The EFQM excellence model in a research centre

Purpose – This paper aims to report the adoption of the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) Excellence Model as a self-assessment tool throughout the organization framework of a Research and Development Centre.
Design/methodology/approach – The level of organizational maturity was ascertained through the elaboration of the management document proposed by the EFQM. This document, with a simple format, adopts the EFQM Excellence Model to describe the main approaches followed by the organization, how they are being implemented and what results have been achieved.
Findings – The document prepared and elaborated made possible the identification of ten organizational improvement activities. A prioritization of the activities to be implemented was carried out using three criteria, and five (out of ten) were chosen to be implemented in the short term. For each one of the five improvements, an improvement plan was elaborated, with a description of the purpose, the execution time, the current state and the alignment with the strategic objectives of the organization. As described in the literature review, it was possible to conclude that the EFQM Excellence Model is not only an effective tool to strategic objectives of the organization, but also a way to check how they are being implemented and reached. In addition, after this work it was possible to verify that some actions described in
the strategic plan were not implemented and were thus identified as improvement actions to be carried out.
Originality/value – The application of EFQM Excellence Model in a Research Centre is the main contribution of this work.

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EFQM Excellence Model, Self-assessment, Continuous Improvement, Research Centre