Award Level

The Excellence in Missouri Foundation offers Award level assessments to the following states:

MISSOURI QUALITY AWARD: Missouri

EXCELLENCE in the HEARTLAND: Kansas

The Award program, modeled after the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, offers a thorough and objective educational process through which an organization can learn and apply quality implementation techniques and assessment methods.
Organizations participating in the Award process join a growing number of Missouri and Kansas organizations that are dedicated to promoting quality as a vital element to enhancing customer satisfaction and operational performance. Through their willingness to help others, the Award Recipients have encouraged other organizations to undertake their own quality improvement efforts.

Award Process

The objectives of the Award Program are to promote an understanding of the requirements for performance excellence and continuous improvement, and to stimulate sharing of improvement information on successful performance strategies and the benefits derived from using these strategies.

Award Participation

Any organization located in Missouri or Kansas may participate in the MQA or EiH process. Separate Award categories are established for manufacturing, service, nonprofit, public sector, education, and heath care. Within each eligibility category, Awards may be presented in the following size classes;

  • Small - Less than 100 employees
  • Medium - 100-499 employees
  • Large - 500 employees or more

Criteria

Based on the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Criteria for Performance Excellence, the Criteria set a common standard of excellence for all organizations and are the basis for granting the Award and providing feedback to applicants. The Criteria focus on results, are non-prescriptive and adaptable, support a systems approach to organizational goal alignment, and permit goal-based diagnosis. The Criteria are updated every two years in order to reflect the leading edge of validated management practice. The Award and Tiered programs operate on the current year Criteria.

Click here to purchase the 2015-2016 Business/Nonprofit, Health Care, and Education Criteria from the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program
(PDFs: $10 each; printed copies; $25 each plus shipping)

Application Requirements

Applicants must submit an application package that consists of three parts

  1. An Eligibility Determination Form showing that eligibility has been approved
  2. A completed Application Form
  3. An application report consisting of a Business Overview and responses to the Award Criteria

Application Review

Applications are reviewed and evaluated by members of the Board of Examiners in accordance with strict rules regarding conflict of interest, in a four stage process:

  1. Independent review and evaluation by members of the Board of Examiners;
  2. Consensus review and evaluation for all applications;
  3. Site visits to high-scoring applications;
  4. Judges review and recommendations

Feedback to Applicants

All applicants receive feedback reports at the conclusion of the review process. The feedback is based upon the applicant's responses to the Award Criteria.

Non-Disclosure

The Award program is administered under a strict code of ethics which ensures that no applicant names are ever released unless they receive the Award. In addition, any commentary and scoring information developed during the review are kept strictly confidential. Such information is available only to those individuals directly involved in the examination and only on those applications to which they are assigned.

Fees

Award fees have been established at modest levels to help defray expenses while still encouraging all eligible organizations to apply. Fees include a non-refundable payment that must accompany the Eligibility Determination Form, as well as a written application fee which is dependent upon the size of the organization. These fees are set to cover all expenses associated with distribution of applications, review of applications, and development of feedback reports.

Applicants reaching the Site Visit stage will be assessed an additional fee to cover expenses and travel costs associated with site visit participation and development of site visit reports. The site visit fees are set at the time visits are scheduled.

Forms

Visit our Forms & Documents page to download.

Site Visit

If selected for a Site Visit, a team from the Board of Examiners visits the Application to verify and clarify information in the written application. Please see our Award Program FAQs for general Site Visit information. A Site Visit Manual will be provided to each Applicant by the Award Office upon selection for a Site Visit. Please contact the Award Office with any questions.

Close