Different kinds of organisations use EFQM, Excellence Model as a quality management system and an overall framework for quality development. EFQM Model is a practical tool that is mostly used by educational organisations in self-evaluation of the organisation, but it is also a useful framework for external audits as well as a useful structure for educational organisation's management system. The EFQM Model forces to examine organisation's functions, operations and results as a whole. Excellent educational organisations identify key customers and customer groups to whom educational services are provided. It clarifies current and future needs of customers and customer groups and develops services accordingly. Organisations follow the satisfaction of customers and try to anticipate its development.
EFQM model relies on few fundamental concepts or approaches in promoting continuous improvement:
Source: EFQM.
Evaluation of processes and results in the EFQM Model is based on nine criteria. Five of the criteria are defined as enablers and four as results. Enablers and results are equally important in the model. Fundamental concepts have many direct and indirect links to different criteria or criterion parts of the Model. Look at Customer focus in educational organisations. In addition, the concepts themselves can have an impact on each other. An excellent educational organisation can create added value through partnerships, which indicates strong customer focus. Excellent educational organisation manage partnerships by developing a partnership strategy which includes among other things criteria for establishing new partnerships, prioritising partners and setting goals for co-operation and for ways to achieve these goals. In excellent educational organisations management sets clear objectives to partnerships. It also follows and evaluates the achievement and sets new targets based on results. Excellent organisations are able to show clear evidence of links between results and processes and development activities.
The links between processes and results are relevant when assessing the results. The RADAR Logic of the EFQM Model can be used as a tool to plan and assess improvement.
Source: EFQM.
When using the EFQM Model, an educational organisation sets targets and agrees on results and their expected level. Secondly the organisation adopts a strategy and identifies and selects appropriate approaches and operations leading into coherent and consistent implementation (deployment). Excellent organisations assess their operations and improve continuously operating methods and their deployment. Targets are reviewed against results achieved. Look at examples of using RADAR logic by result area:
Customer results and RADAR
People results and RADAR
Environmental results and RADAR
Key performance results and RADAR
Process Management
Excellent educational organisations identify operations as a chain of functions, as processes, in order to produce services and products to customers. Customers can be defined as internal or external. Organisations usually have several core processes and supporting processes which have to be identified, described and operationalized. The management of processes includes also setting targets, selecting indicators and measuring the performance of the processes. Process indicators can measure either efficiency of individual processes or process-related results. In an educational organisation, special focus should be addressed on over-lapping and cross-cutting issues or areas to promote the quality.
Evaluation of Results
According to the EFQM Model educational organisations evaluate customer results, people results, society results and key performance results. Each result area include the perception indicators (a) measuring the perceptions or satisfaction of customers or staff and the internal performance indicators (b) measuring internal performance of the organisation. Results are reviewed from the following perspectives:
Source: EFQM.
Excellent organisations review and evaluate own performance based on results achieved and produce and evaluate both short term and longer-term trends and compare the results and best practices of other organisations nationally or internationally. Excellent organisations produce reliable and comparable data over consecutive periods and years. When implementing changes in activities or in the follow-up system comparability aspect is taken into account. The gathering and compilation of data from various sources of information is a challenge. Excellent organisations have clear understanding and rationale in selecting indicators and gathering result data. Good data management system is an indication of quality organisation.