Like many other teams at OMI, membership cuts across the entire organization in terms of function and personnel, including top executives and hourly workers. Key enablers are the company's Linkage of Process Model, which defines relationships among processes, and its Family of Measures, a balanced scorecard of 20 integrated metrics. These measures of operational performance correspond to OMI's four strategic objectives-customer focus, business growth, innovation, and market leadership. Improvement initiatives in the company's strategic plan are selected and crafted so that each initiative contributes significantly to achieving one or more strategic objectives and key customer requirements. In 2000, OMI had 26 improvement initiatives under way, each one assigned to a team led by a high-level executive.
All teams write charters that state their purpose, objectives, and timeline for completion.
A team charter also specifies which of OMI's more than 150 critical processes are involved, the metrics that will be used for evaluation, costs, required resources, and other information vital to the success of the initiative. Charters provide team members and company executives with the means for a quick and thorough analysis of progress toward planned goals. Every year, the Red Team reviews the entire set of critical processes, and it ranks each process according to its perceived impact on progress toward strategic objectives. Existing processes are modified and strengthened, and new ones are conceived to advance OMI's continuous improvement efforts. The Red Team also reviews the Family of Measures to ensure that the composite set of metrics continues to provide an accurate assessment of organizational health.