tata.com: How many companies genuinely follow a structured review mechanism process?
GJ: I think that, till last year, this was not
getting the right emphasis. Assurance is a process that assures the CEO of a company that he is driving business excellence. It is the key driver, the one that convinces the Group Executive Office and the TQMS executive committee that if the scores on assurance are high the company is doing a good job.

There were only two companies which scored 80 per cent on assurance and Tata Steel was one of them. The average score for the group was 70 per cent. A few companies managed just 50 per cent. The process is now getting reinforced. Today there are two companies reviewing the progress on TBEM at the board level, Tata Steel and Tata SSL. We would like this to happen more often; it is not a mandate but a suggestion to the board.

tata.com :Why did the Tata Group choose the Malcolm Baldrige model? How does it compare with models like Deming, EFQM, CMM and others?
GJ: The Malcolm Baldrige model is a universally accepted one. It has been proved over the last six years that companies that won the Malcolm Baldrige Award have outperformed other Fortune companies in terms of returns to stakeholders. The value of stocks had appreciated almost 5:1 in Baldrige-winning companies when compared with non-Baldrige winning companies.

This means that if I had invested $1,000 in a company that had won the Malcolm Baldrige award, and the same amount in a company in the Standards & Poor top 500 global companies, I would have got five times more on my investment in the former. So when the Tatas adopted the Baldrige award we adopted a proven model.

The model has seven sections and each has a set of questions. In the assessment process, which is essentially internal, there are two stages to be followed. The first stage is an internal assessment using the company’s own assessors, who are certified by TQMS. That will give the company an understanding of its progress in the compliance plan. The team of internal assessors also identifies ‘opportunities for improvement'.

The second stage is the external assessment, in which the company submits a 75-page report to TQMS. With the help of several assessors trained specially for this purpose, TQMS assesses the company’s report using five or six assessors and completes the assessment with a site visit to the company. At the end of the assessment, the company gets a complete feedback report with its score on the Balridge scale. This year we involved CEOs of the group companies as mentors for each and every team to improve the business perspective and objectivity into the process.

tata.com: What does this involve in terms of time and commitment?
GJ: In terms of time it would involve 15 days multiplied into eight people. That would mean 120 man-days to assess a company. It is a very involved process.

tata.com: What about the time and commitment to become an internal assessor?
GJ: Becoming an internal assessor involves a couple of things: the person gets a case to analyse and has to submit his findings. That takes an average of about 60 hours. Then he attends an intensive three-day training programme, which means another 36 hours. After that there is a further three days of work, so another 30 hours.

tata.com: What are the benefits of becoming an internal assessor?
GJ: This is a world class model where you get an overview of a company. It’s like going through an MBA programme: you are taking a look at the company’s leadership programme, its strategic planning processes, the strategic deployment process, customer focus initiatives, how customer relationship management is managed, customer satisfaction determination, complaint handling processes, etc.

You are looking at every aspect of managing a business well. No other training programme delivers such a comprehensive approach to managing business. All the assessors who have gone through this process speak highly about the programme.

tata.com: Can any employee volunteer to become an internal assessor?
GJ: No. At the moment we expect the person to have at least 10 to 15 years of experience. The job calls for some understanding of business processes. An inexperienced person cannot appreciate what is being taught. However, we have a few smart assessors who have just five years of work experience.

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Uploaded in July 2003