Assessing organizations against excellence models (EM) aims to help them make substantial improvements to their services, thereby satisfying and exceeding the expectations of their stakeholders. Assessments seem to be the main comprehensive tool available to date, by which the level of organizational excellence can be thoroughly monitored. Organizations promoting EMs select assessors to evaluate strategic issues and be able to reach conclusions about the excellence level of the assessed organizations. Assessor selection is based on their knowledge of the EM criteria and assessment methodologies, including the European Foundation of Quality Management (EFQM). A new government EM, the Fourth Generation Government Excellence Model (4GEM), focuses on the assessors’ knowledge of core business and selects them as Subject Matter Experts (SME). The conclusion of the research in this area is, unfortunately, ambiguous. Although researchers have recognized the importance and the impact of the assessors on the effectiveness of the assessment, few studies have addressed the relation of the specialized experience and core business knowledge of assessors to the outcome of the assessment. This exploratory paper attempts to discuss the impact of having SMEs as part of the assessment team, as well as the advantages and challenges. Further quantitative research studies are suggested to validate this research conclusions.

Keywords: Subject Matter Experts, assessments, excellence models, EFQM, Fourth Generation Government Excellence Model, assessors.