SBP 2006 conference offers excellent platform for promoting quality initiatives: Sheikh Ahmed

The annual conference is organised jointly by the DQA Secretariat at the Department of Economic Development (DED) and the Dubai Quality Group. More than 450 people from the business community attended the event at which winners of the Dubai Quality Award 2005 (DQA) shared their best practices in quality management with potential applicants of the Dubai Quality Award.

"Dubai's journey to excellence has received a significant boost with the Dubai Quality Award and networking forums hosted by the Dubai Quality Group, which enable the propagation of quality initiatives within the business community," said Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum.

"The DQA has been instrumental in helping organizations embrace the latest in the quality tools and techniques and applying them throughout the organization. Winners of the Dubai Quality Award must to be congratulated not only for their achievements, but also for their part in hosting such an impressive gathering, all in the spirit of learning and sharing good practices," he added.

Mr. Abdelqader Obaid Ali, Chairman, DQG, welcomed the dignitaries, speakers and delegates at the conference. He also explained the role of the Dubai Quality Award and Dubai Quality Group in furthering the development of quality and business excellence in Dubai.

Commenting on the event Mr. Abdelqader said: "To become a truly effective business community that can offer services on par with the developed world, we have to gear up to instil consistent quality into our offerings. And this can best be done when we learn to work together and share our expertise with each other."

The event witnessed presentations from the winning companies of the DQA 2005 including The Ritz-Carlton, Dubai (Gold category), National Bank of Dubai, Union National Bank and Xerox Emirates (DQA), Gulf Business Machines E.C., 3i-InfoTech Limited, EROS Group, Dubai Healthcare City, Tejari FZ, Ruwais Fertilizer Industries (FERTIL), the Kanoo Group (Power & Industrial Projects Division) and Halcrow International Partnership (Dubai Quality Award Appreciation Programme).

The conference also included keynote presentations by representatives of winning organizations of the British Quality Award - Paul Statter, Head of Strategy and Support Services United Utilities, UK and Jane Hirst, Head of Quality at Mortgage Express.

Statter opened the conference with the first presentation entiled 'Change Management as a Key Driver to Deliver Business Excellence and Performance'. He focused on delivering sustainable business improvement and the startegic ability to change using the excellence model. Statter's presentation also demonstrated and included "United Utilities" case study, which is a winner of the British Quality Award and special achievement awards for Customer Satisfaction and Corporate Responsibility.

Jane Hirst's presentation entitled 'Great leaders facilitate staff to achieve their best' focused on leadership. Hirst shed the light on Mortgage Express and the use of Kouzes and Posner methodology to keep the staff in a company fully motivited.

The Share Best Practice conference holds a special place amongst the many programmes offered by the DQA secretariat and the DQG, due to the ideal platform it serves for a progressive exchange of ideas between role-model organisations and potential aspirants of the DQA.