Self-assessment using the business excellence model: A study of practice and process

This paper reports a study of self-assessment practices in 10 organisations . The research was carried out by semi-structured interviews directed towar ds a range of issues related to the process, practice and management of sel f-assessment. Amongst the findings are that organisations are becoming more aware of the role of self-assessment in in influencing strategy and are in cluding the outputs of self-assessment in their business planning process, and self-assessment is seen as making the organisation a more viable commod ity. It was also found that the potential of self-assessment for analysing organisational performance and identifying areas for improvement is underes timated by managers. On the other hand, it is pointed out that the increasi ng commercial aspects of self-assessment and the Quality Award process is d iluting their effects. Based on the findings, two matrices have been develo ped which define the organisational and TQM related characteristics that an organisation should exhibit before adopting a particular approach to self- assessment. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.