Self-assessment: Methods, management and process

Self-assessment is a method for reviewing the activities and performance of an organization. This paper reports the findings of a study in four organizations of their management of this process. Each company followed the key self-assessment stages of planning, developing awareness, implementation and review but carried out the process in a different manner. The level of total quality management (TQM) maturity, available resources and organizational culture were the main factors for the differences. The key to successful self-assessment is effective management and the use of a team to manage the process. The most important activities were identified as: selection of a suitable model, appropriate approach(es) for the assessment, provision of appropriate training, monitoring the progress of improvement actions, establishment of a ‘closed-loop’ structure for the improvement cycle and integration of improvement with the strategic business plan. It is also pointed out that self-assessment is not without difficulties, including scarcity of time, overemphasis on scoring and scores, failing to follow-up improvement actions and lack of communication.