ARMY CORPS RECEIVES LINCOLN FOUNDATION QUALITY AWARD
ROCK ISLAND, ILL. - The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Rock Island,
received the Lincoln Award for excellence by the Lincoln Foundation for Business
Excellence in ceremonies held March 7 in Chicago. The Corps received the
Level I – Commitment to Excellence award for demonstrating an earnest effort
to adopt and apply continuous improvement principles.
Nine Illinois organizations received recognition with either The Progress Towards Excellence or Commitment to Excellence award. The Corps joins the list of past Lincoln Award winners which include Honeywell, Citibank, Illinois Department of Employment Security, Illinois State Police, Black Hawk College, and the Illinois Department of Revenue.
The Lincoln Award is both a rigorous analytic process and a prestigious honor
that encourages organizations to achieve their full potential. The Lincoln
Award criteria provide a model for continuous improvement to organizations in
search of excellence in five sectors: Industry, Service, Health Care, Education,
and Government. Applicants are measured against the
Foundation's seven criteria of excellence, patterned after the Malcolm Baldrige
National Quality Award: Leadership, Strategic Planning, Customer and Market
Focus, Information and Analysis, Human Resource Development and Management,
Process Management, and Organization Results.
Applicants are scored on their approach to the seven criteria, the deployment of that approach, and the results of those efforts. Three Award levels provide a stair-step approach to excellence:
Level I - Commitment to Excellence is the starting level for organizations that have demonstrated an earnest effort to adopt and apply continuous improvement principles.
Level II - Progress toward Excellence recognizes those organizations that have demonstrated significant progress in instituting sound continuous improvement principles.
Level III - Achievement of Excellence recognizes organizations that have demonstrated exemplary approach, deployment, and results in the overall quality systems and continuous improvement processes.
“Wining the Commitment to Excellence Award has provided us with a framework for permanent and continuous improvement,” said Col. Bill Bayles, commander, Rock Island District. “We are committed to implementing key business management processes that will, in turn, lead to a higher degree of business performance and support to the citizens of the Midwest.”
Launched in 1995, the Lincoln Awards for Excellence is an initiative of the Lincoln Foundation for Business Excellence in addition to education and outreach initiatives. The foundation is a private sector nonprofit organization whose mission is "to be the key catalyst to help Illinois' organizations achieve excellence." On the web at: http://www.lincolnaward.org/