QMD in Dubai December 2011
Dr. Milt Krivokuca, the 2012-2013 QMD Chair, presented the keynote address at the annual Dubai Best Practices Conference on December 14th. The conference was organized by Business Excellence Department, Department of Economic Development, Dubai. Approximately 500 delegates from the region attended the event to learn how winners of Dubai Quality Award (DQA), such as Hotel Hilton Dubai Jumeirah, Al Faraa General Contracting. Sharjah Islamic Bank, and Cold Stone Creamery made the journey to best practices recognition. The importance of engaging people for accomplishing organizational excellence was the central theme and key to success for these organizations.
Opening remarks were provided by Mr. Ali Ibrahim, Dy. Director general of Department of Economic Development, Dubai. In his opening statement, His Excellency stated that “excellence is an investment, and not a cost.”
His Excellency Sami Dhaen Al Qamzi, the Director General of Department of Economic Development Dubai was the Chief Guest.
The keynote address, presented by Dr. Krivokuca, discussed the reasons why an organization must conduct a comprehensive self-assessment and align its mission vision and values with its management structure, management system, and quality system, to achieve organizational excellence. K&N Management, a Texas fast food company that earned the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige Award, was the best practices case study used to support this integrated approach to organizational excellence.
His Excellency released DQA Winning Practices-Benchmarks and Best Practices Report which will help organizations learn and adapt best practices from DQA winner organizations. This Benchmarking project, first of its kind in the region, was initiated and facilitated by Mr. Sunil Thani, ASQ Fellow and DQA Jury Member.
The second keynote speaker, Mr. Graham Elder, from the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, England, provided a case study of local government and described how the local government engaged the people of its community during the current difficult economic times by using an Investors in People framework. Mr. Elder explained how government agencies from several boroughs in London were able to combine services and reduce costs without reducing services to the public.
While in Dubai, Dr. Krivokuca addressed the local ASQ meeting. His topic, “Using Statistics for Managerial Decision making” discussed the need for Quality professionals to perform the translation from statistics to bottom line costs and profit numbers. As he suggested, managers too often focus on the actual monetary values and not the significance of the statistical process. The presentation stimulated a very and interactive discussion on this topic. The meeting was arranged by Local member Community-Dubai, U.A.E and attended by 50 people.
From Left: Milt Krivokuca, QMD Chair and opening keynote speaker on the
left, Graham Elder, from the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea,
afternoon keynote speaker in the center, with Dubai best practices winner,
Kewal Mehta from Apparel KZCO, second from right, along with representatives
from the Dubai Department of Economic Development.
From left: Seema Sequira, Head Dubai Excellence Awards, Milt
Krivokuca QMD Chair, Graham Elder, Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea,
and Sunil Thawani, ASQ Local Member Unit Leader Dubai and Best Practices
