Pursuit of excellence: A phenomenological study of winning the Award for Excellence issued by APPA -- Leadership in Educational Facilities

The purpose of this study was to identify the key factors and conditions needed to initiate and sustain a culture of excellence on university campuses. The Award for Excellence is a Baldrige-based peer-review program for excellence in educational facilities management awarded by APPA—Leadership in Educational Facilities (APPA) (formally known as the Association for Physical Plant Administrators). Utilizing the Award for Excellence as the criterion for inclusion in the study, the researcher attempted to gain insights related to the process and mechanisms associated with pursuing excellence in an organization and generate a deeper understanding of the process associated with a pursuit of excellence, namely the forces that drive this pursuit and the mechanisms by which excellence is achieved.;Using a phenomenological research design, the researcher conducted structured interviews with fifteen participants from seven different universities who have achieved the Award for Excellence in order to: identify the driving forces that led campus personnel to purse the Award for Excellence in facilities management; examine the change model or theory most relevant for the pursuit of an excellence award; identify the leadership theory or approach utilized on that campus during the pursuit of the Award for Excellence; and discover the factors that supported or impeded the continuation of a culture of excellence.