technology Division; Blitz USA; and, Boeing Aerospace Support Oklahoma City.

2002 - NORDAM Transparency Division, Connors State College, Emergency Medical Services Authority, Rep. Jerry W. Hefner, Rep. Randall Lee Irwin, Jerry Massegee.

2001 - WIX Filtration Products Division, Dana Corporation; NORDAM Transparency Division, The NORDAM Group; Altus Public Schools; Integris Baptist and Southwest Medical Centers; Metro Technology Centers; Sprint PCS-Education and Development Department; Temple-Inland Company.

2000 – NORDAM Repair Division; Wix Filtration Products, Dana Corporation; Honeywell Lori, Inc; Enviro Systems, Inc.; Gemini Coatings, Inc.; Integris Bass Baptist Health Center; Oklahoma Housing and Finance Agency; ZENEX Communications, Inc.

1999 – Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, Oklahoma City Branch; Northrop Grumman Technical Services Inc.; Business and Industry Services Division, Moore Norman Technology Center; Wix Filtration Products, Dana Corporation; 507 Air Refueling Wing, Tinker AFB; Hilti, Inc.; City of Edmond; Central and South West Services; EATON Corporation, OKC Clutch Plant; Fletcher Gypsum; Francis Tuttle; Greater OKC Chamber of Commerce; Hollytex Carpet Mills, Inc.; Naboholz Construction Corporation; Pace/Butler Corporation

1998 – St. Anthony Hospital and the Lindberg Heat Treating Company

1997 – Baker Oil Tools, Stillwater Medical Center, Cargill Inc., Salt Division, and Johnson Controls, Inc.

1996 – Bone and Joint Hospital and the Eaton Corporation

1995 – Baxter Healthcare Corporation

1994 – AT&T, Armstrong World Industries, Inc., The Bama Companies and ZEBCO Corporation.
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5. When were the education and health care criteria established?

In 1999, the Baldrige National Quality Program (BNQP) established criteria for education and health care applicants. As a result, the Oklahoma Quality Award Foundation allows education and health care applicants the option to use either the Malcolm Baldrige Education or Criteria for Performance Excellence or the Malcolm Baldrige Health Care Criteria for Performance Excellence to complete their application. Any for-profit or not-for-for profit public or private organization that provides educational or health care services in Oklahoma is eligible to apply for the award.

If education or health care applicants use these Baldrige criteria, they must show achievements and improvements in seven areas: leadership; strategic planning; customer and market focus (for education: student, stakeholder, and market focus; for health care: focus on patients, other customers, and markets); measurement, analysis, and knowledge management; human resource focus ( for education: faculty and staff focus; for health care: staff focus); process management; and business results (for both education and health care: organizational performance results).
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6. How are recipients selected?

Applications for the award are evaluated by an independent Board of Examiners composed of primarily private-sector experts in quality and business. Examiners look for achievements and improvements in all seven categories.Organizations that pass an initial screening are visited by teams of examiners to verify information in the application and to clarify questions that come up during the review. Each applicant receives a written summary of strengths and opportunities for improvement in each area addressed by the criteria.
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7. Does quality pay?

While quality management cannot guarantee success, the Oklahoma Quality Award and the Malcolm Baldrige winning companies believe that investing in performance excellence can lead to outstanding returns. Studies by the National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST), universities, business organizations, and the U.S. General Accounting Office have found that investing in performance improvement strategies pays off in increased productivity, satisfied employees and customers, and improved profitability - both for customers and investors.
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8. Do the award criteria take into account an organization's financial performance?

Yes. The criteria include many factors that contribute to financial performance, including decisions and strategies that lead to better market performance, gains in market share, and customer retention and satisfaction.Organizations 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.
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9. Does the award amount to a product or service endorsement for the winners?

No. The award is given because an organization has shown it has an outstanding system for managing its products, services, human resources, and customer relationships.As part of the evaluation, an organization is asked to describe its system for assuring the quality of its goods and services. It also must supply information on performance improvements and customer satisfaction efforts and results. That does not mean that a winner's products or services are endorsed.
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10. Why are the Oklahoma Quality Award winners asked to share their successful strategies?

One of the main purposes of the award is to pass on information about the winners' performance improvement programs that other businesses and organizations can tailor for their own needs. Representatives from the winning organizations have willingly shared their performance strategies and methods with other firms.
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11. To what extent are they asked to share their strategies?

The managers of each winning organization must decide how much time and effort to devote to activities such as speaking engagements and tours of facilities. The requirements of the award program are minimal. Winners are asked to participate in the Foundation’s presentations and co-sponsored conferences, to provide basic materials to those who request it on their organization's performance strategies and methods, and to answer news media inquiries.
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12. Do advertising and publicity diminish the image and prestige of the award?

The Foundation policies establishing the award states that a winner may publicize its receipt of such award and use the award in its advertising. Promoting public and business awareness of performance improvement is one of the prime goals of the Foundation, and advertising is one way to meet this goal. Guidelines help organizations assure their advertising is appropriate in representing their Oklahoma Quality Award recognition.
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13. Are organizations and companies simply chasing after the award and ignoring the lessons of performance improvement?

The perception by some that winning the award is the goal of Oklahoma companies and organizations is not supported by the facts. The Oklahoma Quality Award winners didn't apply the concepts of performance excellence to win an award. They did it to win customers. They did it to grow. They did it to prosper and to remain competitive in a world marketplace. Many organizations are using the Oklahoma Quality Award performance excellence criteria to assess themselves and to improve. The award program has helped to stimulate an amazing movement to improve Oklahoma businesses and organizations.
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14. Why are organizations charged a fee to apply?

The application fees are charged to cover expenses associated with distribution and review of applications and development of feedback reports. The application and review process are considered widely to be a very cost-effective and comprehensive. For an application fee of $2,750 for large organizations, $2,250 for medium sized organizations and $1750 for small firms; organizations receive at least 300 hours of review by a minimum of four business and quality experts. Site-visited organizations receive over 600 hours of in-depth review. Every applicant receives an extensive feedback report highlighting strengths and areas to improve.
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15. May an organization hire a consultant to help prepare answers for the Oklahoma Quality Award application?

Applicants for the award are asked to supply facts and data to substantiate their claims concerning their management practices. Consultants, including members of the Board of Examiners, may provide services on performance management issues as well as the Oklahoma Quality award process. However, since there are no secret answers or even right or wrong answers to the award application, the award cannot be won by hiring someone to fill in the blanks. An organization must show through facts and data that it has a world-class management system in place and that it is continually looking for ways to improve.

As a final check before recommending winners, members of the Board of Examiners visit the candidates for the award. During these site visits, examiners interview employees and review pertinent records and data. The objective is to verify the information provided in the application and to answer questions raised during the board's review. An organization that hired someone to fill out its application would never make it through this rigorous review if its performance management system were not supported by facts and data.
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16. Is it a conflict of interest for members of the Board of Examiners to work as consultants?

No. Members of the Board of Examiners are experts in evaluating performance management systems. They are in demand as speakers, as information resources, and as consultants. These activities serve as a way to make more people aware of performance improvement techniques and the Oklahoma Quality Award. 

However, since the examiners and judges on the board review applications for the award and are involved in recommending award recipients, precautions are taken to prevent a conflict of interest or even the appearance of conflict. Rigorous rules are followed at every stage of the review. 

Primarily, this means all members of the board must abide by a code of ethics requiring, among other things, that they disclose all business affiliations that might create a conflict. In such cases, they cannot review an application, comment on it, or make any judgments that could affect it. It is a violation of the code for board members even to ask for information on applications other than those to which they are assigned.Other safeguards and checks also are built into the three-step review process. For example, during the first step, each application is evaluated independently by at least five different examiners. By the time the review is over, some applicants will have gone through over 1,000 hours of evaluation.
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17. How does the Oklahoma Quality Award differ from ISO 9000?

The purpose, content, and focus of the Oklahoma Quality Award and ISO 9000 are very different. The Oklahoma Quality Award was created to enhance the competitiveness of Oklahoma businesses and organizations. The award program promotes performance excellence, recognizes achievements of Oklahoma companies and organizations, and provides a vehicle for sharing successful strategies. The Oklahoma Quality Award criteria focus on results and continuous improvement.They provide a framework for designing, implementing, and assessing a process for managing all of the organization's operations.

ISO 9000 is a series of five international standards published in 1987 by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), Geneva, Switzerland. Companies can use the standards to help determine what is needed to maintain an efficient quality conformance system.For example, the standards describe the need for an effective quality system, for ensuring that measuring and testing equipment is calibrated regularly and for maintaining an adequate record-keeping system. ISO 9000 registration determines whether an organization complies with its own quality system.Overall, ISO 9000 registration covers less than 10 percent of the Oklahoma Quality Award criteria.
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For more information about the award and the Foundation contact: Mike Strong at 405-815-5295
Fax (405) 815-5202
e-mail Mike.Strong@OklahomaQuality.com

or write to:
Oklahoma Quality Award Foundation
P.O. Box 26980
Oklahoma City , OK
73126-0980.

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