BALRIDGE MODEL OF HRM

The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award was conceptualized as a standard of excellence in order to help U.S. organizations achieve world-class quality. The Criteria for Performance Excellence has done a commendable job in achieving the goals established for the Baldrige Award. They now are accepted in the whole world, as the yardstick for performance excellence. The award is given annually to an organization in recognition of its quality standards. HRM practices occupy a pivotal place in quality movement of organizations. 

  The Baldrige award allocates a maximum of 1000 points to different dimensions of quality management for the purposes of evaluation. Out of these, HRM practices get 150 point. These practices including employee development, involvement and empowerment have the capability to influence the other dimensions of the award like customer focus, quality planning and leadership. Having in view its significance, Dr. Christopher Hart, of TQM Group-USA and Prof. Schlesinger of Harvard Business School pleaded for application of Baldrige framework to HR in their paper titled ‘Total Quality Management and the Human Resource Professional: Applying the Baldrige Framework to HR Planning Human Resources’ published in HRM in 1991. This orientation may help companies strengthen their quality efforts and give a meaningful shape to HR function.

         

In evolving a model for quality, HR function requires to develop a new vision for itself as a customer focused service provider.  Baldrige award stresses the significant role of the HR practices which include:

1. HR education and training
2. HR performance and recognition
3. HR involvement, and
4. HR well-being and morale

Each of these HR practices is segmented into number of activities. For example HR planning practice is further divided into redefining job descriptions to enhance clarity of job, steps to make jobs richer, lines of authority, organizational structure, etc. In the same way, education and training envelopes activities like leadership training, remedial training for career growth and so on. The quality modelled HR activities would progress one after the other with quality efforts.

Baldrige model assists organizations in concentrating their attention on achieving global standards in quality of products and services. HR managers have to comprehend quality systems and internalize the philosophy and mechanism of Malcolm Baldrige award in order to put into use the right HR practices. Quality specialists have succeeded HR function wherever human resource professionals were not successful in applying quality reinforced HRM model. The lack of basic HRM function in quality specialists led to failures in integrating Quality-HRM partnership. Therefore, careful attention must be paid to find out an HRM professional with requisite skills, who can convert Baldrige HRM model into practice.