Award Levels

At each level of recognition, except the Excellence Medal, there may be more than one recipient. Levels of recognition are awarded based on the recommendation of the Evaluation Team and the decision of the Panel of Review. The score is only one of the criteria for this final decision. Other considerations include the extent of the applicant’s adherence to the 8 principles of business excellence, suitability of benchmarking by other organisations and whether improvement is uniform across the whole Framework and applicant organisation.

In 2008 we introduced recognition for Foundation in Business Excellence. Recipients of this commendation will demonstrate approach and some initial deployment and show some evidence of improvement.  This is to recognise and inspire organisations that have commenced a journey of continuous improvement using the Business Excellence Framework.

Bronze Award
Bronze Award recipients will demonstrate Approach and Deployment that are well defined, planned, subject to review and show evidence of improvement in its Approach over time. Results will be comparable with external organisations. Approaches have been in place long enough to show results in key areas and the organisation is learning and willing to share its learnings. Typical evaluation scores range from 501 – 600.

Silver Award
Organisations at this level should be able to demonstrate not only performance against the Framework at the previous levels but also a philosophy of management that reflects the principles that underpin it and other Frameworks around the globe. The best practice culture will have been in place long enough to sustain continuing improvement and be robust in the face of major change. Typical evaluation scores range from 601 – 650.

Gold Award
Organisations at this level should meet all the expectations for the other levels of recognition plus be able to demonstrate superior performance in at least 5 of the Categories in the Framework and also have scored at least 50% in each Item. The organisation is clearly demonstrating best practice and its activities will be benchmarks for others. Typical evaluation scores exceed 650.

Excellence Medal
The Excellence Medal will be awarded to the best applicant organisation amongst all the Applicants. There will be one Excellence Medal awarded each year.

The Australian Business Excellence Prize
The Australian Business Excellence Prize (the Prize) is the pre-eminent Award available for businesses in Australia. Only two organisations have achieved this level of excellence since the Awards’ inception in 1988. Organisations at this level have not only a mature approach to all facets of the business, but have demonstrated they are achieving results against their objectives and have in place a learning process to continuously improve.

Even at this high level of performance, the organisation constantly reviews and improves in every area to ensure high levels of excellence in everything they do. These organisations are among 'the Best in the World'.

Organisations previously recognised at Gold Award level are eligible to apply for the Prize. For more information about the Prize, contact the Awards Manager.

 

Category Recognition

Organisations receiving Category Awards will have achieved the highest evaluation score for that Category. The organisation recognised in each category will demonstrate a high level of performance in the subjects pertinent to that Category. There will be only one organisation recognised in each Category. The categories are:

Leadership - strategic direction setting, leadership, organisational culture and contribution to the environment and the community.

Strategy and Planning - planning process, understanding their business environment and their development and application of resources.

Information and Knowledge - collection and interpretation of data and information, their integration and use of knowledge in decision-making and how they create and manage knowledge.

People - how they involve their people, how they develop and ensure the effectiveness of their people and how they safeguard health, safety and well-being.

Customer and Market Focus - knowledge of their customers and market, how they manage their customer relationships and measure, manage and improve customers’ perception of the value they provide.

Process Management, Improvement and Innovation - their innovation process, their supplier and partner processes, the management and improvement of all of their processes and the quality of their products and services.

Success and Sustainability - the processes which the organisation has in place for measuring its success, and for measuring those things which will influence its sustainability.