European Foundation for Quality Management

EFQM was founded in 1988 with the endorsement of the European Commission. The impetus for this powerful management network -- which now has more than 800 members -- was the need to develop a European framework for quality improvement along the lines of the Malcolm Baldrige Model[?] in the USA and the Deming Prize[?] in Japan.

The EFQM Excellence Model was introduced in 1991 as the framework for organisational self-assessment and as the basis for judging entrants to the European Quality Award[?], which was awarded for the first time in 1992. It is the most widely used organisational framework in Europe and has become the basis for the majority of national and regional Quality Awards worldwide.

From the outset, EFQM has been driven by a vision of helping to create strong European organisations that practise the principles of Total Quality Management (TQM) in the way they do business and in their relationships with their employees, shareholders, customers and communities in which they operate.

EFQM's Mission

• To stimulate and assist organisations throughout Europe to participate in improvement activities leading ultimately to excellence in customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction, impact on society and business results; and

• To support the managers of European organisations in accelerating the process of making Total Quality Management a decisive factor for achieving global competitive advantage.

With the help of EFQM and through the example of its members, organisations in Europe have come to accept that TQM is a way of managing activities to gain efficiency, effectiveness and competitive advantage thereby ensuring longer term success - meeting the needs of their customers, employees, financial and other stakeholders and the community at large.

The implementation of Total Quality Management programmes can achieve significant benefits such as increased efficiency, reduced costs and greater satisfaction, all leading to better business results.

The EFQM has a key and continuing role to play in enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of European organisations by reinforcing the importance of quality in all aspects of their activities and stimulating and assisting the development of quality improvement.

Organization

The National Partner Organisations (NPOs) are national not-for-profit organisations with similar aims and objectives to EFQM. In addition to their own products and services, they offer a local service for sales and support of EFQM materials and training in national languages.

External links

• http://www.efqm.org