DUBAI: The current global economic slowdown gives excellent opportunities for quality management and quality improvements for organisations.
Contrary to general expectations, the current global difficult challenge is blessing in disguise as it has offered organisations a unique chance to do several things that they do not tend to do when they are busy keeping up with growth. These include reviewing the current policies and strategies, and exploring new markets or segments, believe experts.
Alaa Garad, a senior lecturer at Middlesex University Dubai and expert in quality management, said that it is a good chance now to start benchmarking if not yet done to see how other organisations are dealing with challenges and how they manage the change.
"No doubt that some organisations go through a period of denial with regards to change. They prefer to cry over the 'old cheese' rather than exploring the maze for new cheese," said Garad while speaking about the business excellence model and how it highlights the importance of benchmarking and measurement for learning.
Referring to Dr. Spencer Johnson's book 'Who Moved My Cheese', which describes the different reactions to change, Garad said that quality is about change management.
"Recognising this very fact, recently Dubai Government has amended its Excellence Programme Model to include the key element of change management. The business excellence model necessitates the learning, training and investment in people; if organisations missed this in the old days, it is time to do it now," he said.
Although there may be some pressure on training budgets over the next period, said Garad, it is important to note that learning can occur through other activities and is not limited to structured training. These include scenario planning, learning circles, quality circles, after-action reviews, and self-assessment, amongst others.
"To achieve this, the commitment of 'leadership' or top management is absolutely crucial. Without it, quality cannot fly, it will not have wings, it will not have teeth. Quality is not just a customer satisfaction survey or an ISO certificate or a merely process re-engineering. Quality is a holistic framework, a system, it is also a culture and philosophy; it is a way of living and doing business," he concluded.
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Alaa Garad is a senior lecturer at Middlesex University Dubai. In addition to teaching and leading programmes like organisational behaviour, enterprise and small business, he is a senior assessor at eight of the ten quality awards in the United Arab Emirates in addition to King Abdul-Aziz Award in KSA.
Alaa is an accreted assessor from the European Organisation for Quality, Brussels and he is Lead Auditor for Quality Management System ISO 9000. His PhD thesis is focused on organisational learning and excellence and he holds master in quality management and bachelor of commerce. He helped several organisations to assess their excellence level and to improve their quality. In addition to his academic experience, he has over 15 years of industry experience in government, banking, flight catering, ICT, and training.
© Press Release 2009
