The world is witnessing—on an ongoing basis—a series of rapid and successive developments that have impacted the business environment and the status of organizations; these organizations are required to align their performance with the demands imposed by these changes. Survival in the market is no longer limited to the fittest organizations alone; rather, it is reserved for those that achieve excellence and are characterized by competitiveness.
Given the role of executive leaders in organizations and the fact that they bear the greatest share of responsibility for planning business strategies and making decisions—upon which the organization’s success in achieving its goals depends— it is necessary to abandon outdated management traditions that do not rely on advanced management thinking and are incompatible with rapid technological developments, and to focus on renewing and developing the skills of these leaders and supporting them with the latest scientific methodologies in management thought, and the successful experiences of applied leadership practices, thereby enabling them to gain a clear vision of the needs of the changing environment and to provide innovative means and sustainable developmental management to increase productivity and move toward outstanding institutional performance.
- The Impact of Change
All organizations are affected by the changes taking place around them. Therefore, it has become difficult for organizations that wish to survive and lead to accept the challenge of entering the arena of competition to achieve organizational excellence.
The European Organization for Quality Management has defined organizational excellence as “outstanding practice in organizational management that leads to results satisfying various stakeholders, including customers, employees, and shareholders. This outstanding practice encompasses a range of factors, such as leadership—which formulates and directs policies and strategies—as well as human and financial Resources, various internal processes, information systems, and others.”
- Objectives of Organizational Excellence
We are thus faced with a pressing and important question: What are the objectives of organizational excellence?
In the modern era, organizations embrace a management philosophy centered on excellence; consequently, they respond to numerous forces that drive excellence. In general, the most important objectives of excellence can be identified as follows:
- Improving organizational performance by raising service levels and promoting the implementation of excellence management practices and principles.
- Encouraging and supporting competition and positive cooperation.
- Raising the performance level of all employees and managers within the organization, and meeting the requirements of the organization’s clients on the one hand, and society on the other.
- Supporting individual and organizational independence and freedom.
- Helping to understand the interrelationships and mutual influences within and outside the organization.
- Maximizing the capacity and efficiency of the workforce and increasing the ability to achieve excellence.
- Achieving a balance between activities and results.
- Creating Excellence
This naturally leads us to another, even more important question: How can various organizations create excellence and achieve comprehensive quality in organizational performance?
From time to time, we hear about organizations that have gained immense fame—for their achievements, for the tangible marks of success they’ve left behind, and for their outstanding and unique contributions to society. But have we ever asked ourselves: What is the secret behind one organization’s excellence over another’s?
The secret lies in the fact that outstanding organizations have grasped the essence of building institutional excellence and have followed that path, step by step, until they achieved the desired excellence and quality.
The process of building institutional excellence involves five sequential stages and steps, through which an organization attains the highest possible level of performance quality.
We’ll continue this discussion in the next article, where we’ll explore the stages and steps of institutional excellence together.
By Dr. Samuel Essam Ammanoeeil
Professor of Management and Strategic Planning – At Egyptian Universities