The new unified model of Excellence in the Kingdom, issued by King Abdulaziz Quality Award, is one of the main principals in the process of enabling and promoting the scientific model of the award, due to its important role in the process of national quality in the Kingdom. When designing the model and setting its main and sub standards, a number of key elements were taken into consideration to make it a national unified model for quality and organizational excellence in all the Kingdom's sectors.
The importance of developing the model becomes clear when looking at the world's growing interest in quality awards and programs, and in organizational excellence. Based on its importance and role in improving the performance, upgrading the level of services and local products and enabling them to reach regional and global competitiveness.
The Kingdom is not isolated from all this global mobility. Therefore, our wise government has paid great attention to the adoption of quality and organizational excellence concepts. The launch of King Abdulaziz Quality Award is a significant milestone in the process of quality and organizational excellence in the Kingdom. This interest has been culminated with the launch of the National Vision for Quality, 2020 which states that " the Kingdom becomes a worldwide standard for quality and accuracy with its products and services". At the same time SASO has launched the National Strategic Project for Quality, for which it has adopted the model of King AbdulAziz Quality Award as a basis to determine the efficiency level of quality and organizational excellence concepts. In addition, the program measures the readiness of major business sectors in the Kingdom, and to know the current gap in our way to reach the aimed global level with products and services by 2020.
Dr. Saad Al Kasabi, Governor of SASO, Secretary General of the Award, points that the new model of Excellence is built on the basis of empowering the principles of quality and organizational excellence in a scientific way, according to the best international practices and local environment. The model specifies the requirements of excellence and draws a frame of reference in a systematic application. This means that the structure is integrated, its parts are interconnected, expressive in its meaning and clear in its terms to suit all sectors in the Kingdom, not just one specific sector.
The Foundations of the Model
The Excellence model is based on three main foundations; the main principles of quality and organizational excellence, which consists of 9 principles that represent the foundation of excellence, they are; taking leadership by inspiring and setting a good example, placing interest in human resources, focusing on beneficiaries and managing operations. In addition to developing successful partnerships, continuous learning and improvement, promoting creativity and innovation, adapting social responsibility, and achieving superior and sustainable results.
The second foundation is based on the institutional standards of excellence, which are eight main standards divided into two parts; possibilities and results. The last foundation is concerned with the adopted assessment mechanism , which was specially developed for the Award.
Formulating the Model's Content
In order to achieve a unified frame of reference for all sectors in the Kingdom, the terminology and phrases have been formulated in a scientific way to make it easier to understand the information, and it is not indicated for any specific sector. Accordingly, all sectors within the unified framework of standards will have to apply it within their own context, in line with the nature of their work. Therefore, we have created a standards guide for establishments, an instructional guide for result indicators, and a terminology guide.
King Abdulaziz Quality Award .. a National Goal
Dr. Saad Al kasasbi says that SASO ensured that King Abdulaziz Quality Award becomes a scientific and technical reference for establishments wishing to develop their products and services. He assured that the Award is comparable to other international quality awards, as it is based on global standards to raise the quality of goods and services, to improve the performance and to develop the concept of quality and excellence in the establishments.
The approval to establish King Abdulaziz Quality Award has been issued by the King in 27/11/1420 AH corresponding to 03/03/2000, since then it has been the only national award specialized in quality and excellence in the Kingdom. The reason behind establishing the award is to raise the level of quality, efficiency and productivity in the Kingdom's various sectors. The award is granted to sectors which achieve high standards of excellence. Since then, many establishments in the Kingdom's various sectors compete for it.
The award aims to develop various sectors of the Kingdom through the application of systematic global standards, which lead to performance excellence and promote best practices. Therefore, the Award issued the new model of excellence this year throughout the kingdom.
Sectors included in the Award for its 3rd Session
Dr. Alkasabi clarified that the third session is specified for seven categories of the private sector, which are; large and medium service and production establishments, private universities, private educational schools and private hospitals. The award is given to one winner in each category from the mentioned sectors after competing with similar establishments applying for the award. The award is given to establishments after evaluating their performance according to the award's criteria. The winning establishment may use the Award's logo in its publications, provided that they mention the year of winning.
Application procedures
The Governor explained that the application must be submitted through King Abdulaziz Quality Award's website http://www.kaqa.org.sa Applicants must take into account the registration period, fill the initial application form and attach all requirements. Afterwards, the initial application will be reviewed and an email containing details of payment will be sent to the establishment in case of approval. When payment is made, the establishment will receive an email to attend a training course on how to write a biography for an establishment. After attending the course, establishments will be given a specific time period to submit their biographies. After examining and reviewing the biographies, the commission responsible for the Award informs the establishment about the date of field assessment and the requirements that may be needed by the Award or residents. Later on, reports and evaluating teams will be discussed by the judging committee, which consists of quality experts in order to take out the final report and approve it.
Specialized Training Courses
The management of the award presents specialized training courses in order to enable individuals and establishments to understand the new excellence model and the followed evaluation mechanism. Training activities include the following programs:
- 3 day participation report writing program for establishments. The program aims to train establishments on the concepts of organizational excellence and the components of the Excellence model, in addition to writing participation reports.
- 4 day organizational excellence evaluator program for King Abdulaziz Quality Award. It aims to prepare individuals in general and workers in various establishments, to learn the organizational evaluation mechanism and concepts of the Award.
- 3 day internal auditor program. Aims to prepare individuals within various establishments and enable them to conduct self-assessment of their establishments in accordance with the Award's Excellence model.
- 2 day organizational development program, based on participation reports and improvement opportunities. It is intended for establishments that have undergone the process of evaluation and received a report on it. It aims to achieve the maximum benefit from the report.