Considerations for Reviewing Smaller Organizations

All applicants are reviewed in the context of their individual key factors. In the case of smaller organizations, size is a significant key factor. While an organization's size does not affect the applicability of the Baldrige Award Criteria it does need to be factored into the assessment of an applicant's responses in its Baldrige Award application. Therefore, Examiners with large business frames of reference must be very careful not to consider operational and procedural requirements associated with large businesses as they review smaller organization applications.

Some guidelines are given below for understanding the context for reviewing a smaller organization:

•     smaller organization applicants are defined as those with 500 or fewer employees. Also noteworthy is the significant difference in resource availability between a 450-person organization and a 50-person organization.

•     Social responsibility and community involvement must be viewed in the context of the applicant's size. A large business might have impacts on a national or international basis; a smaller organization will frequently focus its involvement on a local community.

•     The issues of fiscal and managerial accountability, ethical behavior, and legal compliance are as pertinent to a smaller organization as they are to a large one, and the responses of management to these issues are equally important. A smaller organization, however, will necessarily address these issues in the context of its size, ownership (many are privately held or family owned), and responsibilities. Good governance practices are still an imperative.

•     While large corporations frequently have complex computer/information systems for data management, a smaller organization (depending upon how small) may perform data and information management with a combination of personal computer- or work station-based data management systems and manual methods.

•     Due to limited staff and funding resources, benchmarking and competitive comparison information in a smaller organization environment may be based largely on literature/trade association information and comparisons with best practices in the local geographic area.

•     In the context of a smaller organization, systems for employee involvement and business process management may rely more on informal verbal communication than on formal written communication and documentation. However, all applicants have the same requirement to demonstrate that their processes are repeatable, can produce the desired results, and are deployed fully and systematically throughout the organization.

•     The ability of a smaller organization to leverage key suppliers, particularly large suppliers, has to be viewed in the context of staff availability and the volume of business that it does with the supplier.

•     The ability of a smaller organization to obtain customer and market knowledge through independent third party surveys, commissioned studies, extensive interviews, or focus group techniques is limited by its resources. The important consideration for Examiners is to assess whether the applicant, given its resources, is using appropriate mechanisms to gather and use information to improve its customer focus and satisfaction.

•     The expectation of large organizations to segment their results data with regard to various customer and employee segments may require modification in small organizations (small businesses), depending upon the complexity of these groups and the level of resources needed to gather and analyze the data.