MBNQA criteria used in the GCC countries

Purpose: Quality criteria of The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA) have been used as a standard for organisational self-assessment and benchmarking. The threefold purpose of this paper is: to analyse the individual weights of the MBNQA criteria for organisations of the construction and the manufacturing industry within the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) countries in order to create a basis for self-assessment and benchmarking; to identify differences of criteria importance between the construction and the manufacturing industry (external alignment) in order to identify challenging areas on TQM when two organisations from the respective industries collaborate; and to compare the perspectives of project managers with those of quality management representatives (internal alignment) in order to identify challenging areas on an organisation's TQM caused by not aligned or contradicting perspectives.

Design/methodology/approach: Questionnaire based in-depth interviews of GCC project managers and quality management representatives were analysed using a fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (AHP) to calculate the weights and subsequent ranking of seven quality criteria.

Findings: When compared to the original weights of the MBNQA criteria, the 'results' criterion was found to be ranked the same. However, clear differences were identified regarding the criteria 'leadership' and 'measurement/analysis'. The differences between the two analysed industries were not significant, whereas project managers and quality management representatives have clearly differing views on all seven criteria.

Originality/value: First, the analysed ranking of MBNQA quality criteria in the GCC countries gives organisations of the construction and the manufacturing industry a benchmark for comparison with their ranking of the MBNQA criteria. Second, clients may assume a common and hence strong basis for TQM when organisations belonging to the construction industry collaborate with organisations belonging to the manufacturing industry. Third, the organisations' internal communication between project managers and quality management representatives needs to be improved in order to pursue common TQM goals effectively.