The EFQM Excellence Model

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Business excellence is the systematic use of quality management principles and tools in order to increase performance based on the principles of customer focus, value for stakeholders and process management. The prime focus of Business Excellence is on the functional areas of a business including continuous breakthrough improvements and preventive evidence-based management.

Business Excellence concerns extraordinary applications in managing an organization and achieving results and it is based on a number of basic concepts, some of which are mentioned below:

 Customer and market focus
 Leadership
 Strategic goals
 Value-creating processes
 Organizational and personal development (competency)
 Employee engagement
 Social responsibilities …show more content…

The EFQM Excellence Model is a framework that is designed to encourage the co-operation, collaboration and innovation required for the completion of the objectives and goals. It is used by the organizations to determine their current level of excellence and then to ascertain where they are required to focus their improvement efforts. It also ensures that the business decisions are in sync with the organization’s objectives and it caters to the needs of all stakeholders. It serves as a common reference tool in helping organizations move towards …show more content…

EFQM is tested frequently with the best practices and then updated accordingly for various organizations, while many companies try to achieve the six sigma level of 3. Defects per million. Many companies continuously improve their processes so as to get closed to the required six sigma level.
Top management is required for the successful implementation of both the models. Without the involvement of the top management, the training imparted for the application of six sigma would be wasted. Motorola failed in the implementation of six sigma in its first attempt because of its process of using a bottom up approach for imparting the training. The employees were first trained in this approach while the top management was unaware of the quality related questions which the employees would ask.
Implementation of both EFQM and six sigma requires lot of time and training. This results in both the frameworks to be expensive.
Differences between six sigma and EFQM
Six sigma results in reduction of variations in the processes by finding out the cause and then eliminating them while EFQM tries to achieve sustainable