BUSINESS CRITERIA: ITEM AND CATEGORY DESCRIPTIONS

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2.2 Strategy Deployment

Purpose

This Item examines how your organization converts your strategic objectives into action plans to accomplish the objectives. It also examines how your organization assesses progress relative to these action plans. The aim is to ensure that your strategies are successfully deployed for goal achievement.

Comments

- This Item asks how your action plans are developed and deployed. Accomplishment of action plans requires resources and performance measures, as well as the alignment of work unit and supplier and partner plans. Of central importance is how you achieve alignment and consistency—for example, via key processes and key measurements. Also, alignment and consistency are intended to provide a basis for setting and communicating priorities for ongoing improvement activities—part of the daily work of all work units. In addition, performance measures are critical for tracking performance.

- Key changes in your products and services or customers and markets might include Web-based or e-commerce initiatives integrated within or separate from your current business.

- Action plans should include human resource plans that are aligned with and support your overall strategy.

- Examples of possible human resource plan elements are

• a redesign of your work organization and jobs to increase employee empowerment and decision making;

• initiatives to promote greater labor-management cooperation, such as union partnerships;

• initiatives to foster knowledge sharing and organizational learning;

• modification of your compensation and recognition systems to recognize team, organizational, stock market, customer, or other performance attributes; or

• education and training initiatives, such as developmental programs for future leaders, partnerships with universities to help ensure the availability of future employees, and establishment of training programs on new technologies important to your future business success.

- Projections and comparisons in this Item are intended to improve your organization’s ability to understand and track dynamic, competitive performance factors. Through this tracking process, your organization should be better prepared to take into account its rate of improvement and change relative to that of competitors and relative to its own targets or stretch goals. Such tracking serves as a key diagnostic management tool.

- In addition to improvement relative to past performance and competitors’ projected performance, projected performance might include changes resulting from new business ventures, entry into new markets, introduction of new technologies, product or service innovations or other strategic thrusts.

Item Description Links: 1.1 - 1.2 - 2.1 - 2.2 - 3.1 - 3.2 - 4.1 - 4.2 - 5.1 - 5.2 - 5.3 - 6.1 - 6.2 - 7.1 - 7.2 - 7.3 - 7.4 - 7.5 - 7.6 - P.1 - P.2

Note: All information above relates to Item descriptions. All information below relates to the actual Criteria.

2006 Criteria Items: 1.1 - 1.2 - 2.1 - 2.2 - 3.1 - 3.2 - 4.1 - 4.2 - 5.1 - 5.2 - 5.3 - 6.1 - 6.2 - 7.1 - 7.2 - 7.3 - 7.4 - 7.5 - 7.6 - P.1 - P.2

Click to download a copy of 2006 Baldrige Actionable Criteria