The concept of quality management goes back to the period after the Second World War. Many leading multinational corporations took advantage of the globalized market to increase their production and achieve growth. Although competition was relatively low, these companies realized that they needed to embrace quality models to help them cut their cost of production, improve efficiency, and ensure that their products were always available in the market (Choy 2014). The European Foundation doe Quality Management was one of the initial models that were developed to help improve quality in both public and private sector. As competition increased in the global market, the need for quality management programs became more relevant (Vinyard 2016). Many governments around the world worked closely with the private sector to ensure that various quality management tools were used to enhance production techniques and enable the local companies compete favorable with global players. The United Arab Emirates is one of the countries that came up with quality management tools to improve the performance of the local industries.
Dubai Quality Award (DQA) was one of the earliest models developed in this country in 1996 for the public sector. The Sheikh Khalifa Excellence Award (SKEA) was also developed in 2007 for the private sector in the emirate of Abu Dhabi (Skott & Ward 2013). It was followed soon after by the Abu Dhabi Excellence Award Program for the public sector. These performance-oriented quality models have played critical roles in improving the operations of firms in both the private and public sectors and empowering them to compete favorably against international players in the local and global market. This research looks at the past and present use of various excellence models to determine if the new model can have the desired impact on the performance of organizations going into the future.
In this study, the researcher reviewed the existing literature to understand what other scholars have found out about this topic. The review of literature starts by defining excellence in government and government excellence, two closely related but distinct concepts. According to Buswell (2016), excellence in government refers to inputs or efforts made by various governmental agencies to achieve government excellence. It entails training of staff within various government departments to improve their performance, making available equipment they need to improve the quality of their work, and effective leadership that promotes relationships among employees. On the other hand, government excellence refers to the quality of the outcome of various tasks and activities undertaken by the government (Bryman & Bell 2015). It describes the performance of the government in delivering quality service to the public. As Coglianese (2016) puts it, government excellence is a direct output of excellence in government. Various countries have models of excellence they consider suitable based on the local forces.
In the United States, Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence has been in use for some time to help improve quality in both public and private sectors (Reis & Judd 2014). In the Middle East, King Abdulaziz Quality Award is one of the models currently in use in Saudi Arabia. Nationally, SKEA and DQA have been in active use to help promote quality in both the private and public sectors. Performance in both public and private sectors is important as the country struggles to manage stiff competition from global firms. It is becoming increasingly clear that the adoption of government excellence programs is no longer a luxury. Firms must embrace it as they struggle to remain relevant in the modern globalized market.
It was important to come up with an appropriate method of collecting and analyzing data from various sources to inform the conclusion and recommendations in this study. This paper has clearly explained the research philosophy and approach that were used. It was important to define the philosophy and the approach to help justify the assumptions made throughout the study (Amelina 2012). The research strategy helped in explaining how data was collected. The survey was one of the most important approaches used in collecting data. The survey was conducted with the help of a questionnaire. Using both closed-ended and open-ended questionnaires, the researcher was able to gather data from sampled respondents within Abu Dhabi (Brennen 2013). The sampled participants are current or former employees of the government who have used these performance excellence models. The limited-time available for this academic research project meant that it was not possible to collect data from all the employees of the government in Abu Dhabi. As such, it was necessary to select a manageable sample from which information could be obtained within the time available for the project. Some of them played critical roles in the development or implementation of these models within various public sectors in the country. A case study was another strategy used in this project to collect data. As an academic research project, it was important to take into consideration ethical issues when collecting data (Nestor & Schutt 2014). The researcher obtained permission from relevant authorities before contacting the participants. It was also important to ensure that the identity of the respondents involved in this project is protected.
Reference List
Amelina, 2012, Beyond methodological nationalism: research methodologies for cross-border studies, Routledge, London.
Brennen, B 2013, Qualitative research methods for media studies, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Bryman, A & Bell, E 2015, Business research methods, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Buswell, J 2016, Service quality in leisure, events, tourism and sport, Cabi Publishing, Toronto.
Choy, L 2014, ‘The strengths and weaknesses of research methodology: comparison and complimentary between qualitative and quantitative approaches’, Journal of Humanities and Social Science, vol. 19, no. , pp. 99-104.
Coglianese, C 2016, Achieving regulatory excellence, Brookings Institution Press, Washington.
Nestor, P & Schutt, R 2014, Research methods in psychology: investigating human behavior, SAGE Publications, Thousand Oaks.
Reis, H & Judd, C 2014, Handbook of research methods in social and personality psychology, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Skott, B & Ward, M 2013, Active learning exercises for research methods in social sciences, SAGE Publications, Thousand Oaks.
Vinyard, J 2016, Baldrige for leaders: a leader’s guide to performance excellence, Springer, London.