Challenges of Implementing Business Excellence Models in government departments in the United Arab Emirates

Author : Salah Alhaj

Abstract :For the past thirty years, Quality Management Systems and Business Excellence Models have been implemented widely in organizations as an improvement strategy, governments are working hard to encourage this trend in public as well as private sector organizations through the development of national excellence awards. There are barriers affecting the successful implementation of the quality management systems as there have been high implementation failures rates in various industrial settings. Business Excellence Models is a quality management system with a high reputation all around the globe. It is a set of requirements used by organizations to attain customer satisfaction. The number of organizations implementing the Business Excellence Models are increasing rapidly worldwide. The influence of the trend to raise quality has reached the Middle East through the efforts of organizations to implement the Business Excellence Models quality management system. In the United Arab Emirates there are more than 21000 (twenty-one thousand) organizations registered with the ISO 9000 quality management systems. Private companies have made great efforts to implement the system in the country. Additionally, government departments have started quality initiatives by implementing the Business Excellence Models. In particular, the ministries in the United Arab Emirates. Although a good many government departments have got the certification and have followed it, others have not yet done so. Therefore, the aim of this research is to identify and analyze the barriers to implementing Business Excellence Models in some government departments in the United Arab Emirates. To achieve the research aim, an empirically based system ratio analysis of three case studies covering organizations in the Sharjah government were carried out. Substantial fieldwork was undertaken using a predominantly qualitative approach. Data was collected through semi structured interviews, to explore the implementation of the Business Excellence Models, and to provide a more holistic understanding using triangulation techniques. The primary contribution of this research is an in depth understanding of the barriers to implementing Business Excellence Models in some government departments in the United Arab Emirates. This study identified unique barriers affecting the Business

Keywords :Barriers to Implementing Business Excellence Models in UAE Government Departments

Conference Name :International Conference on Business, Economics, Marketing and Management (ICBEMM-25)

Conference Place Reykjavik, Iceland

Conference Date 17th Sep 2025