2013-2014 Criteria Coming Soon: Readers Can Expect Leading Practices, User-Friendly Changes, and Cost-Recovery Fees

The Baldrige Performance Excellence Program is preparing to release by early 2013 three new versions of the Criteria for Performance Excellence. What changes will readers of the 2013–2014 Criteria for Performance Excellence, 2013–2014 Education Criteria for Performance Excellence, and 2013–2014 Health Care Criteria for Performance Excellence find? First, the latest Criteria revisions will, as with previous editions, reflect “the leading edge of validated management practice.” Second, the new publications will reflect updates in design and organization. And third, to offset the loss of federal funding, the program will charge cost-recovery fees (see the Talking Points for Criteria Cost Recovery and Award Fees) for both printed booklets and electronic file downloads. Selected content will be available free of charge on the Baldrige Web site.

Criteria Revisions

In a series of communications, Baldrige Program Director Harry Hertz has shared that the 2013–2014 Criteria revisions focus on (1) innovation, (2) social media, and (3) work systems and work processes. As Hertz recently stated to Baldrige Enterprise members, the revisions related to innovation recognize the importance of innovation to an organization’s competitiveness and thus, its strategy. He added that the focus, as in the Criteria definition, is on product, process and business-model innovation. Second, as reflected in Hertz’s June/July 2012 Insights column, more emphasis on social media in the new Criteria reflect their growing importance to organizations in every sector. Third, the Operations Focus category (category 6) is being revised to clarify the concepts of work systems and work processes. Hertz provided a “sneak peek” at those revisions in his August 2012 Insights column: “I believe some of the consternation and confusion about work systems and work processes has stemmed from their placement in the Operations Focus category, when work systems are really about strategy, and work processes are about operations. Work systems should be considered in the Leadership and Strategic Planning categories, and work processes should be the focus of the Operations Focus category,” he wrote.

Design and Organization

The interior design of the 2013–2014 Criteria booklets is receiving a facelift to improve readability. In addition, the content is being reorganized to make key information easier to find, with some sections moving from the booklet to the Baldrige Program’s Web site. That content, which will be available online for free, will include a description of the Criteria and their purpose, ways to use the Criteria booklet, a high-level Criteria outline, and commentary on the Criteria items.

Cost-Recovery Fees, Discounts, and Distribution

The Baldrige Program will recover the costs of developing and distributing the Criteria, which were previously funded by federal appropriations, through the following basic fees:

•     Printed copies: $25 each
  
•     Electronic copies: $10 each  

Discounts will be available for bulk orders of both hard copies and downloaded files, which will be available from NIST (which houses the Baldrige Program) and ASQ (Baldrige Program and Baldrige Enterprise partner), starting in late 2012.