Exploratory analysis of the Malcolm Baldrige National Performance Excellence Award model

Abstract

This paper conducts exploratory statistical analysis to assess trends in scores for the Malcolm Baldrige National Performance Excellence Award Model (MBNQA). The analysis identifies significant differences and similarities across sectors of examiner scores for the award program. The paper makes use of real consensus and site visit scores data collected over 11 years period, 2007-2017, from a States' Performance Excellence Award program to conduct the analysis. There are 2 parts to the study. In the first part, the authors use descriptive statistics and various univariate parametric procedures to observe differences/ similarities in variability and mean scores over the period of the study. The results show that the variability in the scoring approaches across sectors were not statistically different. The mean consensus scores, however, were statistically different from the mean site visit scores. The second part of the study uses multivariate analysis to assess any significant difference in means between award winners and non-award winners for the consensus and site visit scores. The results show a significant difference between award winners and non-award winners for all 7 category scores using the site visit data but a different pattern for the consensus scores. The study confirms examiner consistency and reliability, as well as the need for all applicants to be given a site visit tour during the award program.