Your final assignment is what has become known as a reflective paper. If you go back a unit or two, you’ll be reminded that the Baldrige Process uses self-assessment as a primary tool for gaining insight into not only what you (or your organization) have done but what you’re doing and how will you change and improve. It’s a powerful tool and is the basis for many quality initiatives today, including those used by our business school accrediting body, the Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP) and our university’s regional accrediting authority, the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC.)

Therefore in lieu of an exam or test you’re being asked to compose a reflective paper. In this exercise, you should cover the requirements in a thoughtful, measured way.Think about what you have learned or maybe about what you wished you had learned but didn’t. This is to be the work of a developing scholar and practitioner of quality systems and approaches to thinking about academics, business, organization, self, etc. It’s a serious work of self-assessment in the Baldrige tradition.

TIPS and SUGGESTIONS:

**Consider writing about ANY of the topics we covered this term- aim for 1-2 full content pages and support your ideas and work with in-text citations.

Suggested sections for your paper: (1-2 full pages of content)

(1) Introduction

(2) Review of the Baldrige Principles (contrast with other quality systems if you like

(3) Overview of Organizational issues (look back to our discussions/readings)

(4) Review of personal and organizational learning (look back to the discussions/readings).

(5)- Summary of areas of your greatest (or least if necessary) development or understanding

(6) Conclusion

Here is a brief review of the topics covered this term:

Unit 1: Introduction and History

Why this course?
Malcolm Baldrige
Deming, Juran, Ishikawa & friends
Alphabet soup; SQC/SPC/TQM/ Six Sigma
Unit 2: Core principles

Visionary leadership
Customer-centered excellence
Organizational and personal learning
Valuing workforce members and partners
Agility
Focus on the future
Managing for innovation
Management by fact
Societal responsibility
Focus on results and creating value
Systems perspective
Unit 3: Leadership & Strategic Planning

Leadership basics
Strategic Thinking
Unit 4: Customer Focus

Stakeholders vs. Stockholders
Who is the Customer? Basic Stakeholder Analysis
Internal and External Customers
Unit 5: Measurement & Analysis

What do we measure?
Why do we measure?
What do we do with the measurements?
Unit 6: Workforce Focus

Learning organizations
Organizational and personal learning
Valuing workforce members and partners
Unit 7: Operations Focus

Management by fact
Societal responsibility
Focus on results and creating value
Systems perspective
Operations Focus discussion
Unit 8: Results & Wrap-up

Applying the learning
Closing the loop