Quality is forever

March 23, 1998

Quality is forever

Chairman World Quality Council, U.K, and President Institute of Directors (IOD), Dr Madhav Mehra says “India is the superpower to watch out for” Dr Mehra recently in Mumbai on one of his quality message trips. Dr Mehra was selected to join the Government of India through the competitive examination for an appointment to IAS and all other services held in London in 1961. “Bitten by the quality bug he quit Government services in 1998 and embarked on a mission to empower individuals and organisations to achieve quality through training. He holds a PhD degree in Management by Objectives from London, and is also IQA/IRCAs registered, RAB recognized lead Auditor of Quality Systems. Mehra has addressed scores of conferences, workshops and seminars in the U.S, Europe, Far East and has helped several fortune 500 companies in their journey to TQM as well as certification to ISO 9000 series of standards. In India he has been responsible for pioneering the quality revolution by taking up quality initiative to the grassroots level. He has set up quality clubs in major industrial towns, founded a quality newsletter- Quality Times and instituted the Golden Peacock Award, India’s highest quality honour for outstanding quality.

Dr Madhav Mehra in an exclusive interview with _Manuel of FPJ Business Journal spoke at length on the various issues relating to the field of his expertise.

Q: What has been the progress of the IOD in India since the last decade?
A: The institute of Directors registered as non profit body of corporate directors has been committed to improving competitiveness of Indian business and industry throught Total Quality Strategies Under the able leadership of Dr Miss Najma Hptualla, Deputy Chairperson of Rajya Sabha, we can be truly regarded as the pioneers of the quality movement in India. From the past seven years, we have been egularlty organising the World Congress on Quality. Besides this every year we have been recognizing excellence in quality in Industry through the Golden Peacock National Quality Awards. In fact prestigious companies like Krloskar Brorhters Ltd, Telco, Phillips India Ltd, L&T Project Group and Bharti Enterprises have been the proud recipients. We are also very proactive in the sphere of Professional Development, Training, Tutorials, Workshops, Conferences and Events to drive home the message of Quality.

Q: What have been your achievements till date in the fields of Health, Education and Industry?
A: For couple of decades Quality was quite a backburner for industry but globalisation has forced industry to take serious peek at this fact,  which if overlooked today will lead to perils of gloom. But as far as Health and Education are concerned a lot need to be done. We are in our own way have ensured that hospitals like Hinduja’s in Mumbai and Apollo in Delhi adhere to ISO Standards. A couple of schools like the Modern Public School in Delhi have accepted this paradigm. What you need to understand is “ Quality today can no longer suffice to b buzzword. The system of ISO 9000 should be practiced in every sphere of governance industry, education or health, as it provides a system for performance evaluation to every level. You must have quality programmes to give training which would lead to a positive attitude to work, making an individual pro-active for greater commitment to his work thereby generating innovative thinking ultimately would lead to improving quality of product or service.

Q: What measure have you taken to ensure compliance of companies to ISO certified norms?
A: This aspect was not looked into earlier but we are very soon we would be setting up the Quality Council of India to be headed by Mr Ratan Tata which will verify the certificates that have been issued earlier and check whether the norms followed a the time of certification are being still adhered to.

Q: Do you mean to say that in case of the erring companies certificate would be revoked?
A: What India needs to understand is that all over the world, each country has its own bodies to ensure compliance. One needs to assess the assessor on two parameters one is monitoring and the other is competence of the assessor. Many a times it is understood that companies tend to put in efforts to get certificates, but once that need is fulfilled, quality takes a backset. We will analyze organisations so certified and if found guilty on any of the following counts, it would be given a six month period to correct anomaly or face revocation.

Q: What is your perception of the current Asian Crises?
A: There have been basic problems with these economies. Why would Korea had achieved phenomenal growth raising its GDP from $490 billion with per capita income of $ 12390 and earning a place in the OECD all in the span of one generation. Japan has already lost its leadership in economic growth. The Nikkie index has been steadily plummeting for the past ten years and today stands at the third of its value. Some $ 30000 billion have been wiped out of the Japanese Stock market. The busting of its two banking giants Yaimichi Securities and Takushoku Bank has not only exposed the myth of its economic invincibility- which its government had nurtured so steadfastly but also has led to breakdown in its overexposed banking system. And analysis of economies which have suffered most recently reveals an ailment common to all. They have large edifices on flimsy foundations. Their confidence was on published data. As soon as the investors realized that the published data had no relationship to the true values, their confidence shook. The globalised markets of today are far more vulnerable to investor confidence. When Gorge Soros and Julian Robertson intensified their attack on the Bath in May 1997, it had domino effects in the Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and finally in South Korea. It merely pricked a bubble that was blown out of proportion. These were not Free Markets based on laws of transparency and corporate governance but oligopolies dominated by select business houses, bureaucrats and army generals. These countries had been practicing models in Quality Control but were far removed from TQM.

Q: You mean to say that if these countries and even India follow TQM they can piggy back on the road to prosperity?
A: Of course. The fundamental belief in TQM is that it should involve everyone. It recognizes the power of each employee in increasing customer satisfaction and shareholder value in today rapidly changing customer expectations. The key factor today for creating an out-performing world-class organisations is the degree of trust it places in its human capital. Secrecy stifles innovation and breeds distrust. The three keys to TQM are Transparency, Trust and Training. Transparency helps to explain the rationale behind each decision of business transaction. Markets can condone failures when shown a feedback for future better performance but they resist secrecy. Trust is glue of an organisation. True empowerment of employees, however, can only come through training. Well therefore, need far more TQM in corporate governance to create a climate of trust and ensure decision making transcends the boardrooms and permeates all levels of the organisation.

Q: What would be your message to the governments and Organisations to today?
A: What the governments and the organisations of today needs to understand is to unite by creating is to unite by creating a common purpose and using information technology to focus resources and driving a change from “command culture” to “commitment culture”. In the new millennium we are going to explore vast spaces of possibilities through innovation and human creativity. Innovation is not something that can be ordered like breakfast in the Hilton. It would require deep involvement. As companies and governments should realize that the best way to create wealth for the stockholders and far the people at large is through developing and executing innovative strategies. They will have to change their paradigm from tools and technology focus to the humanware, the driver of both hardware and software. The competitive edge will come from education involving everyone in the company and training and retraining them. They will have to think of creating entrepreneurially focused micro enterprises which will give a stake to each employee. It is this stake that will help them reinvent new industries, to operate envision markets that do not exist and have ability to stake them out ahead of the competition.

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