Dubai - There is no better showcase in the Arab world other than the vibrant and modern metropolis of Dubai for the sweeping transformation total quality drive can bring about in both the public and private sectors.
The search for quality is one of the prerequisites for success worldwide, and Dubai exemplifies it. The quality movement initiated by Dubai through the 1990's not only signalled a significant turning point in its inevitable evolution as a role-model for Arab economies but also inspired other Asian nations outside the Middle East region to emulate.
Under its visionary leadership, Dubai pressed ahead with its far-reaching Total Quality Management (TQM) initiative, and demonstrated to the rest of the Arab world the significance of a modern approach to leadership that will enable them to improve in all aspects.
Over the past 10-12 years, Dubai has not only been thriving on its passion for quaility but also emerged as a showpiece role-model in the Middle East in demonstrating the importance of quality in shaping the competitiveness of organisations in the Arab world. The breathtaking progress and economic prosperity Dubai achieved through its quality drive also drove home the message that change is unavoidable and only a concerted effort to radical transformation at all levels will enable Arab countries improve their chances of world competitiveness.
Dubai's TQM drive also underscored the relevance of knowledge management to the Arab world and the importance of working towards building knowledge based work, a knowledge based economy and a knowledge driven society.
It also stressed the importance of looking at the interconnectivity between the various key aspects which demonstrate the impact on society and on wealth creation.
Quality analysts cannot differ on this. The incredible growth and development in Dubai and the Emirate's leading position today as a world-class regional hub for trade, tourism information technology and finance that lays immense emphasis on excellence in all spheres is a living testimony of the power of inspired leadership. And no less significantly, Dubai exemplified that participative management, an essential guideline in Total Quality Management, can do wonders in transforming an economy and achieving seemingly unattainable goals.
Underpinning this was a growing realisation that Dubai's economic development and its contribution to the regional and international economy is increasingly dependent on the competitiveness of local companies against world class standards and business.
Most Dubai government departments, including Dubai Ports and Customs Department, Civil Aviation Department, Emirates Airlines, Department of Economic Development, Dubai Investment Authority, Internet City, Dubai Police, and leading organisations and banks not only successfully incorporated the concepts of product quality, process control, quality assurance, employee involvement and quality improvement in their operations, but also sought to push problem solving and decision-making down by allowing people who do the work to both measure and take corrective action in order to deliver a product or service that meets the needs of their customer.
Dubai's private sector kept pace with the government's quality initiatives to ensure sustained business and service excellence. Leading players in the retailing, banking, telecommunications, hospitality and property sectors sought to systematically pursue a quality improvement programme aimed at increasing effectiveness and efficiency in meeting customer expectations. These organisations realised that quality drive is a continuous process to achieve a better understanding of the market; to innovate products and processes; to manage and distribute material and products; and to provide service to customers.
They were also quick to realise that success of quality improvement is based on the understanding of every member of the organisation concerning the needs of their customers and that maintenance of that understanding requires continuing dialogue and negotiation with the customer and measurement of one's products and services against the customer expectations.
The Dubai example of institutionalising quality at all levels and ensuring that not only it should drive business enterprise but also government institutions with the purpose of everything and everyone being citizen centric, is today a reference to the Arab region for its extremely business friendly environment, calling it a non-oil dependent, diversified trading and service economy with laws, free zones and customs in sync with the trading economy.
Dubai's private and public sectors realised that in order to maintain the emirate's competitive edge, it is essential that government and private sector organisations work together to boost trade and industry in the emirate, to be on a par with international standards. Dubai's drive for quality, which includes the Dubai Quality Award, is an important part of this objective.
While a popular slogan of the quality movement is "quality begins with the customer," in Dubai's case it is different - quality begins with the government and seeps across all fabrics.
As analysts point out, Dubai's continuous drive for quality has ensured that standards of trade and industry in the Emirate are on par with the finest international standards.
The Dubai Quality Award (DQA) initiated by the Government recognises the commitment to quality and business excellence displayed by organisations from all sectors in Dubai's private and public sectors while at the same time providing a focused structure which can be used by companies to assess their performance and progress towards excellence.
Dubai's success in implementing total quality management in all spheres is now drawing a great deal of attention from other Arab and Asian countries.
In the initial stages of its quality drive, Dubai authorities sought to benchmark their performance standard to those in the West or to Singapore and Hong Kong. However, over the past few years, the emirate has even surpassed those role-models in certain aspects to set its own standard.
By Issac Jhon
© Khaleej Times 2005
