TBEM is a
‘customized-to-Tata’ adaptation of the globally renowned Malcolm
Baldrige model. The TBEM philosophy has been molded to deliver a
combination of strategic direction and concerted effort to maximize
business performance. The model focuses on seven core aspects of
operations: leadership, strategic planning, customer and market focus,
measurement, analysis and knowledge management, human resource focus,
process management and business results. Performance is measured in
absolute points; companies have to achieve a minimum of 500 points (out
of 1,000) within four years of signing the BEBP agreement. Achievements
are awarded by recognition across the Group. TQMS helps Tata companies
use the model to gain insights on their business strengths and
opportunities for improvement. This is managed through an annual process
of assessment and assurance. The model, through its regular and
calibrated updates, is used by Tata companies to stay in step with the
ever-changing business environment.
Performance excellence framework
TBEM Criteria Purpose
Tata Business Excellence Model (TBEM) is the basis for conducting organisational assessments and for giving feedback to applicants. In addition, the Criteria have three important roles in strengthening competitiveness:
TBEM based Performance Excellence Goals
TBEM Criteria is designed to help organizations use an integrated approach to organizational performance management that results in
delivery of ever-improving value to customers and stakeholders, contributing to organizational sustainability
improvement of overall organizational effectiveness and capabilities
organisational and personal learning

Leadership addresses how your senior leaders guide and sustain your organisation, setting organisational vision, values, and performance expectations. Attention is given to how your senior leaders communicate with your workforce, develop future leaders, measure organisational performance, and create an environment that encourages ethical behaviour and high performance. The Category also includes your organisation’s governance system and how it ensures ethical behaviour and practices good citizenship.
Strategic Planning addresses strategic and action planning, deployment of plans, how adequate resources are ensured to accomplish the plans, how plans are changed if circumstances require a change, and how accomplishments are measured and sustained. The Category stresses that long-term organizational sustainability and your competitive environment are key strategic issues that need to be integral parts of your organization's overall planning. While many organizations are increasingly adept at strategic planning, plan execution is still a significant challenge. This is especially true given market demands to be agile and to be prepared for unexpected change, such as disruptive technologies that can upset an otherwise fast-paced but more predictable marketplace. This Category highlights the need to place a focus not only on developing your plans but also on your capability to execute them.
Customer and Market Focus addresses how your organization seeks to understand the voice of the customer and of the marketplace, with a focus on meeting customers’ requirements, needs, and expectations; delighting customers; and building loyalty. The Category stresses relationships as an important part of an overall listening, learning, and performance excellence strategy. Your customer satisfaction and dissatisfaction results provide vital information for understanding your customers and the marketplace. In many cases, such results and trends provide the most meaningful information, not only on your customers’ views but also on their marketplace behaviors (e.g., repeat business and positive referrals) and how these views and behaviours may contribute to the sustainability of your organisation in the marketplace.
The Measurement, Analysis, and Knowledge Management Category is the main point within the Criteria for all key information about effectively measuring, analysing, and improving performance and managing organizational knowledge to drive improvement and organizational competitiveness. In the simplest terms, Category 4 is the “brain centre” for the alignment of your organization’s operations with its strategic objectives. Central to such use of data and information are their quality and availability. Furthermore, since information, analysis, and knowledge management might themselves be primary sources of competitive advantage and productivity growth, this Category also includes such strategic considerations.
Workforce Focus addresses key workforce practices-those directed toward creating and maintaining a high-performance workplace and toward engaging your workforce to enable it and your organization to adapt to change and to succeed. The Category covers workforce engagement, development, and management in an integrated way (i.e., aligned with your organization’s strategic objectives and action plans). Your workforce focus includes your capability and capacity needs and your workforce support climate. To reinforce the basic alignment of workforce management with overall strategy, Criteria also covers human resource planning as part of overall planning in the Strategic Planning Category
Process Management is the focal point within the Criteria for your key work systems and work processes. Built into the Category are the central requirements for identification and management of your core competencies to achieve efficient and effective work process management: effective design; a prevention orientation; linkage to customers, suppliers, partners, and collaborators and a focus on value creation for all key stakeholders; operational performance; cycle time; emergency readiness; and evaluation, continuous improvement, and organisational learning. Agility, cost reduction, and cycle time reduction are increasingly important in all aspects of process management and organisational design. In the simplest terms, “agility” refers to your ability to adapt quickly, flexibly, and effectively to changing requirements. Depending on the nature of your organisation's strategy and markets, agility might mean rapid change from one product to another, rapid response to changing demands, or the ability to produce a wide range of customised services. Agility also increasingly involves decisions to outsource, agreements with key suppliers, and novel partnering arrangements. Flexibility might demand special strategies, such as implementing modular designs, sharing components, sharing manufacturing lines, or providing specialised training. Cost and cycle time reduction often involve Lean process management strategies. It is crucial to utilise key measures for tracking all aspects of your overall process management.
The Results Category provides a results focus that encompasses your objective evaluation and your customers' evaluation of your organisation’s products and services, your overall financial and market performance, your workforce results, your leadership system and social responsibility results, and results of all key processes and process improvement activities. Through this focus, the Criteria's purposes - superior value of offerings as viewed by your customers and the marketplace; superior organisational performance as reflected in your operational, workforce, legal, ethical, and financial indicators; and organisational and personal learning - are maintained. Category 7 thus provides “real-time” information (measures of progress) for evaluation and improvement of processes, products, and services, in alignment with your overall organisational strategy. Item 4.1 calls for analysis and review of results data and information to determine your overall organisational performance and to set priorities for improvement.
Performance excellence framework
TBEM Criteria Purpose
Tata Business Excellence Model (TBEM) is the basis for conducting organisational assessments and for giving feedback to applicants. In addition, the Criteria have three important roles in strengthening competitiveness:
- to help improve organizational performance practices, capabilities, and results
- to facilitate communication and sharing of best practices information among organizations of all types
- to serve as a working tool for understanding and managing performance and for guiding organizational planning and opportunities for learning
TBEM based Performance Excellence Goals
TBEM Criteria is designed to help organizations use an integrated approach to organizational performance management that results in
delivery of ever-improving value to customers and stakeholders, contributing to organizational sustainability
improvement of overall organizational effectiveness and capabilities
organisational and personal learning
The TBEM Model
Category 1: Leadership
Leadership addresses how your senior leaders guide and sustain your organisation, setting organisational vision, values, and performance expectations. Attention is given to how your senior leaders communicate with your workforce, develop future leaders, measure organisational performance, and create an environment that encourages ethical behaviour and high performance. The Category also includes your organisation’s governance system and how it ensures ethical behaviour and practices good citizenship.
Category 2: Strategic Planning
Strategic Planning addresses strategic and action planning, deployment of plans, how adequate resources are ensured to accomplish the plans, how plans are changed if circumstances require a change, and how accomplishments are measured and sustained. The Category stresses that long-term organizational sustainability and your competitive environment are key strategic issues that need to be integral parts of your organization's overall planning. While many organizations are increasingly adept at strategic planning, plan execution is still a significant challenge. This is especially true given market demands to be agile and to be prepared for unexpected change, such as disruptive technologies that can upset an otherwise fast-paced but more predictable marketplace. This Category highlights the need to place a focus not only on developing your plans but also on your capability to execute them.
Category 3: Customer & Market Focus
Customer and Market Focus addresses how your organization seeks to understand the voice of the customer and of the marketplace, with a focus on meeting customers’ requirements, needs, and expectations; delighting customers; and building loyalty. The Category stresses relationships as an important part of an overall listening, learning, and performance excellence strategy. Your customer satisfaction and dissatisfaction results provide vital information for understanding your customers and the marketplace. In many cases, such results and trends provide the most meaningful information, not only on your customers’ views but also on their marketplace behaviors (e.g., repeat business and positive referrals) and how these views and behaviours may contribute to the sustainability of your organisation in the marketplace.
Category 4: Measurement, Analysis and Knowledge Management
The Measurement, Analysis, and Knowledge Management Category is the main point within the Criteria for all key information about effectively measuring, analysing, and improving performance and managing organizational knowledge to drive improvement and organizational competitiveness. In the simplest terms, Category 4 is the “brain centre” for the alignment of your organization’s operations with its strategic objectives. Central to such use of data and information are their quality and availability. Furthermore, since information, analysis, and knowledge management might themselves be primary sources of competitive advantage and productivity growth, this Category also includes such strategic considerations.
Category 5: Workforce Focus
Workforce Focus addresses key workforce practices-those directed toward creating and maintaining a high-performance workplace and toward engaging your workforce to enable it and your organization to adapt to change and to succeed. The Category covers workforce engagement, development, and management in an integrated way (i.e., aligned with your organization’s strategic objectives and action plans). Your workforce focus includes your capability and capacity needs and your workforce support climate. To reinforce the basic alignment of workforce management with overall strategy, Criteria also covers human resource planning as part of overall planning in the Strategic Planning Category
Category 6: Process Management
Process Management is the focal point within the Criteria for your key work systems and work processes. Built into the Category are the central requirements for identification and management of your core competencies to achieve efficient and effective work process management: effective design; a prevention orientation; linkage to customers, suppliers, partners, and collaborators and a focus on value creation for all key stakeholders; operational performance; cycle time; emergency readiness; and evaluation, continuous improvement, and organisational learning. Agility, cost reduction, and cycle time reduction are increasingly important in all aspects of process management and organisational design. In the simplest terms, “agility” refers to your ability to adapt quickly, flexibly, and effectively to changing requirements. Depending on the nature of your organisation's strategy and markets, agility might mean rapid change from one product to another, rapid response to changing demands, or the ability to produce a wide range of customised services. Agility also increasingly involves decisions to outsource, agreements with key suppliers, and novel partnering arrangements. Flexibility might demand special strategies, such as implementing modular designs, sharing components, sharing manufacturing lines, or providing specialised training. Cost and cycle time reduction often involve Lean process management strategies. It is crucial to utilise key measures for tracking all aspects of your overall process management.
Category 7: Business Results
The Results Category provides a results focus that encompasses your objective evaluation and your customers' evaluation of your organisation’s products and services, your overall financial and market performance, your workforce results, your leadership system and social responsibility results, and results of all key processes and process improvement activities. Through this focus, the Criteria's purposes - superior value of offerings as viewed by your customers and the marketplace; superior organisational performance as reflected in your operational, workforce, legal, ethical, and financial indicators; and organisational and personal learning - are maintained. Category 7 thus provides “real-time” information (measures of progress) for evaluation and improvement of processes, products, and services, in alignment with your overall organisational strategy. Item 4.1 calls for analysis and review of results data and information to determine your overall organisational performance and to set priorities for improvement.

