IMA Addendum Sheet

Business Excellence Model

The Business Excellence Model promoted by the European Foundation for Quality Management offers a structured apoproach to organisational self-assessment. Although the model started life in the private sector, it has been adapted for public sector working, and is being adopted in local government. In our 1999 survey, 16 public library services reported that their authority was using a version of this model. There is growing evidence of government interest in this model as a means of enacting their 'continuous service improvement' agenda, especially in relation to outcome-based benchmarking.

The main premise of this model, expressed in its nine criteria and 32 sub-criteria, is that:

"Customer satisfaction, people (staff) satisfaction and a positive impact on society, are achieved through leadership driving force and strategy, people management, resources and processes, leading, ultimately, to excellence in results." (Copyright 1999 EFQM)

The good news for library service managers is that this model was one of the starting points for a self-assessment process specifically designed for LIS by Kinnell, Usherwood and Jones.