1. Using a Quality Improvement Priority Matrix in a University Department Stuart A. Umpleby The George Washington University Washington, DC

2. History of the Priority Matrix Described by GTE Directories in their 1995 Baldrige Award presentation Used by Armstrong Building Products Operations in their 1996 Baldrige Award Presentation Used by faculty and student projects at GWU for several years

3. Advantages of a Priority Matrix Can be used to improve any organization or any product or service Is a way to do “data-driven decision- making” as opposed to “fire-fighting” Easy for everyone to understand Technically simple – Excel is sufficient Customer priorities become clear Shows managers where to focus attention

4. How the matrix aids managers Provides an agenda for subordinates to work on Priorities in different departments can be compared Performance in different departments can be compared which aids benchmarking

5. Comparing matrices over time Effects of improvements on customer or employee satisfaction can be measured New demands by customers become visible

6. How to present the results Focus on the items in the high importance, low performance quadrant List items in decreasing order of importance and increasing order of performance Use bar graphs to show changes in importance and performance Show with arrows how the ratings have changed Plot the differences in scores on a “change matrix”

7. Observations Very few items are rated low on importance When performance improves, importance usually declines When importance increases, performance usually decreases The matrix receives high approval ratings