Overview
Knowledge management has brought about discussions with majority of business leaders questioning its necessity and implications in an organization. Ideally, the concept of knowledge management has widely been adopted even though its implementation still remains a challenge. Knowledge management together with quality system in an organization helps to increase efficiency in meeting the objectives. This is achieved because knowledge management instills some values in the employees changing their way of doing things.
In general, majority of the business organizations would want to use a strategy that is a widely adopted business model and is believed to produce the best organizational behavior. In this regard, it would be appropriate to discuss knowledge management around a business model that is popularly used. This paper is going to discuss issues that revolve around ‘European Foundation for Quality Management’ model.
European Foundation for Quality Management has been popularly used by many organizations. Before I explore EFQM, it is important to understand the basic concepts of this model. EFQM excellence model is a management model that has nine steps of achieving its mission. The components of this model are categorized into two which are enablers and results.
Enablers comprise of things that an organization is capable of doing while the results category is the achievements that the organization should strive to meet. The model recognizes the fact that the best results in an organization can be achieved when the following aspects are adhered to: performance, customers, people and society.
Leadership
Under this category, the model proposes that leaders are responsible for planning, creating the mission, vision and procedures to be followed for the good of the organization. Leaders are to design policies and procedures which are to be implemented appropriately to ensure management systems of the organization are followed to the later.
Policy and strategy
Under the component of policy and strategy, an organization is supposed to articulate the procedures through which it will implement the mission and vision in ways that are acceptable by all stakeholders of the organization.
The model proposes that the critical role of management should be provision of strategic direction, support professionalism and supporting staff in learning new skills to help them remain competitive. Management strategies should ensure that, human capital is fully utilized and make sure that they are included in policies of the organization.
People
The model takes issue with the manner in which the organization manages and organizes people. It says that people are the hardest resource to manage in an organization. In order to use the best practices and achieve the mission and vision, people should be fully utilized and use of team work supported. The changes that are proposed should be able to change rigid mindsets as well as recognizing the effort of every individual in the organization. Through this way, individuals in the organization shall be motivated to work.
Partnership and resources
This category deals with the manner in which the organization center around planning and controlling internal resources and outside collaborations. In partnership and resources, the value chain is critical depending on goods and services of the company. It proposes that members of staff should share skills and knowledge to ensure provision of brilliant customer solutions.
Processes
The model proposes that processes in an organization should be uniform; they should not exhibit characteristics of biasness. Processes in a company should be guided by specified policies and procedures which are in tandem with the mission and vision of the business as well as quality standards that are expected.
Customer results
These are the tangible results of the company that directly correlates with the external customers. The most important indicator of success for any organization is the profits in terms of financial performance. This is not the only indicator to measure success because the other most important aspect is the market share. This model strives to ensure that several factors are used to measure success and not just financial gains.
People results
People results refer to achievement of the business that is directly proportional to the people working in it. Managers are judged according to their level of knowledge. The model proposes that the supervisory role of managers shifts drastically to supporting staff.
Society results
This pillar in the model centers around what the organization intends to achieve and is directly related to local and international community. The society surrounding an organization has a lot of expectations in the manner in which an organization preserves the environment and customer service relations activities.
Key performance results
This dimension in the model centers around what the organization achieves in relation to the previously planned performance. Performance indicators proposed should exceed financial performance and consider other form of success like customer base and processes.
Model criteria
The criterion of the model is structured in such a way that it shows the steps towards achieving excellence. As earlier stated, nine components are divided into two which are enablers and results. After they have been categorized, the components are assigned areas to address within the organization.