Jul 17, 2008
DePaul Rolling Meadows MBA Students, Lincoln Foundation and Illinois Firms Partner to Promote Quality Management
DePaul Rolling Meadows MBA Students, Lincoln Foundation and Illinois Firms Partner to Promote Quality Management
Teams of students enrolled in “Leading a Quality Journey,” the final course of DePaul’s Rolling Meadows Saturday MBA Program, are meeting throughout the summer with senior leaders from four Chicago-area organizations known for quality. During the meetings, the groups analyze and exchange ideas about achieving superior quality in managing finances, human resources, market competitiveness and other aspects of business.
The firms include three that have won quality management awards from the foundation: Centegra Health Services, a medical network headquartered in Woodstock; ZF Sales, a worldwide supplier of industrial transmissions with a division in Vernon Hills; and Delta Dental Illinois, a not-for-profit dental health benefits organization based in Lisle. Students also will visit EMERgency24, a premium alarm company in Chicago.
The class provides a bridge between the rich academic preparation provided by DePaul’s Kellstadt Graduate School of Business and the reality of the workplace. It also encourages the next generation of managers to embrace the management excellence themes promoted by the Malcolm Baldrige Award, a national business quality distinction, and the Lincoln Foundation Award, which uses the same criteria as the Baldrige Award to recognize high-quality Illinois companies, explained Paul Kuchuris, CEO and president of The Lincoln Foundation.
“The opportunity for students to learn about the Baldrige process, and to understand organizational commitment to its criteria by Lincoln Foundation Award winners in Illinois, will help improve the competitive position of organizations in the state,” Kuchuris said. “Understanding the quality management building process is knowledge that students can then transfer to their jobs and organizations.”
Created in 1987 by Congress and named for the late Commerce Secretary Malcolm Baldrige, an advocate of management quality, the Baldrige Awards are presented by the president of the United States to for-profit and non-profit organizations that apply and are judged to be outstanding in seven areas: leadership; strategic planning; customer and market focus; measurement, analysis and knowledge management; human resources; process management; and results.
Since most of the DePaul weekend MBA students learning about these concepts are already working professionals, they are able to immediately apply what they learn in class to their jobs at Chicago-area firms, noted Professor Kenneth Thompson, who teaches the course.
“If we can instill the importance of excelling at all that we do, we can improve both the lives of our students and the quality of the organizations important to the Illinois business environment,” said Thompson, a DePaul management professor for 22 years whose teaching expertise is in strategy, quality and leadership. “Illinois business can, and must be, more competitive in world markets, and the Baldrige criteria is a demonstrated tool for making that happen.”
Sean Riley, a student in the class, is working with a team of classmates on the development of a proprietary business plan to assess a new venture for one of the companies. “It’s a lot of work, but it is incredible what we are learning and applying,” he said. “It is a fantastic experience that allows us to utilize the skills we have obtained while pursuing of our MBAs.”
Kuchuris hopes there will be more partnerships linking academic institutions with the Lincoln Foundation Awards program in the future. “Through these partnerships, students learn how to systematically apply academic concepts that build high-quality and high-performance organizations.”
The Lincoln Foundation has been in existence for 14 years as a not-for-profit organization dedicated to supporting the quality efforts of business, health care, education and government organizations. The award program assists organizations throughout their quality journey with training programs and by administering an award application process that includes comprehensive, week long on-site reviews.
DePaul’s Kellstadt Graduate School of Business Rolling Meadows MBA program is a blended MBA approach consisting of face-to-face class meetings and online learning experiences. Classes meet on alternating Saturdays.
DePaul Management Professor Ken Thompson