Best practices of best performers : Evidence from the Florida sterling council Award Winners

Organizational performance is critical to the achievement of organizational goals. Performance excellence is dependent on many internal as well as external organizational factors. What factors affect the performance of high-performance organizations? This study analyzes the efforts to achieve performance excellence of eighteen organizations that have received awards from the Florida Sterling Council. The Sterling Award envisions performance improvement in such areas as the enhancement of organizational leadership, the creation and constant upgrading of strategic planning, and the customer focus of services and activities. Thus the Sterling Awards provide a unique opportunity to empirically examine how organizational factors contribute to organizational performance in highly performing organizations. The analysis of eighteen organizations that have won Sterling Awards makes it possible to specify the building blocks of a highly performing organization. The results reveal important lessons learned from high-performing organizations. © 2011 M.E. Sharpe, Inc. All rights reserved.