Singapore Tuesday, 7 June 2011 – A new award has been launched to celebrate the pinnacle of service in Singapore. The Singapore Service Excellence Medallion is the latest and most prestigious initiative of the national GEMS Up movement to achieve a customer-centric culture amongst organisations in Singapore. Organised by the Institute of Service Excellence at Singapore Management University (ISES) in partnership with agencies of the national GEMS Up movement - the National Trades Union Congress, SPRING Singapore, the Singapore Tourism Board and the Singapore Workforce Development Agency, the Medallion aims to catalyse a transformation in service amongst organisations in Singapore, and to produce worthy role models for all to emulate.
“Companies in Singapore who have been bold, innovative and visionary have much that we can all learn from. These frontrunners and their achievements in service excellence will be celebrated in this pinnacle service award which cuts across all sectors of the economy,” said Ms Jennie Chua, Co-Chair, Medallion Governing Council.
”The Singapore Service Excellence Medallion will be awarded based on both the service excellence criteria of the Business Excellence framework and employee and customer satisfaction measurement scores. As such, winning organisations will demonstrate good management practices, have employees who are engaged and empowered and have satisfied customers,” said Prof Cham Tao Soon, Co-Chair, Medallion Governing Council.
“This transformational award celebrates a new paradigm of service excellence which goes beyond excellent frontline service. We want to honour organisations where leadership, policies and culture work together to bring about exceptional organisational performance, employee and customer satisfaction. This award will set new benchmarks for all to aspire to,” said Ms Caroline Lim, Director, ISES and Organiser, Singapore Service Excellence Medallion.
The Singapore Service Excellence Medallion will be presented to the most outstanding organisation that has demonstrated pinnacle levels of customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction and organisational service excellence. To compete for the Medallion, organisations will be qualified against either of the following:
- Awarded a prominent international or national award in the last 2 years
- Achieved consistently high scores in the Customer Satisfaction Index of Singapore (CSISG) for the past 2 years
Organisations will be finalist organisations when they are qualified. The following is a list of organisations [1] that have been nominated as finalist organisations based on their CSISG scores which are significantly higher than the national scores in 2009 and 2010:
- Cathay Pacific
- Changi Airport
- Emirates
- Grand Hyatt
- Mandarin Orchard Singapore
- Nanyang Technological University
- Qantas
- Raffles Hospital
- Shangri-La
- Singapore Airlines
- Swissotel
- The Ritz-Carlton
- Thomson Medical Centre
The assessment of organisations for the Singapore Service Excellence Medallion is rigorous and holistic. It considers the integration of strategy, execution and culture of an organisation. SPRING's Business Excellence assessors will conduct site assessments for finalist organisations. Besides evaluation on customer satisfaction and employee satisfaction, finalist organisations will be assessed against the Business Excellence Framework (Service Excellence) managed by SPRING Singapore. (Please see Annex A for details.)
The Business Excellence Framework (Service Excellence) is the same as that for the Service Excellence Award, which is conferred by the Singapore Quality Award Governing Council. Henceforth, the Service Excellence Award will be replaced by the Singapore Service Excellence Medallion.
The Medallion for individuals honour nominees from organisations who have exemplified the organisation's mission, vision and values. All finalist organisations are required to nominate three outstanding individuals - one each from leadership, management and customer-facing roles, for the individual category of the Singapore Service Excellence Medallion. Organisations are recommended to adopt a peer nomination process to identify the individual nominees. Nevertheless, the nominations of these three individuals must receive full endorsement from the organisation's Chief Executive Officer and/or Chairman of the organisation's Board of Directors. They will represent the organisation to meet the Medallion Management Committee and Medallion Governing Council. (Please see Annex A for details.)
Organisations from both the private and public sectors can download and complete the nomination forms from www.medallion.sg.
Finalist organisations that qualify to take part in the Medallion will pay a fee of S$5,350. The fee covers the administration of the various Medallion stages and an organisation report with results of customer and employee satisfaction surveys, as well as feedback from assessors of the business excellence framework.
Important dates:
| 27 Jun 2011 | Final date for interested organisations to indicate the interest to participate by completing the Nomination Forms |
| 4 Jul 2011 | Organisations to receive confirmation that they are qualified to take part in the Medallion |
| 30 Jul 2011 | Qualified organisations to complete Assessment Forms for the Medallion |
| 3 Aug 2011 | Finalist organisations to commence assessment for the Medallion |
| 31 Oct 2011 | Nominated organisations to complete assessment for the Medallion |
About the Institute of Service Excellence at Singapore Management University
The Institute of Service Excellence at Singapore Management University (ISES) is the cornerstone of an initiative to raise Singapore's service standards and promote a culture of service excellence. Working in close collaboration with government agencies and C-level business leaders, ISES champions service excellence through an integrated approach that encompasses benchmarking and analysis, research and thought leadership, and industry engagement.
ISES's role in GEMS Up is in the area of research and thought leadership for service by developing and administering the Customer Satisfaction Index of Singapore (CSISG), a national barometer of customer satisfaction of the Singapore economy.
ISES is also the key organiser for the Singapore Service Excellence Medallion, the nation's highest accolade presented by the GEMS Up movement to recognise outstanding organisations and individuals who have achieved the pinnacle of service excellence.
About the GEMS Up Movement
The Singapore Service Excellence Medallion is the nation's highest accolade supported by agencies of the national GEMS Up movement, to recognise outstanding organisations and individuals who have achieved the pinnacle of service excellence.
The Go the Extra Mile for Service (GEMS) movement was first launched in 2005, encouraging all Singaporeans to play their part and take the initiative to improve service levels, working towards achieving an excellent service culture in Singapore.
The first phase of GEMS focused on raising service levels in key service sectors such as tourism, hospitality, food & beverage, retail and transport.
GEMS Up is the second phase of this national movement. Represented by five agencies, the Institute of Service Excellence at Singapore Management University, National Trades Union Congress, SPRING Singapore, Singapore Tourism Board and Singapore Workforce Development Agency, GEMS Up aims to bring service excellence up to the next level via a three-pronged strategy:
- Promotion, Publicity and Recognition
- Service Capability Development
- Research and Thought Leadership
[1] Although it is among the list of pre- qualified organisations, Singapore Management University will not be participating as it is the organiser of the Singapore Service Excellence Medallion.