What is the Oklahoma Quality Award?
Oklahoma businesses along with the Oklahoma Department of Commerce established the award program in 1993 to recognize Oklahoma organizations for their achievements in quality and business performance and to raise awareness about the importance of performance excellence as a competitive edge. The award is not given for specific products or services. Awards may be given annually at each of three levels: Commitment, Achievement, and Excellence. Manufacturing, service, health care, education and government organizations are eligible for the awards. The Oklahoma Quality Award Program is built around the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award process and tailored for Oklahoma. The Baldrige recipients are the very visible centerpieces of the U.S. quality movement, a broader national quality program has evolved around the award and its criteria. A report, Building on Baldrige: American Quality for the 21st Century, by the private Council on Competitiveness, said, “More than any other program,
