Executive Summary
Purpose
The purpose of this report is to identify the most suitable organizations to introduce the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) Excellence Model 2013 within the tourism sector and illustrate the beneficial results from implementing the model’s concepts. Simultaneously, it becomes possible for those organizations to meet the Scottish Governments ambition and vision for Tourism 2020 and beyond by providing significant incentives to initiate change through the EFQM Framework for Hospitality & Tourism. Using examples of organizations with multiple business strands illustrates the potential of a long-running mutually beneficial partnership with Quality Scotland.
Key findings
The analyses of strengths and areas for improvement of the selected organizations and applying relevant theory suggest that sustainable and eco-friendly solutions are in demand. Keeping up with technical progress and pioneering innovative ideas becomes crucial to reach and maintain business excellence.
Recommendation 1: Enhancing Quality Scotland’s visibility and demand by acquiring organisations with extensive networks
| Result | Drive QS Network within the Tourism Sector forward |
| Approach | Establish or use existing business connections to promote the benefits of joining QS and applying EFQM |
| Deployment | Contact, e.g., VisitScotland or Scottish Tourism Alliance and identify possible links to the tourism industry within existing members |
| Assessment & Refinement | VisitScotland and STA encourages their members to join and actively promote QS; QS needs to consider the high amount of already existing awards (might discourage organisations from joining) |
Recommendation 2: Adjust the EQUIP Preview and Promote the EFQM Framework for Hospitality & Tourism
| Result | Attract new members within the Tourism Sector |
| Approach | Enable targeted organizations to identify as part of the tourism industry; raise awareness to get them interested and involved; emphasise the fact that EFQM is suitable for any organization |
| Deployment | Promote EFQM and adapt it to customer needs, e.g., amend the framework to the different business structures and sectors |
| Assessment & Refinement | Increasing diversity within new members; Follow up on businesses who showed interest and consider extending the membership duration |
1.0 Evaluation of the wide range of businesses in the tourism sector and recommended companies
Tourism is a driving industry with high competition. Establishing the EFQM Model within this sector would provide organizations and private businesses with the required tools to reach and maintain business excellence. Dynamic Earth and the National Museum of Scotland are suggested to ensure a successful and beneficial partnership.
2.0 Application of the Concepts of Excellence within selected organizations of the Scottish tourism sector
The Scottish Government acknowledges the central role of tourism to a prosperous Scottish economy. The future national strategy, developed in collaboration with the industry and public agencies, implies the necessity for organizations within the sector to deliver exceptional results to meet and exceed its stakeholders’ expectations and consequently increase tourism’s economic contribution to Scotland (Scottish Tourism Alliance (STA) 2019). To achieve this sustainable excellence level, they want to build on the foundation of Tourism Scotland 2020 (TS2020). Perceiving the Fundamental Concepts of Excellence as underlying principles enables an organization to assess its performance and organizational culture by focussing on specific areas and translating the rather philosophical concepts of total quality management.
2.1 Identification of Dynamic Earths strengths and areas for improvements against EFQM’s Fundamental Concepts
| CONCEPT OF EXCELLENCE | DYNAMIC EARTH | |
| Strengths | Areas for improvement | |
| Adding
Value for Customers |
|
|
| Creating a Sustainable Future |
|
|
| Developing Organisational Capability |
|
|
| Harnessing Creativity & Innovation |
|
|
| Leading with Vision, Inspiration & Integrity |
|
|
| Managing with Agility |
|
|
| Succeeding through the Talent of People |
|
|
| Sustaining Outstanding Results |
|
|
Table 1: Dynamic Earth Enterprises LTD against the Fundamental Concepts of Excellence (EFQM, 2012).
DE is a world-class visitor attraction and was re-awarded its 5-star grading from Visit Scotland in April 2019 (Dynamic Earth Charitable Trust (DECT), 2018, p.12). Therefore, DE is on its way to reaching business excellence. Within a framework of public entertainment and learning services, DE aspires to communicate Earth and Environmental science to society (DECT, 2018, p.12).
Therefore, the ability to maintain a strong visitor base to the exhibition can be considered as one of the key indicators to measure success and secure a strong financial performance (DECT, 2018, p.12). for example, by providing an accessibility toolkit and a sensory map (DE, 2019d), show that DE is aware of its different customer groups and aims to create sustainable value for both existing and potential customers. However, recent customer feedback shows that the exhibition’s storytelling concept sometimes struggles to engage visitors of all ages (TripAdvisor, 2019a). DE is already tackling this issue by replying to negative customer feedback and identifying areas of improvement.
The organization creates a culture of involvement and empowerment by distancing itself from hierarchical structures and introducing an open-plan office and flat structures. This working environment inspires employees and encourages innovation. By organizing an induction for new employees, the company further communicates the organization’s values. It creates a platform for the directors to encourage continuous personal and professional development further and simultaneously contribute to a continuous evolution of its reputation. Annual appraisal meetings with supervisors provide an opportunity to link personal goals to the organization’s values. DE recognizes that staff training within the organization represents one of the most valuable assets (DECT, 2018, p.12). The organization further succeeds through the talent of people, for instance, by appointing Dr. Hermione Cockburn as Scientific Director. She acts as a role model and ambassador for the organization and successfully represents the brand identity and the company’s values at events.
2.2 The National Museum of Scotland as Benchmark
| CONCEPT OF EXCELLENCE | NATIONAL MUSEUM OF SCOTLAND | |
| Strengths | Areas for improvement | |
| Adding
Value for Customers |
(NMS, 2019a)
(NMS, 2019b)
|
(TripAdvisor, 2019b) |
| Creating a Sustainable Future |
|
|
| Harnessing Creativity & Innovation |
|
|
| Managing with Agility |
(NMS, 2019e) |
|
| Sustaining Outstanding Results |
|
N/A |
According to TripAdvisor Reviews, the National Museum of Scotland (NMS) is the second-best thing to do in Edinburgh and was awarded a Certificate of Excellence for consistently earning great reviews from travelers (2019b). Acknowledging their unique role within the exhibition and, consequently, the tourism sector and comparing it to DE will further deepen the business excellence approach.
After evaluating both organizations against the EFQM Business Excellence Model’s fundamental concepts, the organizations concentrate on similar efforts to add value for customers. Both offer family-friendly exhibits and various events to meet customer demands and further respond to customer needs by improving their accessibility and introducing new, innovative technologies. While the nMOS is a pioneer in online exploration via Google Arts & Culture’s Museum View experience in Scotland (NMS, 2019d), DE is still in the process of successfully implementing its newest augmented reality experience, the interactive Mission Earth quiz.
Both companies have realized the critical role of company branding and marketing and have been rebranded by the award-winning agency LEWIS (EBF, 2015). Both organizations recognize their role within the tourism sector. Amos was the most visited attraction in the UK outside of London in 2018 (NMS, 2018). DE is conveniently situated near the Scottish Parliament, the Palace of Holyrood House Arthur’s Seat, and attracts walk-in customers and tourists. DE is also regularly used as a Hub for conferences, lectures, and training events (DECT, 2018, p.12). The nMOS supported 115 museums through training, loans, acquisitions, touring, and community engagement projects in 2017-18 (NMS, 2019d). Given the fact that DE has limited in-house training, a collaboration between the two organizations is desirable.
3.0 Dynamic Earth against the Enabler Criteria from the EFQM Business Excellence model
3.1 Assessing Dynamic Earth performance using the ‘triple bottom line.’
Factors such as economic recession and increased competition in the leisure market have harmed individual museums’ success as tourist attractions (Swarbrooke 2015). Consequently, the author argues that museums and exhibition centers must initiate a sustainable approach. John Elkington was the first person to use ‘the triple bottom line’ to measure the impact organizational operations have on society and the environment (Slack et al., 2016, p.44). Considering the social bottom line, DE runs a golden ticket scheme, enabling deprived individuals’ free access to the attraction for a whole year (DE 2014). Applications are assessed on factors such as the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation, where the education/skills domain is of great importance for the organization’s objective to ensure that it benefits those in need of support (DECT, 2018). DE’s dedication to Corporate Social Responsibility is further illustrated by the organization’s additional commitment to public and community engagement, which must be maintained to ensure continuous improvement and business excellence.
Regarding the environmental bottom line, the impact of DE’s operations on the environment is more complicated. On the one hand, DE’s annual business plan includes the objective of operating the center in an environmentally sustainable way. They implemented rubbish and compost collection and offered training sessions on the correct way to recycle. However, detected weaknesses are the building’s lightweight construction (Hopkins Architects Ltd, 2019), which entails a low energy balance. Their ambitious goal to maintain the Gold accreditation regarding the Green Tourism award (DECT, 2018) further illustrates the high demand for sustainability within the industry.
3.2 Lean thinking and supply chain management within Dynamic Earth
DE has successfully implemented the lean philosophy, they’ve created an open work environment and enabled the involvement of staff in operation, inspired the drive for continuous improvement, and the elimination of waste (Slack et al., 2016) can best be observed within the operation of the Food Chain Café. Based on conscious decisions, new partners and suppliers were approached and relationships with local suppliers established, resulting in a cut down on food miles (Wilson, 2019). They reduced plastic waste by switching to Vegware, a plant-based compostable foodservice packing supplier (2019). On top of that, they enhanced their control over the supply chain management by choosing a sustainable coffee beans supplier to support their strategy (Wilson, 2019). Viewed from the outside, they seem to operate within the company’s objective, but this should only be a starting point and encourage further improvements, such as their innovative edible.
3.3 Interpretation of Dynamic Earth’s results of Quality Scotland’s EQUIP Preview
The EFQM promotes organisations’ self-assessment to review activities regularly (Slack et al., 2016, p. 596). For this report, the author took the EQUIP Preview offered by Quality Scotland (2019) on behalf of DE. The questions (see Appendix 1) are linked to the six enablers and four results of the EFQM Excellence Model, and the results (Figure 1) highlight areas for improvement and provide incentives for DE to set goals for the future. After analysing DE’s performance against criterion 4 and 5 of the model in advanced, transparent results were anticipated. Seeing DE being encouraged to focus on its Partnerships & Resources and Society results were unexpected.
Dynamic Earth against the EFQM Model (Quality Scotland 2019)
4.0 Conclusions and recommendations for Quality Scotland
Analyzing the fundamental concepts of excellence against DE and NMoS presented areas for improvement but, at the same time, showcased their potential to create business excellence. Considering Dynamic Earth in detail further illustrated how businesses could be enabled to reach and maintain business excellence. Providing significant incentives through an adapted EFQM Framework for Hospitality & Tourism would enable both organisations to become valuable members of Quality Scotland and facilitate a long-running mutual beneficial partnership by becoming a crucial link within Quality Scotland’s cross-sector network. However, others might be insufficient for an adaptation within the tourism sector. The client is advised to consider a general adaptation of the model.
. On top of that, collaborating with other member organisations like VisitScotland, Investors In People, and STA should be considered to compete within the high amount of already existing awards and recognitions for excellent business performance. The methods used by the Tourism Excellence Consultancy and Innovation Tourism Scotland could provide necessary input.
Targeted organizations must identify and attract new members within the Tourism Sector. The client should emphasize that the EFQM Business Excellence model is suitable for any organisation. The author further advises Quality Scotland to adapt the EQUIP Preview to customer needs, for instance, by amending the framework to the different business structures and sectors.
References
Dynamic Earth Charitable Trust (2018). Financial Statements 31 October 2018.
Dynamic Earth (2019a). Welcome Page. Retrieved from
https://www.dynamicearth.co.uk/
Dynamic Earth (2019b). Blog Posts. Retrieved from
https://www.dynamicearth.co.uk/latest/blog/posts/2019
Dynamic Earth (2019c). Food Chain Café. Retrieved from
https://www.dynamicearth.co.uk/visit/food-chain-cafe
Dynamic Earth (2019d). Visitor Accessibility. Retrieved from
https://www.dynamicearth.co.uk/visit/visitor-accessibility
Dynamic Earth (2019d). Community Learning. Retrieved from
https://www.dynamicearth.co.uk/learning/community-programme
Dynamic Earth (2019e). Redevelopment Projects. Retrieved from
https://www.dynamicearth.co.uk/support-us/redevelopment-projects
Dynamic Earth (2019f). Event Team Services. Retrieved from
https://www.dynamicearth.co.uk/events/event-team-services
Dynamic Earth (2019g). Public Engagement. Retrieved from
https://www.dynamicearth.co.uk/learning/public-engagement
Dynamic Earth (2019h). Virtual Tour. Retrieved from
https://www.dynamicearth.co.uk/the-virtual-tour
Edinburgh Business Forum (2015). LEWIS to help Dynamic Earth show off its fun
side. Retrieved from http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/ebf/news/article/421/lewis_to_help_dynamic_earth_show_off_its_fun_side
EFQM (2012). EFQM Excellence Model Book 2013. Retrieved from
https://moodle.napier.ac.uk/pluginfile.php/2181161/mod_resource/content/1/EFQM%20Excellence%20Model%20Book%202013.pdf
Hopkins Architects Ltd (2019). Projects. Retrieved from
https://www.hopkins.co.uk/projects/1/75/
National Museums Scotland (2019a). National Museum of Scotland Exhibitions.
Retrieved from https://www.nms.ac.uk/exhibitions-events/?audience=&type=&museum=1445&when=&theme=&free=false&pageNumber=0
National Museums Scotland (2019b). National Museum of Scotland Events.
Retrieved from https://www.nms.ac.uk/exhibitions-events/?audience=23986&type=&museum=1445&when=&theme=&free=false&pageNumber=0
National Museums Scotland (2019c). National Museum of Scotland Supporting our
Sector. Retrieved from https://www.nms.ac.uk/national-international/supporting-our-sector/
National Museums Scotland (2019d). Annual Review 2018. Retrieved from
https://www.nms.ac.uk/media/1158421/annual-review-2018.pdf
National Museums Scotland (2019e). Sustainability Policy. Retrieved from
https://www.nms.ac.uk/about-us/our-organisation/sustainability-policy/
National Museums Scotland (2018). Annual Review 2017-2018. Retrieved from
https://www.nms.ac.uk/media/1158421/annual-review-2018.pdf
Quality Scotland (2019). EQUIP PREVIEW. Retrieved from
http://www.equipforexcellence.com/qualityscotland/Main_site/equip_preview
Scottish Tourism Alliance (2019). Future National Strategy Beyond 2020. Retrieved
from https://scottishtourismalliance.co.uk/beyond-ts2020/
Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (2016). SIMD Deciles for DE Neighbourhood
(EH8 8AS). Retrieved from https://simd.scot/2016/#/simd2016/BTTTTTT/14/-3.1761/55.9504/
Slack, N., Brandon-Jones, A., & Johnston, R. (2016). Operations Management (8th
ed.). Edinburgh Gate: Pearson Education Limited
Swarbrooke, J. (2015). Built attractions and sustainability. The Routledge Handbook
of Tourism and Sustainability (1st ed.). Abington: Routledge, pp. 356-364.
TripAdvisor. (2019a). Dynamic Earth Reviews. Retrieved from
TripAdvisor. (2019b). National Museum of Scotland Reviews. Retrieved from
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g186525-d2359701-Reviews- National_Museum_of_Scotland-Edinburgh_Scotland.html
Vegware. (2019). Welcome Page. Retrieved from
https://www.vegware.com/index.php?&ccUser=
Wilson, S. (2019). The Food Chain at Dynamic Earth. Bite Magazine, June, pp. 15-38. Retrieved from https://www.bite-magazine.com/siteimages/articles/extra/Bite%20June%202019%20web%20(1).pdf
Appendix 1: Self-Assessment of Dynamic Earth against the Excellence Model using Quality Scotland’s EQUIP Preview
