This assignment focuses on learning about the Baldrige Excellence Framework. It requires studying and reporting on how the criteria for the Baldrige Excellence Framework can help organizations manage their process improvement. You can refer to the free content (you are not required to purchase any publications from the website or anywhere else) about the Malcolm Baldrige Excellence Framework that is available at http://www.nist.gov/baldrige/ and several other Internet resources. Please remember to cite all your sources of information in your response.

Critique the Baldrige awards criteria with any supplementary information or based on your own knowledge and experience and based on what you read about these awards - e.g., are these awards a good idea, are the criteria comprehensive, do the organizations that have received these awards represent good quality products and good process improvement culture, what other awards or certifications or programs do you know about that are similar or better...? This is neither a required set of questions nor a comprehensive one, and feel free to talk aboth positives and negatives or just comparisons, totalling at least 3, that you see for these awards.