Investigating the Implementation of Business Excellence Models in Federal and Local Public Sector Organizations: A Qualitative Study

Abstract

Business Excellence Models (BEMs) have been recognized in the literature as effective tool at organizations. Indeed, majority of previous studies were examine in private sector,less studies targeted public sector organizations. However, there is a lack of knowledge about these models in federal and local levels of public sector organizations. Thus, this study aims to fill in this gap by exploring the implementation of BEMs in public sector layers. Qualitative interviewing used to collect data from the fourteen specialists in the public sector excellence working in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). They were asked about; 1) Implementation of BEMS in the UAE public sector organizations, 2) Number of BEM currently implemented in UAE in both federal and local public sector organizations, 3) The relationship between national culture and BEMs implementation and 4) Critical Success Factors (CSFs) that influence implementation of BEMs in public sector layers. The semi-structured interviews successfully achieved the study's objectives and addressed the research questions. A thematic analysis was employed to code the collected data. NVivo Software was used to analyze the collected data. The results revealed that all UAE public sector organizations apply BEMs at both federal and local level, where the national culture positively influence the implementation of BEMs in public organizations. The results have identified the following five main Critical Success Factors (CSFs) for implementing of BEMs; effective leadership, qualified human resources, financial resources, positive organizational culture of excellence, and focus on customers. The findings contributed to public sector literature and confirmed that UAE public sector organizations apply BEMs in order to achieve federal and local levels public sector objectives and develop provided services.