Organizational excellence is designed for permanent change by focusing on managing the five key pillars. Each of these five organizational pillars is not new by itself. The key to organizational excellence is combining and managing them together. The five pillars are:

• Pillar 1: process management

• Pillar 2: project management

• Pillar 3: change management

• Pillar 4: knowledge management

• Pillar 5: resource management

There is standard of “Excellence” in organizations - EFQM Excellence Model (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EFQM_Excellence_Model).

"Excellence" needs to be felt, sensed and perceived in an organization. It has two faces: Quantitative (in terms of some vital performance indicators), and qualitative (where you can sense and feel. The quantitative part me based on "hard" data and facts whereas qualitative part may be based on"soft" aspects mainly dealing with human behavior and psyche. Thus we can say that "Excellence " is a composite phenomenon to be felt, seen and sensed !

EFQM and other such award models may act as operational template for pursuing "Excellence " but the "strategic" part comes from the top management: the way they feel and sense !!

Although I acknowledge the difficulty of the question, I think excellence in organisations is their ability to engage, create and exchange value with their communities.

Dear Mahfuz

The main proponent of the theory of excellence from organizations was Robert Monks gave him the beginning of the consolidation of corporate governance in organizations .

As an entrepreneur and executive organizations , Robert Monks identified an administrative aberration, represented by the situation where the owners of organizations usually do not establish the management model and the strategies of organizations , but top executives .

This theory seeks contributions for administrative efficiency of organizations as a fully structured logic and available form , working with administrative processes focused on people in an agile way to facilitate learning and applying the teachings in administrative organizations , as well as the interaction of consolidated administrative knowledge and events within their own organizations .

The world is constantly changing . At any moment , companies are born and die , new jobs are created and other jobs are closed , there are new technologies and situations with which we were accustomed , disappear . This is nothing new , it always changes occurred in the world . So what 's different ? The big difference is the speed with which changes occur in the new times .

The news is communicated to everyone in near real time , problems in China or the United States affect the entire world before the day is over , technology made ​​to last decades , disappear in a few years .

At other times , organizations had time to adapt to changes . Today , expect the occurrence of events and then adapt or take too long to make decisions is synonymous with difficulties or being " swallowed " by the competition.

Organizations need to be agile , proactive , innovative , able to anticipate changes . Moreover , it is also necessary to pay attention to the needs of customers , suppliers , employees, shareholders and the community . Needs have also evolved over the years , bringing up issues such as quality of life , clean technology , social responsibility , among others .

In light of this context, how to survive ? How to Grow ? How to become an excellent company ? An organization is excellent when it reaches results for all stakeholders in an ethical , sustainable and through good management practices form . Response is the management . Management able to address in a balanced way , the interests of all parties involved and committed to achieve results that allow growth

I am often asked what steps an organization needs to take to put them on the path to excellence. This question is an especially import for new leaders to ask upon assuming responsibility for a new organization, whether it is a small department or a large corporation. Here are four essentials that I believe any organization must master in order to attain excellence in their industry.

1. Define Mission, Vision and Values.

A mission statement describes why you exist. I believe that mission statements need to be short, specific and memorable. Remember, ambiguity is the enemy of progress.

A vision statement describes what success looks like. Vision statements should be aspirational and inspirational—ambitious and inspiring. Like missions, vision statements need to be brief and memorable. It is also helpful to know how you will measure success. While this doesn’t have to be a part of the statement itself, it is important to know how to measure your progress.

An organization’s Values describe what is important to the organization in terms of culture and individual behavior. Values define acceptable standards of behavior for individuals in the organization. Common values include such things as teamwork, integrity, and respect. It is important to both determine and define these for your organization.

2. Build Effective Leaders.

Who are the leaders in your organization? The first step is to identify them and the second is to grow them. An organization can never have too many leaders. Look for the people who are:

• influential;

• respected;

• trustworthy;

• problem solvers;

• doers learners;

• optimists.

Mentor these people. Get them training where needed and don’t hesitate to use the services of a good executive coach helping them grow. Above all, encourage them. Let your leaders know that they are appreciated and valued.

3. Build an Effective Organization

Organizational effectiveness is the concept of how effective an organization is in achieving the outcomes the organization intends to produce. In other words, organizational effectiveness is all about getting the right people, structures and processes in place to achieve the organization’s mission and vision while adhering to the organization’s stated values.

It begins with having the right people in the right places. Are your people in roles that play to their strengths? Is the structure right in terms of span of control and alignment with internal and external customers? Do your people have the skills needed to do their jobs today and in the future? Each of these needs to be addressed as they are the foundation stones of organizational effectiveness.

The second component is the processes and procedures that define how the organization operates. An effective organization is also an efficient one. Disciplines such as business process management, lean and six sigma and total quality management, to name a few, are used to improve business processes. Never underestimate the importance of the process in building an effective organization.

The third component is culture. Does the organization’s culture encourage and reward compliance with the stated values? Clear and regular communication from the top and a performance management system that rewards and recognizes desired behaviors and deals swiftly and decisively with undesirable ones is a must.

4. Learn to Navigate Change

The final component for achieving organizational excellence is the ability to recognize, respond and navigate through change. One does not “manage” change any more than one manages the weather. An experienced pilot or ship’s captain navigates through a storm, they don’t manage it. The key words here are “navigate” and “through.” Navigation involves spotting and avoiding obstacles such as icebergs, thunderstorms, and dangerous crosswinds. Great leaders and great organizations are also great navigators of the changing landscape. Navigating through a storm means that you emerge intact on the other side. That is also the goal of navigating an organization through change. Done correctly, the organization emerges not only intact, but also better and stronger.

Change is inevitable, sometimes continuous, frequently disruptive and always stressful. It is also totally predictable. No modern industry is immune. The key for success is to respond, not react. In response, you are in control. When reacting, someone, or something, else is in control. Excellent organizations learn to respond to change.

Excellent organizations are also effective at leading change, both internally and within their industries and, in some cases, the broader economy. They have the will and self-discipline to change themselves when change is needed in order to grow and prosper. They also have the ability to, as a result of changing themselves, lead broader change that re-defines or creates totally new markets and industries.

Finally, these four steps to organizational excellence are not a one-time event. They are an ongoing process and require focus, persistence and a lot of hard work. It is precisely for this reason that excellent organizations are so rare.

The six essential factors of organisation excellence were set by Dr. Mrunal Asher and considered as the backbone for any business to succeed in fierce competitive environments:

1. Right Customer Focus which includes identifying and then connecting customers with relevant products and services.

2. Consolidation of Current Business including restructuring, mergers, acquisitions and more.

3. Operational Efficiency across the organization. Dr. Asher suggests this step may be most important for long-term profitability and includes things like TQM and benchmarking activities.

4. Exploring New Markets.

5. Human Resource Management which includes attracting, retaining, developing, and career planning.

6. Corporate Image Building by developing the company’s reputation in the mind of customers.

Source: http://leadershipfreak.wordpress.com/2011/04/17/six-steps-to-organizational-excellence/

Excellence in an organisation starts with the structure of an organisation. The structure of an organisation should have the following properties:

1. coherence: the structure of an organisation must hang together (be coherent).

2. relation: there should be an obvious relation that induces the organisational structure. For example, those parts of an organisation that conceptually close to each other should be grouped together in a sub-organisation.

3. threads (paths): Viewed from the outside, there should be an obvious way to find a thread leading from one part to another part of an organisation.

When all the tasks and projects of any organisation is running smoothly, every employee is doing their job by his interest and not under any compulsion or fear also if there is no conflict between them then we can say the organisation has achieved Excellence.

Regards,

Nitish

Nitish,

Some would say that an organization is alive, provided there is some conflict within the organization.

Dear Nitish,

Thank you for your answer. I agree with you, but I believe that organizational conflict is necessary sometimes for improvement and development, and if it is inside the organization to a certain limit it is healthy.

Dear Mahfuz,

A good example of organisational conflict can be found in nature, where species interact in a combative way sometimes for survival of the fitest.

I think, Excellence is a goal that is not impossible, it is attainable and needs to be reformed by good team.

To me Excellence is helping people

As much as there is help, we can conclude that more excellence is there.

Building the basics for helping people requires us to understand what are the needs of those people.

So, setting with our people is the first step in the "excellence".

Excellence in "organization" could be understood as achieving goals within the scheduled period of time. However the ratio qualitative vs. quantitative object must be proportional to the quality target. Excellence in organization must be built on clear objectives with the available tools and means for a fixed calendar; and must be conducted with successful and frontrunner people. The organizational framework must be smart,flexible, challenging and offering opportunities to ever body to raise excellence with balance to social equity's rights.

Excellence refers to the ability of the organization to exceed stakeholders' expectations in terms of performance. It necessitates three things: appropriate strategy, structure (meaning organization structure, people in the organization, incentives for doing better, people involvement processes so as to promote a feel of bye-in, and conducive systems and processes), and action for execution of the strategy, plans and programs. Often, organizations are not able to attain excellence because of incompetent leadership, bad systems and procedures,and ineffective recruitment system. Also, top management has issues or hierarchy, insecurity and ego that inhibit it to treat people down the line with dignity. Authoritarianism further promotes mediocrity and obfuscates excellence..

Excellence is defined as the capability of any oeganization to succeed in its objectives and projects.

To achieve excellence requires that the organizational system is effective and efficient. It is a management sytem that allows to achieve and measure results relative to objectives and relative to competitors.

Excellence is the journey towards the goal of reaching a High Performing Work System (HPWS). A HPWS is one that is able to attain its goals, and has the capability to do so over a period of time even during adverse circumstances. Often people look at excellence only from a lens of current performance and not a process towards the higher vision and goals.

Dear Prof. Mahfuz

Excellence It refers to an integrated approach to organizational performance management that results in,

•Delivery of ever-improving value to customers, investors and stakeholders, contributing to organizational sustainability.

•Improvement of overall organizational effectiveness and capabilities.

Organizational excellence is designed for permanent change by focusing on managing the five key pillars, seen in the figure on page 64. Each of these five organizational pillars is not new by itself. The key to organizational excellence is combining and managing them together. The five pillars are:

• Pillar 1: process management

• Pillar 2: project management

• Pillar 3: change management

• Pillar 4: knowledge management

• Pillar 5: resource management

Can we organizations' tendency to the excellence relate to economizing on transaction costs?

Excellence is satisfying the yearnings and expectations of all stakeholders. this will include offering the best quality, at minimal cost, at the right time and place to the satisfaction of customers, management, stockholders, governement and employees themselves .

Dear Mahfuz,

I think there should be clarity about in which field the company wants to be excellent. It may difficult and probably even misleading to strive for excellence in each and every aspect. This may be the old idea of Porter that the company may be stuck in the middle if it does not adopt a clear strategic profile. I think this view also applies to excellence. 

Paul

Excellence is striving to be better performer relatively to other competitors whether it is in terms of performance, productivity, systems, processes. It can be through 1st degree or 2nd degree change model. We cannot excel in every thing we do but only to certain level that is limited to few only.