Book Review

The Baldrige Quality System:
The Do-It-Yourself Way To Transform Your Business

By Stephen George

Reviewed by Steve Buchwald, CIRM

This book explains how to use the Baldrige criteria to manage quality in your organization. It has been called the "...Definitive book on the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award" by J. M. Juran. Stephen George, a consultant and professional writer who has worked with many companies helping them prepare applications for the Baldrige award, has put together a well written comprehensive book on the Baldrige criteria. However, as good as the book is I still believe he has short changed the reader in the amount of space dedicated to using the Baldrige criteria as a tool for "The Do-It-Yourself" quality transformation he alluded to in his title.

This book is divided into four parts. These parts are: The Baldrige System, The Baldrige Categories, A Baldrige Self-Assessment, and The Baldrige Application Process. In addition to these four parts the author includes three appendices. The appendices are: 1992 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Criteria, Resources, and After the Win. As can be seen by the above layout, anyone interested in applying for the Baldrige Award will be well warned, educated, and prepared by reading and applying the material covered in this book. However, let me state once again, that Mr. George only dedicates 55 pages, Part 3, out of 299 pages in the total book, to using the Baldrige criteria as a "Do-It-Yourself" Self-Assessment tool.

It is necessary to keep in mind that the Baldrige Award is based on three dimensions, Results, Approach, and Deployment. To this end the criteria are not a prescription for success, rather they are broad areas to be addressed, and will be addressed differently for each company. As Curt Reimann, director of the Baldrige program said, "The award and the quality movement are about organizations learning. Nonetheless, the criteria are probably the best description of a total quality SYSTEM on the market today and they are free.

If you are truly interested in quality you should ask yourself if you want to analyze your current position and compare that to World Class Companies or if you want to go all the way and apply for the Baldrige Award. If you want to go for the award then I highly recommend this book. After all you should know what you are getting yourself into and if this book doesn't scare you away from your plan to apply for the Baldrige award then you will be well prepared. However, if you are interested in using the criteria as a self assessment tool then just do that. Get a copy of the criteria from NIST or from ASQC and start analyzing if you even understand what the criteria mean. After you review the criteria you will be in a better position to read Part 3 of this book to get some good ideas and to use Appendix B to contact helpful resources. However, to buy this book with the idea that you can use it as a guide to using the Baldrige criteria as a self assessment tool is a misconception.

Quality is a complex subject and needs different treatment for different companies. As Tom Kennedy, vice-president of Solectron says about the Baldrige criteria and the entire application process, "it's a rallying process...The Baldrige criteria turned what tended to be a prescription into more of a process of discovery of where you are." Therefore, wherever your company is along the quality continuum, you can use the criteria or the entire application process to involve your people in learning more about their business and in improving quality.

Good reading!