Teyie Report

Caroline Karangi, KIM’s Chief Manager in Charge Corporate Services during the interview

Each year, Africans organisations are celebrated for their innovation and enduring spirit in the face of adversity.

What they are not yet celebrated for is the consistency in quality and adherence to professional standards, which to date has restricted many organizations from competing on a global scale.

It is for this reason that The Kenya Institute of Management (KIM) announced plans to launch the ‘Organisational Performance Index’ (OPI), a new tool that is set to change the way business is done in Africa.

According to Caroline Karangi, KIM’s Chief Manager in Charge Corporate Services, OPI was developed after a thorough consultative process anchored in the concept of ‘Existence, Implementation, Results’ (EIR) and on feedback from participants in the annual COYA (Company of the Year Awards), an event that recognises and rewards business excellence. “We needed to separate this [OPI] from the actual [COYA] ceremony to allow companies to evaluate themselves without necessarily participating in COYA. But to participate in COYA, companies will have to go through the process.”

Additionally, Karangi says, as an excellence model, the OPI serves as a self assessment tool that empowers organizations to adhere to systems that enhance their global competitiveness. “It is important for organizations to have internal self evaluation to be able to not only plan but also understand how to asses themselves.”

One major advantage of the OPI model is its ability to separate organizational performance into distinct processes and results—thereby instill smart business processes that generate strong business results. This holistic approach pushes organisations to put more effort towards developing a culture of constant improvements so as to better understand their various challenges and opportunities.

Given that the OPI is benchmarked against world class excellence models such as the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, European Foundation for Quality Management and the Japan Quality Award, organizations that adopt it can rest assured of success. Indeed, this is a tool that will make the difference between success and failure for many businesses across the continent.

How the ‘Organisational Performance Index’ (OPI) works

Through the OPI model, participating organisations will be rated according to their performance and competitiveness on a scale of 1-10. The OPI rating is determined following a rigorous internal and external assessment process.  The organisation’s processes are assessed and combined with its business results using a weighted formula to determine the scores for a set of global determinants and sectoral indicators, which when combined, define their OPI.

The focus on the Seven Global Determinants: Leadership and Management; HR Focus; Customer Orientation and Marketing; Financial Management; Innovation, Technology and Information Management; CSR and Environmental Focus; and Productivity and Quality ensures that organisations are defining and executing strategies designed to meet the needs of all stakeholders. The use of sectoral indicators enables organisations to benchmark their performance and competitiveness objectively and effectively against their peers and against international standards.

For more information on the ‘Organisational Performance Index’ (OPI) and the Kenya Institute of Managemnet visit www.kim.ac.ke