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Baldrige FAQs: Miscellaneous

Baldrige Program/Award | Apply for Award | Award Recipients | Examiners | Framework | Involving Senior Leaders | Health Care/Education | Critiera/ISO | Miscellaneous

Is the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award a U.S. version of Japan's Deming Prize?

While both awards focus on quality and performance improvement, the Baldrige Award focuses on an organization's overall competitiveness. In contrast to Japan's Deming Prize, the Baldrige Award

  • focuses more on results and service
  • relies on the involvement and insight of professionals representing many different professions, sectors, and groups
  • focuses on strategy for the future
  • includes a strong focus on customers and the workforce
  • stresses the importance of sharing information

An award that more closely resembles the Baldrige Award is the Japan Quality Award.

Why did Congress select NIST to manage the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, and what is the role of the American Society for Quality (ASQ)?

NIST is a nonregulatory federal agency of the Department of Commerce. Its primary mission is to advance measurement science, standards, and technology in ways that enhance economic security and improve the quality of life. Congress selected NIST to design and manage the Baldrige Program because of its role in helping U.S. companies compete, its world‑renowned expertise in quality and measurement, and its reputation as an impartial third party.

The American Society for Quality (ASQ) assists NIST, under contract, with logistics of the application review process, preparation of award documents, publicity, and outreach activities. ASQ is a professional, nonprofit association with members in the United States and around the world.
 

Contacts

  • Baldrige Customer Service
    (301) 975-2036
    NIST/BPEP
    100 Bureau Drive, M/S 1020
    Gaithersburg, MD 20899-1020
Created October 26, 2010, Updated November 15, 2019