DON’T GIVE UP ON QUALITY, MINNESOTA!
By Doris Rubenstein, PDP Services
Minnesota Business, April, 2001
During the ‘80s and ‘90s, Quality was the
catchword for progressive businesses in every sector. Not only was it a catchword, but
it was taken seriously, studied, and assimilated into most business plans. Times have
changed, it’s clear, especially when it comes to businesses committing to quality, as
a local quality barometer indicates. What is keeping industry, commerce, and services from
instituting quality citizenship practices?
It may be a belief that citizenship is not essential to the
bottom line. This is a proven fallacy. Three reports issued by business watchdog groups in
1999 and 2000 all concurred that customers favor businesses with good corporate
citizenship programs.
Customers are likely to continue doing business with the
company, more willing to recommend company offerings, less susceptible to switching to a
different company for a better financial deal, and say that they would choose the company
again if picking for the first time. 46% of those surveyed in one report stated that they
were strongly influenced in favor of a particular company over another because of its
positive social image. On the other hand, 49% refused to do business with companies that
did not meet their standard of social responsibility.
2001 is the tenth anniversary of the Minnesota Quality
Awards, sponsored by the Minnesota Council for Quality (MCQ). Membership and category
figures in the MCQ are two of the barometers that show us the direction that quality is
heading in our State.
This year, four Minnesota businesses were recognized for
achieving various levels of quality: Pillsbury Neighborhood Services, Honeywell
Motion-Sensor Products, University of Minnesota-Duluth Academic Support and Student Life
Division, and Rochester Community and Technical College. Congratulations to all of them.
But what’s wrong with this picture of Minnesota business?
Three out of four of the winners are non-profit
organizations. The one corporate winner is a division of a very large company that has
recently been acquired and lost its Minnesota headquarters. Where are the small- and
medium-sized businesses that are the life’s blood of our State’s economy? Why
are there only four businesses being honored in 2001 when only a few years ago the awards
were given annually to over a dozen?
Part of the answer may lie in the common nature of the
awards and the organizations that won them this year.
The Minnesota Quality Awards are based on the Baldridge
National Quality Program. Before other parts of the program are implemented, two key
points must be addressed and met: Organizational Leadership and Public Responsibility and
Citizenship. The fact is that three of this year’s four winners are non-profit
organizations whose core mission is public responsibility and citizenship.
Organizational leadership requires an uncompromising
commitment of management to reaching quality goals throughout the company.
Public responsibility and citizenship covers areas that
range from safety to ethics. Another part, the essence of operations for non-profits but
not necessarily for industry and commerce, is support of key communities. The criteria for
excellence specifically states that "This typically includes efforts by the
organization to support and strengthen key communities of strategic importance to the
organizations such community services, education, health care, the environment…"
If quality is not achieved in these areas, it cannot be done in other parts of the
operation.
There are ways to nip this problem in the bud. The MCQ has
an ace team of trainers and evaluators to guide businesses in their quality journey. It
offers seminars and programs. Other community resources are also available through Hamline
University and Augsburg College, among others.
While the backward trend in commitment to institutional
quality is alarming, Minnesota has a proud record in quality and is outstanding in its
gallery of Baldrige Award winners. Per capita, Minnesota has more Baldrige Award winners
than any other state, and is tied with Texas and California in the actual number of
winners to date. To maintain that record, however, it is the profit-making sector –
the largest part of our economy -- which must take the lead. The first step is
Leadership: commitment to quality from the top, then instilling that commitment throughout
the company, and taking it beyond the company to the community.
Quality will come full circle when we see for-profit MCQ
award winners like Honeywell Motion-Sensor Products engaged in and supporting non-profit
winners like Pillsbury Neighborhood Services. The result will be a heightened quality of
life for all Minnesotans.
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