2012年5月18日星期五

ASQ InfVoices - The Government Quality Puzzle in Hong Kong

May topic of ASQ Influential Voice is come from ASQ CEO Paul Borawski's question "why government is reluctant to embrace quality?" I would like to introduce the government role on quality movement in Hong Kong. (Lotto Lai, et al., 2007). After that the Efficiency Unit (EU) and Performance Pledges system in HKSAR government will be also briefed.

(One part of my presentation was Hong Kong Quality Movement which presented in TQM Uz 2012 Forum in Tashkent, Uzbekistan on 26 April 2012)

Quality Movement in Hong Kong (Government involved)
The industrialization of Hong Kong took shape in the early 1950. The 1960s was the commencement period of the productivity movement and the first turning point for Hong Kong's economy. The Hong Kong Productivity Council (HKPC) was established in 1967 and its role is to promote increased productivity of Hong Kong industries, and to encourage more efficient utilization of resources. Hong Kong industries started to evolve from Manufacturing to Service Economy in the 1980s. The Hong Kong Laboratory Accreditation Scheme (HOKLAS) was formally established on 20th May 1985. It is funded by the Hong Kong Government with the primary objectives of identifying and recognizing competent testing and calibration laboratories in Hong Kong so as to reach the standard for international trade.

In November 1984, the Hong Kong Housing Authority (HKHA) declared to demolish 26 of 577 public housing blocks which were built from 1963 to 1975. These buildings suffered from serious structural safety problem that was a major quality problem in Hong Kong Construction Industry. Under this situation, Hong Kong Quality Assurance Agency (HKQAA), a non-profit organization, was established by the Hong Kong Government in 1989 to assist industry and commerce in the development of quality management systems. After HKHA realized the problem and required that its approved contractors must be certified to ISO 9000 standards by March 1993 for tendering future construction projects. Therefore HKQAA became the pioneer for certifying ISO9000 compliant companies in construction industry in Hong Kong.

The Quality Award initiated by government and its development was mentioned below.
1989 – Governor’s Award for Industry
1994 – Hong Kong Awards for Industry (HKIA)(renamed from Governor’s Award for Industry)
1997 – Hong Kong Award for Services
2005 – HKIA (Merge Service; Merge Productivity & Quality)
It is the first award scheme in Hong Kong that comprises seven categories of awards. Two of the most important awards in the scheme were the productivity category and the quality category. These were merged in 2005.

The Hong Kong Accreditation Service (HKAS) was set up in 1998 by the Government through the expansion of HOKLAS to provide accreditation services in the city. Its services cover three voluntary schemes: the Hong Kong Laboratory Accreditation Scheme (HOKLAS) for laboratories, the Hong Kong Certification Body Accreditation Scheme (HKCAS) for certification bodies, and the Hong Kong Inspection Body Accreditation Scheme (HKIAS) for inspection bodies.

The following stages of quality management practices in Hong Kong were summarized.
Before the 1990s : The Era of Poor Quality Consciousness
Early 1990s : The Introduction of the ISO 9000 Series
Middle 1990s : Awareness of Continuous Quality Improvement
Beyond 2000 : Adoption of Total Quality Management

Quality Improvement in Hong Kong Government itself
The above discussed what government assist the industries in the past. The government internal improvement practice will be discussed based on the Efficiency Unit (EU). The Efficiency Unit (EU) was established for assisting government internal departments' management enhancement.

Set up in 1992, the EU is tasked with promoting a measurable transformation in the management and delivery of public services so that the community’s needs are met in the most effective and efficient manner. Moreover, EU focuses its efforts mainly on strategic, cross-government issues.


The vision and mission of EU are mentioned in the follows.

Vision: To be the preferred consulting partner for all government bureaux and departments and to advance the delivery of world-class public services to the people of Hong Kong.

Mission: To provide strategic and implementable solutions to all our clients as they seek to deliver people-based government services. We do this by combining our extensive understanding of policies, our specialized knowledge and our broad contacts and linkages throughout the Government and the private sector. In doing this, we join our clients in contributing to the advancement of the community while also providing a fulfilling career for all members of our team.

In the same year (1992), Performance Pledges have been adopted by government bureaux and departments (B/Ds) with the aim of providing good quality services to the public and engendering a citizen-centric culture in the delivery of public services. Moreover, performance pledges were reviewed by government bureaux and departments regularly. Recently review on 29 June 2009, B/Ds had, on average, achieved 95% of their performance targets in the past three years. (LC Paper No. CB(1)1959/08-09(01))

In my observation, EU is similar quality department in the company and performance pledges is correspondent to quality objectives (measurable). Eventhough Hong Kong government had a right departments and systems, citizen were not satisfied on recently public policies and services. I believed the problem was come from leadership. Do our leader know what citizen needs (Customer Focus)? Do our leader improve policies to adopt the needs (Continual Improvement)? Customer Focus and Continual Improvement were two key points we expected our coming HKSAR Chief Executive to be concerned. "Do the right things right at the first time" is the most effective and efficient.

Reference:
Lai, Lotto K.H., Chin, K.S. & Tsang, A.H.C. (2007) “Quality Movement and Evolution in Hong Kong: A Critical Review” Proceedings CD-ROM of The Fifth ANQ Congress, paper A7-03, pp.225 - 238.
Efficiency Unit (EU) -  http://www.eu.gov.hk/eindex.html
LC Paper No. CB(1)1959/08-09(01):Review of Performance Pledges - http://www.legco.gov.hk/yr08-09/english/panels/ps/papers/ps0629cb1-1959-1-e.pdf

沒有留言:

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails