High Performance. Gaithersburg, MD: U.S. Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology. https://www.nist.g

baldrige.

Criteria for Performance Excellence 

Begin with the Organizational Profile

The Organizational Profle is the most appropriate starting point for self-assessment and for writing an application. It is critically important for the following reasons: 

• You can use it as an initial self-assessment. If you identify topics for which conficting, little, or no information is available, use these topics for action planning. 

• It sets the context for understanding your organization and how it operates, and allows you to address unique aspects 

of your organization in your responses to the Baldrige Criteria questions in categories 1–7. Your responses to all other 

questions in the Criteria should relate to the organizational context you describe in this profle. 

• It helps you identify gaps in key information about your organization and focus on key performance requirements 

and results. 

P Organizational Profile

The Organizational Profle is a snapshot of your organization and its strategic environment. 

P.1 Organizational Description: What are your key organizational characteristics? 

a. Organizational Environment 

(1) Product Offerings What are your main product offerings (see the note on the next page)? What is the relative 

importance of each to your success? What mechanisms do you use to deliver your products? 

(2) MISSION, VISION, VALUES, and Culture What are your MISSION, VISION, and VALUES? Other than VALUES, what 

are the characteristics of your organizational culture? What are your organization’s CORE COMPETENCIES, and what 

is their relationship to your MISSION? 

(3) WORKFORCE Profile What is your WORKFORCE profle? What recent changes have you experienced in WORKFORCE WORKFORCE

• your WORKFORCE or employee groups and SEGMENTS; 

• the educational requirements for different employee groups and SEGMENTS; 

• the KEY drivers that engage them; 

• your organized bargaining units (union representation), if any; and 

• your special health and safety requirements, if any? 

(4) Assets What are your major facilities, equipment, technologies, and intellectual property? 

 composition or in your needs with regard to your ? What are 

(5) Regulatory Environment What are your KEY applicable occupational health and safety regulations; accreditation, certifcation, or registration requirements; industry standards; and environmental, fnancial, and product 

regulations? 

b. Organizational Relationships 

(1) Organizational Structure What are your organizational leadership structure and GOVERNANCE structure? What 

structures and mechanisms make up your organization’s LEADERSHIP SYSTEM? What are the reporting relationships 

among your GOVERNANCE board, SENIOR LEADERS, and parent organization, as appropriate? 

(2) CUSTOMERS and STAKEHOLDERS What are your KEY market SEGMENTS, CUSTOMER groups, and STAKEHOLDER 

groups, as appropriate? What are their KEY requirements and expectations for your products, CUSTOMER support 

services, and operations, including any differences among the groups? 

(3) Suppliers, PARTNERS, and COLLABORATORS What are your KEY types of suppliers, PARTNERS, and COLLABORATORS? What role do they play in producing and delivering your KEY (Continued on the next page) products and CUSTOMER support services, and 

in enhancing your competitiveness? What role do they play in contributing and implementing INNOVATIONS in 

your organization? What are your KEY supply-network requirements? 

Terms in SMALL CAPS are defined in the Glossary of Key Terms (pages 46–53).

4 2021–2022 Criteria for Performance Excellence 
Notes 

P.1a(1). Product offerings are the goods and services 

you offer in the marketplace. Mechanisms for delivering 

products to your customers might be direct or might be 

indirect, through dealers, distributors, collaborators, or channel partners. Nonproft (including government) organizations 

might refer to their product offerings as programs, projects, or 

services. 

P.1a(2). If your organization has a stated purpose as well 

as a mission, you should include it in your response. Some 

organizations defne a mission and a purpose, and some use 

the terms interchangeably. Purpose refers to the fundamental reason that the organization exists. Its role is to inspire 

the organization and guide its setting of values. 

P.1a(2). Your values are part of your organization’s culture. 

Other characteristics of your culture might include shared 

beliefs and norms that contribute to the uniqueness of the 

environment within your organization. 

P.1a(3). Workforce or employee groups and segments 

(including organized bargaining units) might be based on 

type of employment or contract-reporting relationship, 

location (including remote work), tour of duty, work 

environment, use of fexible work policies, or other factors. 

Organizations that also rely on volunteers and interns to 

accomplish their work should include these groups as part 

of their workforce. 

P.1a(5). In the Criteria, industry refers to the sector in which 

you operate. Industry standards might include industrywide 

codes of conduct and policy guidance. For nonproft (including government) organizations, this sector might be charitable 

organizations, professional associations and societies, religious 

organizations, or government entities—or a subsector of one 

of these. Depending on the regions in which you operate, 

environmental regulations might cover greenhouse gas 

emissions, carbon regulations and trading, and energy 

effciency. 

P.1b(1). The governance or oversight structure for privately 

held businesses, nonproft organizations, and government 

agencies may comprise an advisory board, a family council, 

or local/regional leaders who are assembled to provide 

guidance. For some nonproft (including government) organizations, governance and reporting relationships might include 

relationships with major funding sources, such as granting 

agencies, legislatures, or foundations. 

P.1b(1). The Organizational Profle asks for the “what” of 

your leadership system (its structures and mechanisms). 

Questions in categories 1 and 5 ask how the system is used. 

P.1b(2). For some nonproft (including government) organizations, customers might include members, taxpayers, citizens, 

recipients, clients, and benefciaries, and market segments 

might be referred to as constituencies. For government agencies, 

the legislature (as a source of funds) may be a key stakeholder. 

P.1b(2). Customer groups might be based on common 

expectations, behaviors, preferences, or profles. Within a 

group, there may be customer segments based on differences, commonalities, or both.You might subdivide your 

market into segments based on product lines or features, 

distribution channels, business volume, geography, or other 

defning factors. 

P.1b(2). Customer, stakeholder, and operational requirements and expectations will drive your organization’s 

sensitivity to the risk of product, service, support, and 

supply-network interruptions, including those due to natural 

disasters and other emergencies. 

P.1b(3). Your supply network consists of the entities 

involved in producing your products and services and delivering them to your customers. For some organizations, these 

entities form a chain, in which one entity directly supplies 

another. Increasingly, however, these entities are interlinked 

and exist in interdependent rather than linear relationships. 

The Criteria use the term supply network to emphasize the 

interdependencies among organizations and their suppliers. 

For additional guidance on this item, see the Criteria 

Commentary (https://www.nist.gov/baldrige/baldrige 

-criteria-commentary). 

Organizational Profile 5 
 

P.2 Organizational Situation: What is your organization’s strategic situation? 

a. Competitive Environment 

(1) Competitive Position What are your relative size and growth in your industry or the markets you serve? How 

many and what types of competitors do you have? 

(2) Competitiveness Changes What KEY changes, if any, are affecting your competitive situation, including changes 

that create opportunities for INNOVATION and collaboration, as appropriate? 

(3) Comparative Data What KEY sources of comparative and competitive data are available from within your industry? What KEY sources of comparative data are available from outside your industry? What limitations, if any, affect 

your ability to obtain or use these data? 

b. Strategic Context 

What are your KEY STRATEGIC CHALLENGES and ADVANTAGES? 

c. PERFORMANCE Improvement System 

What is your PERFORMANCE improvement system, including your PROCESSES for evaluation and improvement of KEY 

organizational projects and PROCESSES? 

Terms in SMALL CAPS are defned in the Glossary of Key Terms (pages 46–53). 

Notes 

P.2a. Nonproft organizations must often compete with other 

organizations and alternative sources of similar services to 

secure fnancial and volunteer resources, membership, visibility 

in appropriate communities, and media attention. 

P.2b. Strategic challenges and advantages might be in 

the areas of business, operations, societal contributions, 

and workforce. They might relate to products, fnances, 

organizational structure and culture, emerging technology, 

digital integration, security and cybersecurity, emerging 

competitors, changing stakeholder requirements, workforce 

capability or capacity, brand recognition and reputation, 

your supply network, globalization, and the environment 

and climate. Throughout the Criteria, “business” refers to a 

nonproft (or government) organization’s main mission area or 

enterprise activity. 

P.2c. The Baldrige Scoring System (pages 29–34) uses 

performance improvement through learning and integration as a factor in assessing the maturity of organizational 

approaches and their deployment. This question is intended 

to set an overall context for your approach to performance 

improvement. The approach you use should be related to 

your organization’s needs. Approaches that are compatible 

with the overarching systems approach provided by the 

Baldrige framework might include implementing a Lean 

Enterprise System, applying Six Sigma methodology, using 

PDCA methodology, using standards from ISO (e.g., the 

9000 or 14000 series, or sector-specifc standards), using 

decision science, or employing other improvement tools. 

For additional guidance on this item, see the Criteria 

Commentary (https://www.nist.gov/baldrige/baldrige 

-criteria-commentary). 

6 2021–2022 Criteria for Performance Excellence