Thoughts and experiences of educators related to quality and change

ASQ's ImpaQT Training(TM) Brings Continuous Improvement to the Classroom, School, and District

"Automobile mechanics know the importance of having a car's wheels in alignment, precisely adjusted so that they are parallel to one another and perpendicular to the road. Proper alignment enables a car to run straight towatd its destination, with minimal steering corrections and sure braking. Poor alignment can cause a car to drift to one side, making handling difficult, even dangerous - especially if you're traveling at a high speed.

"Similarly, successful execution of business strategy requires that all aspects of an organization be aligned with that strategy. The more difficult the challenge the steeper and rockier the road to success, the faster the speed demanded - the greater the importance of alignment." (Zomparelli, 2007)

The Baldrige Education Criteria for Performance Excellence also support the importance of strategic alignment, stating, "The term 'alignment' refers to consistency of plans, processes, information, resource decisions, actions, results, and analyses to support key organization-wide goals. Effective alignment requires a common understanding of purposes and goals. It also requires the use of complementary measures and information for planning, tracking, analysis, and improvement at three levels: the organizational level/ senior leader level; the key process level; and the program, school, class, or individual level." (Baldrige, 2008)

The criteria go on to say, "The term 'integration' refers to the harmonization of plans, processes, information, resource decisions, actions, results, and analyses to support key organization-wide goals. Effective integration goes beyond alignment and is achieved when the individual components of a performance management system operate as a fully interconnected unit."