The Arab world has achieved great strides over the last 30 years.
Life expectancy went up by 15 years, child mortality rates have fallen by two-thirds, adult literacy has doubled, women's literacy has trebled, calorie intake and access to safe water have risen and poverty is lower than in other developing countries. All this is true, according to the UN.
But it is not the whole picture.
Among the key challenges it is facing is the ability to bridge the knowledge gap, strengthen personal freedom and boost citizens' participation in political and economic affairs.
This was stressed by Dr Mohamed Zairi, a management expert and Dean of Electronic Total Quality Management College (e-TQM), in his candid appraisal of the regional situation at a mini-congress attended by the cream of UAE's leaders in government and business.
The workshop, part of a week-long drive for excellence organised by the Arab world's first virtual college, comes under the patronage of General Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai Crown Prince, UAE Defence Minister and Chairman of the Dubai Executive Council, who visited participants of the small-group discussions at the Burj Al Arab hotel yesterday.
Despite on-going international tensions, the mood at the event is one of optimism. In his opening address, Maj Gen Dhahi Khalfan Tamim, Dubai Police Chief and Chancellor of the e-TQM College, said: "The world has become a global village. Borders have vanished, travel has shrunk distances and knowledge has become globalised.
"TQM has appeared in the last half century. It has become a major issue in the last two decades. But today, its application has become a must for any organisation or institution to compete." He also said officials from other countries in the Gulf region, particularly Jordan, Syria and North Africa, have reached out to the e-TQM College to use its self-assessment tools.
Dr Zairi, author of 11 books and over 300 papers, highlighted the findings of the UNDP's Arab Human Development Report 2002, to outline challenges to the region - especially in building a knowledge-based economy.
"Knowledge is superior to wealth. Knowledge guards you, whereas you guard wealth. Wealth decreases with expenditure, whereas knowledge multiplies with dissemination," said Dr Zairi, echoing the words of Imam Ali bin Abi Taleb, Islam's fourth Caliph, who lived in the 6th Century.
Today, challenges to the Arab world, he said, include: * Improvements in health and education have not reached all citizens.* Expansion of services is not matched by needed improvements in their delivery.* Arabs represent five per cent of the world population but only 0.5 per cent of Internet users.* Increasing rates of joblessness.* A slow-down of scientific research and technological development and poor production bases and competitive capacity.* Rampant poverty.
There is a need to strengthen personal freedom and to boost citizens' participation in political and economic affairs. His assessment of the Arab world capped a series of lectures delivered by a panel of visiting management gurus from the U.S., Japan and Germany.
Dr Armand V. Feigenbaum, President of the Massachusetts-based General Systems Co. Inc. and an originator of Total Quality Management, delivered a talk through teleconferencing. He is the author of 'Total Quality Control', translated into a dozen other languages.
"This first decade of the 21st century in which we are living has become one of the most demanding periods of modern history. The rapidly changing business and social environment is creating a situation in which nothing - certainly not quality - stands still in today's world," he said.
"Organisations that bring in strong competitive improvements simply overpower those that are slow in such improvement - and change is the single thing that remains constant," he added. He also pointed out a new trend in which an increasing number of companies are using the Internet to become their customers's "self service" method of choice.
Prof Walter Masing, Honorary President of the German Society for Quality, who discussed the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM), said the assault of the Japanese industry on the European market pushed European leaders to do something about quality.
Dr Yoshio Kondo, one of Japan's top luminaries in TQM movement, also discussed the direct relationship between quality and profitability.
Dr H. James Harrington, CEO of Harrington Institute, a recognised technology trendsetter, made a presentation on how organisations can manage change.
The week-long series of lectures and workshops was organised by the Dubai-based Electronic Total Quality Management College (e-TQM), an online school run by Dubai Police, envisioned as the nucleus for quality movement in the Arab world.
Gulf News
