STMicroelectronics uses the EFQM

CASE
STUDY

Excellence Model as a framework for

achieving its mission, vision, and
goals effectively and efficiently.

Using the
EFQM Model
Effectively
Maneesh Dutt, Dipak Biswas, Pradeep Arora, and Nirmallya Kar

he benefits of using the EFQM (formerly the European Foundation

for Quality Management) Excellence
Model cannot be overemphasized for
organizations that are serious about
channeling their growth and keeping ahead in challenging times. The
simplicity of the model is its greatest strength; however, organizations
still can fail to reap the models fullest value if certain ground rules and
guidelines are not followed consistently. In this article we share our
journey and learnings over the last five
years in the deployment of the EFQM
model in our organization. We look
at the drivers of the EFQM model, the
improvement trends over the years, the
critical exercise of selecting the objectives, the advantages of the model, and
some challenges faced.
The EFQM Excellence Model is a
framework for organizational management systems designed for helping
organizations in their drive toward
being more competitive. Regardless
of sector, size, structure, or maturity,

organizations need to establish appropriate management systems to achieve

success. The EFQM model is a practical
tool for helping organizations accomplish this by measuring where they are
on the path to excellence, helping them
understand their gaps, and stimulating
solutions.1
The model can be used in the following four ways:2
A framework to help organizations
develop tangible and measurable
visions and goals.
A framework to help organizations
identify and understand the systemic nature of their business, the
key linkages, and cause-and-effect
relationships.
The basis for the EFQM Excellence
Award, a process which recognizes
companies most successful (internal
and external) customer experiences
that achieve organizational targets
guided by mission statements.
A diagnostic tool for assessing the
current health of the organization.

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11

Policy Deployment Application

In our organization we have used the EFQM
model primarily for defining and monitoring
company-wide objectives. Today, our EFQM model
deployment, known as policy deployment, is
recognized easily by all employees across the
globe. From our perspective, the main drivers for
this are described below:
Large organization. STMicroelectronic has more
than 2,000 employees and operations spread
over two major sites in India. To integrate these
operations across multifarious product lines
and central functions, it was imperative to have
a simple model on which the company targets
could be stated clearly and communicated
widely.
Need for prioritization. An organization of our
size has a number of goals to achieve annually;
however, without a mechanism for prioritizing
these goals, the organization can fail to achieve
both efficient and effective results. The EFQM
model helps identify the company goals clearly,
which should ensure greater management focus.
An additional in-house approach, described in
the next section of this article, further helps
prioritize our goals in a systematic way.
Continuous improvement. The EFQM model provides not only an excellent snapshot of the
organizations achievements but also helps in
charting future directions by clearly identifying
focus areas for improvements. Over a period
of about five years, we estimate that nearly
all of our objectives changed, becoming more
stringent, institutionalized, and/or no longer
relevant to the overall company directions.
Need for a holistic model. The growth of an
organization cannot be judged completely by
its financial results because they are primarily
a snapshot of the organizations performance,
subject to influences such as the macro environment in which it operates. The holistic approach
of the EFQM model across its nine pillars
(leadership; strategy; people; partnerships and
resources; processes, products, and services;
customer results; people results; society results;
and key results). It provides a platform for the
organization to identify areas of improvement
and, therefore, secure long-term growth.

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Figure 1: T he Flow of the Objectives From the

Corporate Annual Priorities (CAPs) to
Individual Objectives

CAPs
Organizational
policy deployment

Departmental
policy deployment

Individual objectives

Selecting and Monitoring Objectives

The effectiveness of EFQM model deployment
depends on the selection of an appropriate set
of objectives, a strong relationship between the
results and enablers, and management focus on
their monitoring and reporting.
At the end of each year, local management
answers the question, Where would we like our
operations to be at the end of the next year?
Interpreted vis--vis the EFQM model, the initial
focus is on the results and subsequently to their
enablers. In addition to these inputs, objectives
from corporate and regional annual priorities
also are included, provided they have a local
relevance. The essence of the whole model is to
translate corporate annual priorities into individual objectives, as captured in Figure 1.
The draft objectives then are tested in using
our internally developed approach to determine
the most relevant ones. This model shown in
Table 1 involves weighing each objective against
the following parameters:
What level of impact will the objective have on
the operation?
What strength or weakness would the objective
address?
How unique would the objective be for the
given year?

Table 1: Objectives Selection Model With the First Two Enablers Detailed for Explanation

Policy Deployment: ST India

Enablers
1

Leadership

Target

Corresponding
Who
Result

Impact?

Weakness?

Unique for
Current Year

1.1 Objective A

XX

YY

6.4

High

1.2 Objective B

XX

YY

6.1

High

1.3 Objective C

XX

YY

6.1, 6.3

High

1.4 Objective D

XX

YY

7.1

High

1.5 Objective E

XX

YY

8.2

High

2.1 Objective A

XX

YY

6.1

High

2.2 Objective B

XX

YY

6.1

High

2.3 Objective C

XX

YY

6.1

Medium

2.4 Objective D

XX

YY

6.1

Medium

2.5 Objective E

XX

YY

6.1

Medium

Policies and Strategies

People Management

Resources and Partnership

Processes

Results
6

Customer Results

People Results

Society Results

Business Results

Would the objective be associated with efficiency or effectiveness?

until a sufficient maturity level is attained to

define them.

Answering these questions for each proposed

objective makes it a relatively easy task to identify
the ones that are critical for operations without
exceeding five objectives for any of the EFQM
pillars.
Important points to consider at this stage
include the following:

Relationship between results and enablers. A

strong correlation between the results and the
enablers is a must for good EFQM deployment. Results indicate where we are headed,
and the enablers define the actions or how to
achieve the results. For example, a result could
be to have zero injuries, and the corresponding enabler could tie to employee health and
safety training hours.

SMART objectives. Objectives need to be specific, measurable, ambitious, realistic, and

time bound (SMART). We do encounter a
few objectives, however, that are important
to the organizations overall mission/vision
but which must be tracked initially based
on activities completed against the objective

Data collection, analysis, and reporting. A standard questionnaire for reporting quarterly
progress is circulated to the owners of the
respective goals. The results from various owners then are compiled to provide the status at

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13

the top level of the

policy deployment.
A random audit of
the reported results
also ensures reliability of the data
received.
Management commitment. This is
crucial to the success of the EFQM
model deployment.
In our organization,
the
operations,
strategic business
units, and all the
staff function heads
meet every quarter,
and the management representative
presents the status
of all the objectives. We use the
red-orange-green
lights method to
indicate
objectives not achieved,
in progress, and
completed.

Figure 2: The Overall Policy Deployment Cycle Based on the EFQM Model
Relationship established
between results and
enablers

SMART goals
ext
or n es
f
k
v
bac
ecti
Feed of obj
e
cycl

Selecting the right

set of objectives

Implement corrective
and/or preventive
actions

Objectives data
collection, analysis,
and monitoring

Management reporting
of quarterly progress

Figure 3: S ample Radar Chart Indicating the Performance of the Objectives

Over a Year of all the EFQM Pillars
Leadership
100.0
Business results
91.5

80.0
60.0

74.0

Policy and strategy

73.3

40.0
Society results

20.0

89.6 People
management

88.3
Gap
analysis.
0.0
During the management-review
50.0
meetings a strong
Resource and
People results
72.2
46.7
focus is placed on
partnership
49.1
any slipping objective. A gap analysis
or root-cause analCustomer results
Processes
ysis is conducted
to enable corimplementation cycle, one of the following stratrective or preventive actions on deviating
objectives.
egies would be likely selected for each objective:
The complete policy deployment from definition, to objectives monitoring, reporting,
and implementation of corrective/preventive
actions is captured in Figure 2. The critical
element for continuous improvement is the
feedback/learnings provided to refine the next
cycle of policy deployment. After an entire

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Dropping the objective if it has either lost its

context or been instititutionalized well.
Making the objective more stringent if there
has been a strategic change in the organizations mission/vision or the associated process
has matured beyond expectations and become
capable of delivering better outcomes.

Figure 4: T rend Analysis of the Results, Enablers,

and Overall Score
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0

79 77
67

Enablers

70

74 71

60

Results
Y07

80

75

Y08

Overall Score
Y09

Continue with the same objective if it could

not be achieved in the previous cycle, repeating it for another cycle with the same target.

Trend and Interpretations Over the Years

As the objectives vary each year depending on
their priorities, the consistent usage of the model
elaborated in the previous sections allows for an
effective analysis. Graphic displays are helpful for
portraying the results.
The radar chart,3 a sample of which appears in
Figure 3, is used to provide a quick snapshot of
the performance in a given year. It easily identifies the respective EFQM enabler or result
needing improvement. The scoring for each of
the pillars is derived from the performances
of individual objectives, which are rated on a
scale of 0 to 100 percent in steps of 25 percent.
For a trend analysis, the traditional bar chart
serves the purpose well, as indicated in Figure
4; however, these graphs need to be analyzed
carefully because the objectives change from
year to year.

by focusing on a variety of objectives, forming

a holistic picture for the organizations development. This is particularly useful for large
organizations.
Formal focus on prioritized items. An organization has a mix of transformational and
operational responsibilities. The EFQM model
provides a formal platform for defining the
right mix of these two types of responsibilities. The regular review and monitoring of the
objectives ensures that top management is
focused systematically and spends time and
energy on the prioritized items. This is a very
powerful means of providing a common sense
of purpose throughout the organization.1
Simple and intuitive. The biggest advantage
of the model is its simplicity and the ease of
its deployment. The intuitive understanding
of the model helps make dissemination easy
across the organization and ensures that top
management spends more time on what is
going into the model rather than in learning
the framework. Additionally, once the SMART
objectives are established, the monitoring and
reporting of these against the framework is
relatively straightforward.
The enabler advantage. The EFQM model drives
the message that the results can only be a consequence of well-considered and timely enablers.
The results may indicate the performance for
a given period; however, it is the enablers that
shed light on whether or not these results will
be sustainable. An effective deployment of the
model actually forces the definition of the right
enablers corresponding to the results, which is a
distinct advantage provided by this framework.

Having experienced the EFQM model over the

years, we can state confidently that it has become
an indispensable tool for achieving our objectives
year after year. The main advantages of the EFQM
model are as follows:

Means of displaying management commitment.

When communicated across the organization
to all the employees, the EFQM model sends a
strong message of managements commitment
to continuous improvement. At the same time,
it helps in building a strong internal brand
image of the organization. Figure 5 gives an
example of how the EFQM model can be packaged appropriately for an organization-wide
communication.

Organizational synergy. The model is able to

bring out the synergy among all stakeholders

Well-managed change, minimizing recurring problems.1 The objective status is reviewed by site

Summary of Advantages of the EFQM Model

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management
during
quarterly meetings,
and appropriate changes are
made
when
necessary.

Figure 5: Sample Poster Used for EFQM Model Objectives Communication

Enablers

Results
Leadership

Customer results

Objective A
Objective B
Objective C
Objective D

Objective A
Objective B
Objective C
Objective D

Business results

Resources and partnerships

Objective A
Objective B
Objective C
Objective D

Objective A
Objective B
Objective C
Objective D

Processes
Objective A
Objective B
Objective C
Objective D

Our Path to Sustainable Excellence

Deciding on results and enablers. It is critical

that the EFQM pillars of results are selected
and connected with the enablers required to
achieve the desired performance. This minimizes the confusion as to whether an objective
should be put under results or enablers.
Ensuring a sufficient number of transformational objectives. As highlighted previously, the
growth of an organization occurs not only
by doing the essential operational things but
also by taking on a sufficient number of transformational objectives. These are objectives
which provide the fuel for an organization to
attain a leadership and benchmark position.
Dropping redundant/non-value-added goals. At the
end of every year, it is important to review the
objectives not only with respect to whether the
targets were achieved but also for the organizational value they added. For example, the
Quality & Participation

Objective A
Objective B
Objective C
Objective D

Objective A
Objective B
Objective C
Objective D

Although the EFQM model is simple and intuitive, it is important to be aware of some potential
challenges during its implementationespecially
when first using it.

for

Society results

People management

Some Challenges and Learnings

The Journal

Objective A
Objective B
Objective C
Objective D

Objective A
Objective B
Objective C
Objective D

Engaged
and
motivated people
and other stakeholders.1 Having
an
organizational
clarity
about the goals
to achieve and
the management
commitment
for
necessary
resources
to
achieve them are
strong factors
that can increase
e m p l o y e e
engagement.

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People results

Policy and strategy

April 2012

deployment of a quality program in a given

year may be important, but in the subsequent
year the focus may shift with a need to measure
its returns.
Include sufficient effectiveness indicators.4 When
using the EFQM model for defining and achieving objectives, there may be a tendency to define
a large number of efficiency indicators that relate
to improving internal resource utilization, rather
than effectiveness indicators, which relate more
directly to customer needs and perspectives.
Establishing a more balanced set of indicators
helps in selecting and prioritizing the appropriate objectives under each of the EFQM pillars.
Root-cause analysis for slipping goals. Reviewing
and monitoring the EFQM objectives progress
should always be in conjunction with an eight
disciplines (8D) or root-cause analysis of goals
whose performance is deviating from their targets. This can focus the attention of the objective
owner on taking appropriate corrective actions.

Summary
The EFQM Excellence Model is undoubtedly an
effective and simple mechanism for an organization

to use in defining, monitoring, and achieving its

annual objectives. The model provides sufficient
flexibility for large and small organizations to
derive long-lasting benefits by identifying areas of
improvement and injecting transformational goals
in sufficient numbers. Organizations can master
use of the EFQM model over time if they are careful to avoid the common pitfalls and integrate
appropriately with internal practices, as described
in this case study.

References
1. European Foundation for Quality Management
official website, www.efqm.org/en/.
2. A. Bading, A. Dalluege, J. Frech, and J. Warschat,
AnaFactSupport of the EFQM Model of Excellence,
http://www.ibk.eu/dokumente/veroeffentlichungen/
AnaFact.pdf, pp. 4.
3. Introduction to the EFQM Model 2010, Deutsche
Gesellschaft fur Qualitat, www.dgq.de/dateien/
EFQMModel.pdf.
4. S. Thuwani, EFQM 2010: Key Changes and Impact,
Dubai Quality GroupEvening Seminar, Dec. 9, 2009.

The four authors are employees of STMicroelectronics,

India operations unit. STMicroelectronics is a world
leader in providing semiconductor solutions.

Maneesh Dutt
Maneesh Dutt is a group manager, central engineering
and consultancy and management representative. He
is responsible for the deployment of ISO standards for
quality, information security, health, and safety, and also
for intellectual property protection for ST India operations.
Dutt can be reached at [email protected].

Dipak Biswas
Dipak Biswas is a senior program managerquality in
the home entertainment division. He is involved in the
deployment of ISO 9001:2008, ISO/TS 16949, and CMMI.
Biswas can be reached by email at [email protected].

Pradeep Arora
Pradeep Arora is the program managerquality and
facilitates the deployment of ISO 9001:2008, ISO/TS 16949,
and ISO 27001 at the ST Greater Noida and Bangalore
operations. He is a lead auditor for ISO 9001 and also
a team leader for a few Six Sigma projects at the site.
Contact him at [email protected].

Nirmallya Kar
Nirmallya Kar is a senior program manager and is
responsible for the program management methodology in
the department. He is also a lead auditor for ISO 9001
ISO/TS 16949 at the site and a certified IPMA-D project
manager. Kar can be contacted at [email protected].

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