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Prof.Dr. Helmut Klages

„CAF beyond Self-Assessment – Possible Paths of Development“

Rome, November 17th 2003

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Self-Assess-ment

Transition to more sophisticated models

Benchmarking

Proceeding to subsequent Stages of the TQM - Process

CAF beyond Self-Assessment – Possible Paths of Development

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A Subjective Assessment of the three Possible Paths of Development

• Transition to more sophisticated models: The original concept. Had its time as legitimizing ideology!

• Benchmarking: Everybody speaks about it - with good reasons!

• Proceeding to subsequent stages of the TOM-Process: The most promising looking sleeping beauty!

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Why is ‚Proceeding to Subsequent Stages of the TQM-Process‘ looking most Promising?

It suggests itself as a ‚natural‘ option;

it promises immediately available results (quick wins);

it is easy;

it is therefore a most rewarding and highly recommendable option!

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Why is Proceeding to the subsequent stages of the TQM-Process a ‚natural‘ option?

The basic pattern of the TOM-Process is the management-cycle; (Self-) assessment, i.e. the immediate concern of the CAF, is one of its indispensable elements.

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Basic Scheme of the Management Cycle

Vision, & Mission Statement

(Self-) Assessment of quality of enablers and results

Conceptualisation and implementationof measures

Evaluation of process and results

Learning

Goal setting

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Just for Recollection: Questions to Ans-wer in the Course of the Manag.-Cycle

• Vision / Mission Statement: Where do we want to go?

• (Self-) Assessment: Where are we right now?

• Goal Setting: What has to be done to get ahead?

• Conceptualisation and implementation of measures: How can we do it?

• Evaluation of processes and results: What have we accomplished?

• Learning: How can we improve furthermore?

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Consequences to be Drawn:

1. Whenenever we practice CAF, we enter - willingly or not - the Management cycle; proceeding from CAF to the following stages of the management cycle means to capitalize on an implicit option; abandoning this chance means to waste energy and money.

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Consequences to be Drawn (2):

2. (Self-)Evaluation is an essential element of the management cycle & a good starting point. Following the path of the management cycle does not necessarily mean to go straithforward down the line, however.

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Consequences to be Drawn (3)

Explanation : The knowledge deriving from the CAF (answers to the question ‚Where are we right now?‘) enables us to look at a comprehensive ‚profile‘ of strong points and - what‘s more important - weak points of the organiza-tion. We must make decisions, however, con-cerning their meaning, before we can know, what we have to do (= goal setting)!

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Consequences to be Drawn (4):

In other words, we must set meaningful priorities, before we

can get to goals!

But how shall we do this?

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Consequences to be Drawn (5):

The most simple way of setting priorities seems to be, to check the scores that result from the self-assessment process, to select the most outstanding weak points, and to acknowledge them as goals. The logic be-hind this would be, to set goals where the most prominent ‚urgencies‘ are.

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Consequences to be Drawn(6):

The mere orientation to ‚urgencies‘ leaves, however, no room for the ori-entation to things which are important in terms of visions & missions. Priority-setting must be organized in a way that takes visions & missions into consideration!

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Consequences to be Drawn (7):

This can be done in two different ways:

1. By weighting the scores that result from the self-assessment on the basis of preexisting vision- & mission statements.

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Consequences to be Drawn (8):

2. Where no vision-&missions-statements are existent: – By going back, first, to the initial stage of the

management cycle (vision & mission statement = answer to the question ‚Where do we want to go?), by accomplishing this step, and by after-words weighting the scores that are avail-able from the self-assessment.

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Operational Supplementation

• The advance to goal-setting on the basis of preexisting vision&mission-statements can be pursued by the self-assessment team itself (possibly equipped with some more people from the executive-levels);

• The advance to goal-setting via the establis-hment of visions&missions presupposes the setting-up of a special group.

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Operational Supplementation (2)

• The procedures of a special goal-setting group can be very much alike self-assessment (2-step group-rating process, same size of group)

• However: Different composition necessary (enlar-ged representation of executive-levels, notwith-standing following formal board-decisionmaking!)

• But: Participation + strong position of members of the self-assessment group mandatory (information transfer!)

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Operational Supplementation (3)

• The following step (conceptualization of measures ) can be initiated by the previous team (self-assess-ment group / goal setting group).

• Pattern of Procedure: on the basis of the self-as-sessment process.

• New task-assignment: development of a ‚master plan‘.

• Specification of the master plan: set-up of functio-nally defined sub-groups!

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Evaluation

Proceeding further into the management cycle means to establish a ‚normal‘ project-structure, and to practice ‚normal‘ project-management (project-controlling included).

A first decisive point is, however, that the whole sequence of activities evolves ‚or-ganically‘ out of the assessment-process.

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Evaluation (2)

A second decisive point:

The basic procedural pattern is maintained through the whole sequence. This means - among other things - that the procedure rests on a continuos process of ‚interlinked participation‘ of the people inside the organization!

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• What about other approaches to TQM like

BSC, Strategic Controlling, Business Process Reingeneering etc.?

• Are they competing with the ‚extended‘ CAF?

• Or can they be combined with it?

A more than ‚diplomatic‘ question remains to be answered

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The clue to the right answer is, that all these approaches are following the same logical pattern as CAF: They all rest upon the management-cycle. They all represent approaches to its imple-mentation, which differ in some respect.

Because of this basic identity they all can be combined with the CAF, whereby optimizations may be expected.

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BSC as a Particularly Interesting Example:

Vision, Mission Statement

2. (Self-) Assessment of quality of processes and results

3.Conceptuali-sation and implementationof measures

Evaluation of process and results

Learning

1. Goal setting

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A comparision of the two approaches reveals strong points on both sides

Strong Points of the CAF:– Organized assessment of the actual state of

enablers and results;

– Assessment on the basis of elaborated (and balanced!) scheme of indicators;

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A comparision of the two approaches reveals strong points on both sides (2)

Strong Points of the BSC:– arrangement for the analysis of interdepen-

dencies between goals and measures organized selection of efficient measures

– arrangement for extension of analysis to the level of sub-units

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• Obviously an optimization-strategy suggests itself that consists in combining the strong points of both approaches. (A combination of the whole systems might create redun-dancy!). The result can be ‚CAF Plus‘ or ‚BSC Plus‘, dependent on where the starting-point is situated.

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A Short description of CAF Plus

Vision, & Mission Statement

(Self-) Assessment of quality of processes and results

Organized Selection and implementationof measures

Evaluation of process and results (Assessment II)

Learning

Goal setting

Analysis of interde-pendencies between goals and measures

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The Advantages of CAF Plus (in Comparision to a merely ‚extended‘ CAF)

1. The decisive but difficult step from goal-setting to the conceptualization of measures is provided with a tested methodology (applicability of special softwares, for instance HERAKLIT!)

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The Advantages of CAF Plus in Comparision to a merely ‚extended‘ CAF

2. Analysis of relationships between goals and possible measures in terms of efficiency and (cost-) effectiveness is made possible;

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The Advantages of CAF Plus in Comparision to a merely ‚extended‘ CAF

3. A Selection of measures is made possible on the basis of result-orien-ted indicators.

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• The Combination of CAF and BSC is only an example.

• Similar Combinations are possible between CAF and Strategic Controlling, or BSC and Strategic Controlling, or EFQM and BSC, et cetera!

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• The development of miscellaneous combinations of elements of the management cycle with overlapping attributes and capabilities seems to be typical for the present situation. Competition between different approaches is at stake. CAF has good chances not only to survive, but to be (one of) the champion(s)!

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Summing up the Pros:

Going from CAF to further stages of the management-cycle opens the way toward an integrated approach with the following attributes:

Cooperation on a rather simple, low-cost level, Activating the motivation and ‚latent knowledge‘ of the people in

the organization, Using modern management-techniques and technologies of

decision-making, Enabling the organization to operate as a continuously learning

and improving system.

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Thank you for your attention!

Contact and further information:

Prof. Dr. Helmut KlagesGerman University of Administrative Sciences Speyer

Freiherr-vom-Stein-Str. 2D - 67346 Speyer

Germany

Tel.: +49 (0) 6232 / 654-252E-Mail: klages@dhv-speyer.de