What is Organizational Excellence?
Organizational Excellence reflects remarkable performance in all aspects of an organization's functioning, resulting in delivering maximum value to stakeholders.
- Clearly articulated, aspirational reason for being
- Inspires and provides a call to action
- Notes how it provides benefit to local and global society
- Clear and shared understanding of how the organization fulfills its purpose
- Focuses effort toward higher-level goals
- Is large-scale, high-level, and stable over time
- Clear commitment to providing value to stakeholders
- Degree to which stakeholders experience the value of the mission and purpose from the organization’s work
- People lead to foster excellence and development
- People leadership advances culture, team composition & cohesion, organizational citizenship behavior, engagement, and growth & development
- People lead others in service of the overall organizational identity and strategy
- People lead to advance excellence and desired business results
- Operational leadership focuses on structure & frameworks, processes, resources, technology & tools, and methods
- Leaders collaborate respectfully and openly across the organization
- Leaders work together for the collective betterment of the organization
- Inspirational, aspirational, forward-looking, and transformative vision for the future
- Serves as a guiding light, motivating all toward a shared future
- Transcends immediate challenges, aligns decision-making
- Serve to make meaningful progress toward the vision
- Defined throughout the organization
- Consider stakeholder needs, internal capabilities, external trends, and long-term sustainability
- Deliberate and systematic method of planning, decision-making, and execution is used to achieve long-term goals and objectives
- Shared practices that support strategic planning, organizational and resource alignment, decision making, and implementation
- Supports identifying and making progress toward strategic priorities
- Define key target measures related to areas of strategic focus
- Define, measure, and share quantitative and qualitative achievements, impacts, and benefits and achieved in strategic areas
- Shared values, norms, beliefs, attitudes, behaviors
- Healthy, adaptive culture allows people to make real progress toward interpersonal and organizational results
- Teams leverage diverse skills, knowledge, and abilities
- Teams communicate and navigate conflict effectively, and adapt to changing circumstances in pursuit of shared goals
- Inclusive practices, trust, collaboration, mutual respect and support build synergy
- People go beyond their formal job responsibilities to benefit the team and organization
- Helping behaviors such as self-development, individual initiative, team member support, organizational advocacy, loyalty, and informal leadership
- People show high levels of engagement, motivation, and commitment to their roles, job responsibilities, colleagues, and the organization
- Individuals work toward organizational goals, embrace feedback, pursue personal and professional development, and drive continuous improvement
- A clear, purposefully defined structure reduces administrative redundancies and inefficiencies
- Allows for efficient communication, collaboration, complex problem solving, adaptation, and decision-making
- Additional frameworks exist with well-defined structure, expectations, roles, responsibilities, and desired outcomes for managing and coordinating various aspects of operations
- Standard, optimized processes are designed and documented
- Processes are automated where possible, connected to related processes, stable, reviewed regularly for continuous improvement, and enable consistent outcomes
- Optimized allocation, utilization, and replenishment of various resources
- Resources (of all types, human and material) are strategically aligned and managed in support of organizational objectives
- Integrated, scalable, functional, safe, and secure technology and tools are available, and people are trained to use them
- Technology systems are optimized and seamlessly connect different functions, enhance data visibility and usability, and enable data-driven decision-making
- Innovative, need-driven, and evidence-based approaches are used
- Methods evolve with changing needs, using best practices and informed experimentation
Why is every aspect of the model important?
Influencing Frameworks
The Virginia Tech Organizational Excellence Model is based upon four widely acknowledged OE models, adjusted to allow for specificities of Higher Education and VT itself.
Organizational Effectiveness by Gallup
Focuses on creating an engaged workplace culture to drive performance and growth
The Gallup Organizational Effectiveness Model is designed to enhance overall organizational performance by focusing on key areas that drive success. This model emphasizes the importance of aligning organizational strategies with employee engagement and strengths to achieve optimal outcomes.
- Employee Engagement: Ensuring employees are committed and motivated.
- Strengths-Based Development: Leveraging individual strengths to improve performance.
- Leadership and Management: Effective leadership practices that inspire and guide teams.
- Performance Metrics: Using data and analytics to measure and improve performance.
- Organizational Culture: Creating a positive and inclusive work environment.
Importance for VT OE Model:
- Purpose at the center
- Strategy as enabler/translator of purpose into people, structures and processes
Excellence Model by EFQM
Defines the organization’s purpose and strategic direction to inspire and guide actions
The EFQM Model (European Foundation for Quality Management) is a globally recognized framework designed to help organizations manage change and improve performance. It provides a comprehensive approach to understanding and enhancing organizational behavior, thinking, and culture.
- Direction: Define the organization’s purpose, vision, and strategy to ensure alignment and focus on long-term goals.
- Execution: Implement strategies effectively by managing resources, processes, and people to achieve desired outcomes.
- Results: Measure and analyze performance to understand achievements and identify areas for improvement12.
The EFQM Model supports organizations in creating a culture of continuous improvement and sustainable success.
Importance for VT OE Model:
- Purpose, vision and strategy as starting point
- Separation of direction and execution
- Results as a metric of organizational excellence
Performance Excellence Framework by Malcolm Baldrige
Integrates all components of the organization to achieve high performance and continuous improvement
The Baldrige Performance Excellence is a framework designed to help organizations improve their performance and achieve sustainable success. It provides a comprehensive approach to organizational management, focusing on key areas that drive excellence.
- Leadership: Emphasizes the importance of visionary leadership that sets direction and creates a customer-focused, high-performance culture.
- Strategy: Focuses on strategic planning and the deployment of strategies to achieve long-term goals.
- Customers: Highlights the need to understand and meet customer needs and expectations to drive satisfaction and loyalty.
- Measurement, Analysis, and Knowledge Management: Stresses the importance of data-driven decision-making and effective use of information to support organizational performance.
Importance for VT OE Model:
- Focus on customers
- Strategy, People and Operations as central aspects
9Principles by Quint Studer
Emphasizes leadership commitment to creating a culture of excellence
The 9Principles® for Organizational Excellence provide a framework for organizations to achieve and sustain high performance. These principles guide leaders in creating a culture where excellence thrives, aligning with the criteria of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.
- Commit to Excellence: Set high expectations and consistently live out the organization’s mission and values.
- Measure the Important Things: Continuously track progress and focus on key outcomes to drive improvement.
- Build a Culture Around Service: Foster a service-oriented culture that prioritizes the needs of customers and stakeholders.
- Develop Leaders: Invest in leadership development to ensure leaders can effectively guide and inspire their teams
Importance for VT OE Model:
- Commitment to Excellence
- Focus on people and interplay with leadership
- Accountability and measurability