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Self-Help for Higher Education
Baldrige performance
criteria improve academia
and bring positive institutional change
Kendell
Rice, a member of the Board of Examiners
of the Baldrige National Quality
Program, speaks with Higher Education Digest.
Walk into
any book store and you’ll see the section for self-help. Whether you want to
lose weight, stop smoking, find love or improve your relationship, chances are
some book is touting the tools you need to change your life. It’s a cookie
cutter approach with a book in theory for each problem. In reality, getting
over whatever ails you may not be easy.
In higher
education it’s the same way, institutions have their unique set of challenges,
each necessitating the need to embrace change in some form or another, whether
it’s demanded by budget shortfalls, the regents or accrediting bodies.
The
Malcolm Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence provide a framework for
implementing institutional change through performance-based management and
assessment.
Recently, Higher Education Digest
interviewed Kendell Rice to get his perspective on applying the Baldrige National Quality
Criteria to colleges and universities.
Higher Education Digest: How can institutions use the Baldrige criteria for performance excellence?
Kendell Rice: These criteria are a vehicle for
comprehensive self-assessment, which drives performance improvement. Under this
framework, an organization looks closely at each academic component and
examines how it contributes to the institution’s mission. This approach
provides a method for managing performance, guiding organizational planning and
generating opportunities for learning.
HED: How is leadership involved in
this self-assessment approach?
Rice: Leadership is driven by vision,
which is tied to the institution’s mission. At the center of this vision,
identification is a set of core values and operational concepts. Taken as a
whole, these values become a tool for bringing the campus together and
generating dialogues on ways to achieve effective practices campus-wide.
HED: How can performance excellence criteria impact institutions?
Rice: Part of the assessment involves
examining the institution’s efforts in meeting the needs of students and
achieving strategic objectives. You see the impact in terms of what the
organization chooses to do with the knowledge gained from analysis, and whether
they use it to implement change and improvements.
If gaps
in performance are identified, and the institution decides to systematically
implement changes, then an immediate impact on student learning and student
services can be measured.
With
critical cycles of improvement, the institution can be transformed into a more
agile, goal-achieving campus.
HED: What is the impact on the
workload of faculty and staff?
Rice: Leaders
need to put the groundwork in place for long-term transformation of the work
culture. This assessment-oriented approach requires a pervasive understanding
of the values, concepts and tools necessary to execute cycles of performance
improvement.
Institutions
with petrified organizational systems of governance require a significant
amount of learning to incorporate a modified set of values and expected
behaviors.
Evaluating
costs and benefits of long-term change is part of faculty and staff members’
jobs. It’s important to understand how new approaches benefit students, the
institution, and the faculty and staff’s professional efforts.
HED: What are some of the values
of the performance excellence initiative?
Rice: The five
main values are:-
Student-oriented excellence
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Higher education institutions should assess and,
thereby, improve student learning, including the student experience within the
organizational environment.
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Focusing on results and creating value
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Measuring performance results creates value for
constituents, students, employees and key stakeholders within and around the
institutional community.
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Visionary
leadership
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Senior leaders establish the vision and guide the
constituents’ orientation and adoption of new values and approaches to
performance improvement.
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Valuing
innovation
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Implementing change improves the institution’s teaching
and learning experience, as well as the services, processes and activities
necessary for all campus constituents.
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Institutional and personal learning
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Organizational learning is a way of life and involves both
continuous improvement of approaches combined with significant change. This
leads to new goals and plans.
HED: What are the areas of improvement
within the Baldrige approach to performance excellence?
Rice: There
are seven categories in the Baldrige performance excellence criteria,
which provide a framework for improving overall performance.
Colleges and universities can take steps to improve the following areas of
their institutions, thereby achieving organizational objectives and improving
performance results.
Leadership—Evaluate
how senior leaders guide the institution.
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Strategic
planning—Examine how the institution sets strategic directions
and how it determines key action plans.
Customer
(student) and market focus—Review how the institution
determines student and market-driven requirements and expectations; and how it
builds relationships with and acquires, satisfies and retains students.
Measurement,
analysis and knowledge management—Evaluate the use of analysis
and improvement of data and information to support key organizational processes
and the institution’s performance management system.
Human
resource focus—Review how the organization empowers employees to
develop to their full potential, and how human resource policies and procedures
are aligned with the institution’s objectives.
Process
management—Examine aspects of student learning and support
processes, and see how they are designed, managed and improved.
Business
results—Evaluate performance and improvement for student satisfaction,
financial and marketplace performance, human resources, supplier and partner
performance, operational performance, and governance and social responsibility.
This category also examines how the institution performs relative to
competitors.
HED: Could you make some
recommendations for readers who would like to learn more about the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Criteria for
Performance Excellence?
Rice: Yes. I recommend that you attend a
web-based seminar on the Baldrige criteria for higher education, Baldrige-Based
Assessment in Higher Education. You can register in February and March for this upcoming
one-hour seminar using web-based technology. This learning event is offered without charge
to the higher education community.
Also,
for more information about the Baldrige criteria, visit the National Institute
of Standards and Technology of the Department of Commerce website: http://baldrige.nist.gov/.
For
additional learning, review these publications on their website:
e-Baldrige
Self-Assessment and Action Planning: This
information will help you better understand how to use the
Baldrige Organizational Profile.
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Are We Making Progress? This
easy-to-use employee questionnaire can help you assess your organization.
Are We Making Progress As
Leaders? This senior leadership questionnaire is
designed for organizations dedicated to performance excellence.
With the
Baldrige Criteria and framework, and information available in webinars and
online, institutions can find the self-help they need to chart a path towards
continuous improvement and performance excellence.
 Ken Rice is a
Member of the Board of Examiners of the Baldrige National Quality Award
sponsored by the Department of Commerce. He serves on the Board of Directors
and as a judge for the U.S. Senate Productivity and Quality Award for the State
of Virginia. He has more than 20 years'
experience in higher education administration and has held executive leadership
positions at both public and private institutions.
Dr. Rice currently consults and conducts seminars on Performance
Excellence as applied to higher education. He is the manager of Quality Initiatives,
Professional Services Division, Datatel, Inc. He holds a doctorate in higher
education administration from the University of Oklahoma.
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