Mark von Weber
Washington State Quality Award / Examiner and O&S Safety Analysis, USA
O. McAfee
Washington State Quality Award / Examiner and O&S Safety Analysis, USA
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Published in: 10th QMOD Conference. Quality Management and Organiqatinal Development. Our Dreams of Excellence; 18-20 June; 2007 in Helsingborg; Sweden
Linköping Electronic Conference Proceedings 26:37, p.
Published: 2008-02-15
ISBN:
ISSN: 1650-3686 (print), 1650-3740 (online)
The Washington State Quality Award (WSQA) was first established in 1994 with Senate Bill 6220. This legislation resulted from several years of effort by a cadre of volunteers representing government; business; and labour.
Consequently; the organizational structure; policies; and functions of a Board of Directors were crafted. Initially; two organizations were created: (i) a Quality Award Council; to administer the award process; and (ii) the Quality for Washington State Foundation; for business operations purposes and to promote the award.
Funded through donations from the private sector; WSQA was established as a non-profit organization dedicated to providing education and training on the Baldrige National Quality Program (BNQP) model for performance excellence. The state government provided an administrative program manager; residing within the Secretary of State; Office of Corporations.
Originally; the legislation authorized the Governor to chair the Quality Award Council and to appoint some twenty members to the council representing academia; business; and labour. Later; the legislation was modified to require the Governor to appoint only one person and to eliminate state funding for the administrative program manager.
The organization has been redesigned to incorporate a Board of Directors; a Panel of Judges; and is headed by an Executive Director. Since its creation; now over a decade ago; WSQA: (i) has maintained the value and integrity of the award; (ii) aims to build a sound financial base; (iii) increased awareness throughout the state; (iv) provides conferences and training on BNQP principles; (v) and continues to recognize organizations pursuing and achieving performance excellence. (WSQA; 2003)
