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food line of products. However, through its financial controls, Nestlé found that the
pet food business was even more profitable than the ice cream, and kept both.
Opportunities can come from inside the organization too, as would be the case if
McDonald’s finds that one of its restaurants is exceptionally good at managing costs

or productivity. It can then take this learned ability and transfer it to other restaurants
through training and other means.
Controls also help organizations manage uncertainty and complexity. This is a
fourth area of benefit from well-designed and implemented controls. Perhaps the
most easily understood example of this type of benefit is how financial controls help
an organization navigate economic downturns. Without budgets and productivity
controls in place, the organization might not know it has lost sales or expenses are out
of control until it is too late.
Control Criteria for the Baldrige National Quality Award
Measurement, Analysis, and Improvement of Organizational Performance:
How Do You Measure, Analyze, and then Improve Organizational Performance? (45
points)
Describe how your organization measures, analyzes, aligns, reviews, and
improves its performance using data and information at all levels and in all parts of
your organization. Describe how you systematically use the results of reviews to
evaluate and improve processes.
Within your response, include answers to the following questions:
1. Performance Measurement
1. How do you select, collect, align, and integrate data and information for
tracking daily operations and for tracking overall organizational performance,
including progress relative to strategic objectives and action plans? What are your
key organizational performance measures, including key short-term and longer-
term financial measures? How do you use these data and information to support
organizational decision making and innovation?
2. How do you select and ensure the effective use of key comparative data
and information to support operational and strategic decision making and
innovation?
3. How do you keep your performance measurement system current with
business needs and directions? How do you ensure that your performance
measurement system is sensitive to rapid or unexpected organizational or external
changes?
2. Performance Analysis, Review, and Improvement
1. How do you review organizational performance and capabilities? What
analyses do you perform to support these reviews and to ensure that the
conclusions are valid? How do you use these reviews to assess organizational
success, competitive performance, and progress relative to strategic objectives and
action plans? How do you use these reviews to assess your organization’s ability
to respond rapidly to changing organizational needs and challenges in your
operating environment?
2. How do you translate organizational performance review findings into
priorities for continuous and breakthrough improvement and into opportunities for

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