Saya ingin mengucapkan terima kasih kepada INTAN dan Perbadanan Produktiviti Negara kerana telah menjemput saya menyampaikan ucap utama dan seterusnya menyempurnakan perasmian Eksposisi Kualiti Kebangsaan 1993. Saya tidak lupa juga mengucapkan tahniah kepada INTAN dan NPC kerana berjaya mengumpulkan pegawai-pegawai dari sektor awam dan swasta, bersama-sama menghadiri Eksposisi ini sama ada sebagai pembentang kertas kerja ataupun sebagai peserta.

Penyertaan ini jelas mencerminkan semangat Persyarikatan Malaysia.

Yang Amat Berhormat Dato' Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, Perdana Menteri dalam mengemukakan Wawasan 2020 dua tahun yang lalu, telah menjelaskan bahawa cabaran yang kesembilan yang menjadi strategi penting bagi membolehkan Malaysia menjadi sebuah negara perindustrian yang maju ialah "membentuk sebuah masyarakat yang makmur, dengan ekonomi yang mampu menghadapi persaingan, bersifat dinamis, tangkas dan mempunyai daya ketahanan." Cabaran ini adalah sesuai dengan tema yang dipilih bagi Eksposisi ini iaitu "Ke Arah Daya Saing Negara." Competitiveness requires the management to refocus its attention on quality issues in order to maintain a competitive edge. To practice quality control is to develop, design, produce and service a quality product that is most economical, most useful and always satisfactory to the customers. With customers, the closer the better.

Therefore, quality-related activities must be conducted throughout the organization from market research and product development through sales and services. Enhancing a company's competitive edge is the success that comes from understanding the factors that influence, shape, direct and affect the business. It is important to crystallize a company's key competitive strengths and write them down.

The industrial organizations of Japan have come to dominate the world of manufacturing. Yet, only recently, have our eyes been opened to the real secret of the Japanese miracle. We all noticed the extraordinary "quality" of the goods being produced. In fact, many of us actually thought that "quality" was the secret. Yet thousands of firms in the developed countries have installed "quality", and still waiting for the miracle to kiss them. The secret doesn't lie in the concepts of "quality". The secret lies in the "continuous improvement" of quality. As a matter of fact, we can "continuously improve" service as easily as you continously improve quality. Or, you could "continuously improve" quality and service. "Continuous improvement" is a way of managing. What does it take to achieve continuous improvement? It requires three things:

(i) you need to organize a shadow organization that is right for your organization. The term shadow organization refers to terms like "steering committee", or "task force" or "action teams" which are sharply focussed, to respond quickly and can be cross functional so that they can cut through the departmental boundary walls that tie bureaucratic organizations in knots;

(ii) you will need to continuously collect customer feedback and use that feedback to drive improvement. The company will need to know what customers expect in order to define the standards that will satisfy them and the service enhancers that will please or delight them. In most bureaucratic organizations, customer dissatisfaction is "bad news", and sometimes the cure is to shoot down the messenger. To achieve continuous improvement, the frame of reference needs to change. The organization will have to start viewing customer dissatisfaction as something "valuable" because it drives improvement. You will have to begin to view the customer feedback as "diagnostic" rather than as a measure of performance. This is an important culture change to make, because if you keep shooting the messenger, pretty quickly you'll only get the good news, and improvement becomes impossible;

(iii) you'll need people to work on problem-solving teams who are trained to work in teams, trained in quality/service skills, trained in effective problem- solving processes and committed to customer satisfaction. Organization and customer feedback will make continous improvement possible, but success depends on employees who are committed to service quality improvement, trained to work in teams, and trained to apply their problem solving skills to those customer situations that are most important to your customers. When we want lower- level employees to solve service and quality problems, you'll need to give those employees far more training than you are used to giving than previously.

Another reason why training is one of the easiest parts of the change effort is that front-line people have a lot to gain. Their work life becomes much more interesting, varied and challenging as they are allowed to use the full range of talents that they bring to work. They gain in motivation because of the added elements of growth, responsibility, achievement and recognition that are added to their work. They gain pride in their organization as they see the positive effects of their work on customers.

Employees will feel accountable when they achieve intended work outcomes are consequential for other people, receive information about outcomes, and can contribute outcomes to their own efforts, initiatives and decisions.

In the quest for improved quality and higher productivity, it is useful for this seminar to examine some of the differences between bureaucratic agencies and customer-driven companies. The following paired statements highlight the main rhetorical battlelines:

(i) A bureaucratic agency is focussed on its own needs and perspective. A customer-driven agency is focussed on enabling the whole organization to function as a team.

(ii) A bureaucratic agency is focussed on the roles and responsibilities of its parts. A customers driven agency is focussed on enabling the whole organization to function as a team.

(iii) A bureaucratic agency defines itself both by the amount of reasouces it controls and the tasks it performs. A customer driven agency defines itself by the reasults it achieves for its customers.

(iv) A bureaucratic agency sticks to routines. A customer driven agnecy modifies its operations in response to changing demands for its services.

(v) A bureaucratic agency separates the work of thinking from that of doing. A customer driven agency empowers front-line employees to make judgements about how to improve customer service and value.

Saya adalah berharap bahawa seminar pada kali ini akan membincangkan isu-isu ini, dan membuat rumusan dan cadangan yang boleh meningkatkan lagi mutu atau nilai perkhidmatan yang disediakan oleh kedua-dua sektor swasta dan perkhidmatan awam. Dengan ini saya dengan sukacitanya merasmikan Eksposisi Kualiti Kebangsaan 1993 ini.