The EFQM (European Foundation for Quality Management) is a European foundation based in Brussels that was founded in 1988 by 14 European companies (Bosch, BT, Bull, Ciba-Geigy, Dassault, Electrolux, Fiat, KLM, Nestlé, Olivetti, Philips, Renault, Sulzer, Volkswagen) with the support of the European Commission. The EFQM now has more than 700 member organizations.
The goal of this not-for-profit organization is to promote a methodological framework for evaluating quality improvement.
The EFQM model for excellence is based on a concept that consists in evaluating quality according to 9 key criteria:
Leadership
Management of employees
Policy and strategy
Partnerships and resources
Processes
Employee satisfaction
Client satisfaction
Integration into the community
Operational results
This criteria are balanced out and divided into two categories: Factors (corresponding to the first five criteria) and Results (the last four) so that a company is able to quantify the level of quality achieved and position itself in comparison with other companies.
Article written on 16 December 2004 by Jean-François Pillou
