Organizational Assessment of Total Quality Management To adequately measure continuous improvement, organizations must use a set of assessment criteria that complement the following: (1) Highlight the leader's role in define direction, objectives and review results.(2) Reveal the level to which all processes are connected and aligned towards achieving the results required for success.(3) Ensure that strategic plans and action plans are focused on performance requirements of customer and mission that must be met for the organization's strategy to be successful.(4) Consider customer satisfaction and expectations to anticipate requirements and link them as key inputs to strategic plans.(5) Examine the collection, the analysis and use of performance metrics information to support an evidence-based system for improving organizational performance excellence.(6) Align human resource development efforts with the organization's strategy to maintain a work environment conducive to performance excellence.(7) Challenge key operational and work process management efforts to achieve flexibility, cost reduction, and cycle time reduction.(8) Focus on measured outcomes linked to the organization's strategic objectives.(9) Facilitate communication and sharing information on best practices.(10) Serve as a working tool for understanding and managing performance, planning and training. Once completed, the evaluation becomes the basis for refining the strategic plan and supporting action plans. Three sectors were selected and ways of improving identified. The U.S. Army was chosen for the government sector, Resurrection Life Church for the nonprofit sector, and the Veteran's Administration for the service sector. The Army Performance Improvement Criteria (APIC) is used to improve processes and is based on the Malcolm Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence, a national quality award for private industry, and the President's Quality Award, a federal quality. It provides a common framework for all Army organizations to measure the level of achievement of stated objectives and customer needs. It provides a systematic review that indicates the degree to which these processes are connected and aligned towards achieving the mission and leads to informed management decisions. The APIC helps the manager at the highest levels to visualize the connections between the various functional areas and the multiple processes that make up the organization. This evaluation framework can be applied equally regardless of the specific discipline or management philosophy adopted by an organization. According to AR5-1 (March 2002), the application of APIC supports Army Total Quality in three ways: (1) Provides a systematic and disciplined approach to addressing the dynamics of change by providing a working tool for strategic planning , organizational management evaluations, analysis and planning of performance improvement.