QUALITY, TILL THE
early Fifties, was identified
with the final
product, what we call
end-of-pipe quality. The
Sixties brought in the
concept of process quality.
The Seventies got
associated with Total
Quality Control (TQC). The Eighties experienced
worldwide emergence of Total
Quality Management (TQM), which
established close linkages between Quality
and Human Resource. The 21st century
introduced discipline of quality technology.
Quality tools, like the Six Sigma,
work on a common platform with TQM,
or even with Balance Score Card. Quality
today is synonymous with cost
competitiveness, work culture, leadership
and empowerment, among other elements,
in the organisation. We have thus
travelled in the quality journey — spanning
five decades — from product-based
quality to quality-based organisation. |
What is next? A quality organisation
is a centre of excellence. We need to
transform all individual organisations into
centres of excellence; be it the manufacturing
industry, or a hospital, or an educational
institution, or a public service establishment
like a municipal corporation. Once
this happens, we only need to network all
these centres of excellence to build a quality
nation. This is the ‘Bottom-Up’ approach;
the process is slow (it may take a few
decades), but steady. Then we have the ‘Top-
Down’ approach; this begins with establishing
effective governance at the national level,
percolating down to the individual citizen.
Here, initial setting up of the requisite
framework may take considerable time and
effort, but once installed, the results come
much faster.
26/11 is by far the most significant event
of the year. It has resulted in generating a
great awakening — that we need to improve
on governance in general and internal security
in particular. There have been few quick
actions aimed at policy-level changes. We
need to understand that improvement of this
kind would need a high level of determination
and more than that, it would need sustained
efforts which can take them to the level
of institutionalisation. For example, we
may recall there was a recommendation by
the Administrative Reforms Commission
2005 that political parties forming a coalition
government should be treated as a single
block (Party) during that period. This reform
at macro level would have provided
immense value in improving political governance.
It is time that major political parties,
in national interest and in their own
interest, activate this recommendation
and put it on the statute book. |
| At micro level, there is need to
come out with a series of visible
initiatives. We need to take this crisis
as a God-sent opportunity to
introduce short-term and long-term
reforms in administration and governance.
The Quality Council of
India, in its own way, is facilitating
different ministries/ departments/
regulators, both at the Centre as
well as at the State level, to make
use of conformity assessment structure,
where appropriate. These initiatives are
aimed at enabling overnment/regulators to
deliver public services based on transparency,
objectivity and competency, thereby
assuring citizens of quality services/governance.
In all humility, I must say that there
have been a few positive outcomes, like
what the little squirrel could achieve in the
Ramayana. |
| I had almost forgotten Ramayana until I
went to Indonesia in the first week of
November this year, on invitation, to deliver
the keynote address at an international conference
on conformity assessment. On
arrival, we were provided with a list of
places/events of interest. I noticed
Ramayana Ballet to be most prominently
displayed. I mentioned to my hosts that
keeping in view the limitation of time I
would appreciate if they would arrange
to show me this ballet, which was a regular
event in Jakarta, twice a week. It so
happened that the days of the show in
Jakarta did not coincide with my stay in
Jakarta and so I left it at that. To my surprise,
they arranged for my visit to
Yogyakarta (a 40-minute flight) the same
evening to witness the show over there.
For people of Indonesia, Ramayana is
part of their ancient culture. They value it
as a huge source of learning and entertainment.
The next day, in my keynote
address, I complimented the people of
Indonesia for preserving this cultural
heritage. |
