Dangers in Lean Manufacturing Awards from the Got Boondogle blog:
My simple understanding of lean principles is to focus on the pursuit of company survival for eternity with the elimination of waste while adding value for customers, enhancing quality of life for employees and contributing to society. The pursuit of lean manufacturing awards is not on the list of objectives.
Another good post from an excellent blog that is well worth reading. Much can go wrong when pursuing an award.
I am not convinced pursuing an award is definitely a bad idea. It might be that the pursuit of an award can help the organization focus. However, I also see the dangers and would have to guess in most instances it is less effective to pursue management improvement awards than just pursuing improvement of the organization.
