ANQ-CEC Meeting Dinner

ANQ-CEC (Asian Network for Quality, Certification and Examination Center) committee meeting was held on 29 July 2012 at YMCA Hotel, TST Hong Kong. In Asia, Quality professionals desire to seek international recognition for their skill competence to be certified by internationally accepted organizations such as American Society for Quality (ASQ) in USA and European Organization Quality Centre (EOQC) in Europe. As of now, Asia needs to have internationally accepted organization such as ANQ to fulfill quality professional expectations. Among Asian countries, we should establish one prestigious certification and examination center hosted by ANQ. The main objective of ANQ-CEC is to provide a quality competency of certification with international recognition standard, and to establish a common recognition for quality professionals.

After the meeting, China Association for Quality (CAQ) arranged a dinner gathering with all committee members and ANQ members.

Firstly Mr. Qi Weiming (Chair, ANQ) gave a welcoming speech. My table included representatives of CAQ, ISQ, JSQC, SQAT and HKSQ.

Then Prof. Kano communicated with other guests.

We toasted each other. The representatives of SQI, KSQM and SQAT.

HKSQ committee members toasted with representatives of JSQC and ISQ.

Reference:
Asian Network for Quality (ANQ) - http://www.anforq.org/

Hong Kong Science Park "Go Green In Style" Photo Contest 2012

Hong Kong Science Park (HKSP) Photo Contest 2012 Kick-off Ceremony was held on 26 July 2012 at 12:00pm in the exhibition hall at Core Building One. It is the 4th HKSP Photo Contest and its theme was "Go Green In Style". It aimed to promote the idea of "Like Tech Like Green" to every corner of the city!

In the beginning, Mr. E. Anthony Tan (CEO, HKSTP) gave an opening remarks. He said the Phase 3 of HKSP focused to sustainable development through Green and Innovation. Photography is an art full of innovative and creativity.

The ceremony of HKSP Photo Contest started and group photo was taken. During chit chat with guest judge, the tips to win the competition were the idea of photo, personal style and presented the theme.

C All Star was invited to demonstrate the digital photo using chroma key backdrop.

Using digital technique to combine the photos were showed.

After that C All Star sang a short song.

At the end, the details of the Contest were introduced and attractive prizes were briefed. The Contest welcomes entries from now till 10 September, 2012.

Reference:
For details, pls visit at http://photocontest.hkstp.org/
HKSTP - http://www.hkstp.org/

Rules for Quality Management: How to Motivate Your Team to Pursue Excellence

The SME seminar entitled "Rules for Quality Management: How to Motivate Your Team to Pursue Excellence" was organized by Support and Consultation Centre for SMEs (SUCCESS), Trade and Industry Department, HKSAR on 24 July 2012. Dr. Terence Wong (黃桂林) (Founder of Terence Wong & Partners and Asian Top-10 Corporate Trainer 2006) was the guest speaker for this topic. He would like to introduce different methods to motivate yourself and your team to achieve excellence through "The Best Condition(最佳狀態)", "POLE (團隊目標制定與傳播)", "Team Spirit (團隊合作精神)", "HEART (優質管理心法)", "TIME (投入工作)" and "LIFE (讓管理成為生活)".

In the beginning, Dr. Terence Wong used different office scenarios to attract participants and got their input. One of examples was if your boss asked for your confident on the job. His suggested answer was "Yes" plus "Reason". The important thing should be kept yourself in the best condition. He said Emotion should be controlled as professional as you can. You could select to think positive and keep smile. Removed E of Emotion was Motion, indicating to take action. Another example quoted by Dr. Wong was to bring a notebook and pen when you met your boss for any meeting, moreover, prepare at least two solutions for the problem.

The second was POLE implied Plan, Organize, Lead and Evaluate. It could be used to sharing of team objectives. Dr. Wong suggested participants to write down their fortune as foreteller for a week or hope on birthday as the start of POLE. Then Dr. Wong explained the Team Spirit was come from mutual respect and cooperation.

After that Dr. Wong described the secret of quality management in terms of HEART below.
Helping Hands (樂於助人)
Empathy (產生共鳴)
Appreciation (凡事欣賞)
Role/Responsibility/Relationship (角色權責與關係)
Trust (信實可靠)

The way to achieve excellence in your job was TIME. You should be "Total Committed" in your work and "Improvement" every day. "Making Mistake" but learn how to avoid recurrence, as well as, "Evaluation" your work. The family of success was mentioned.
Failure is the Mother of success (失敗乃成功之母)
Evaluation is the Father of success (檢討乃成功之父)
Diligent is the Uncle of success (勤力乃成功之舅父)
Insist is the Cousin of success (堅持乃成功之表妹)

At the end, Dr. Wong used the word "LIFE" as the conclusion. Learn It Form Experience and Learn It For Excellence. There were 3S to be Excellence. They were "Simple", "Speed" and "Scale".

After the seminar, I learned that quality management could be started from personal attitude, and then implemented into a team, finally in system with different methodologies or tools. I took a photo with Dr. Terence Wong for memory.

Reference:
Support and Consultation Centre for SMEs - http://www.success.tid.gov.hk/eindex.html
TW & Partners Co., Ltd. (黃桂林企業事務所) - http://www.twpartners.net/

ASQ InfVoices - The Intersection of Quality and Social Responsibility in Hong Kong

The ASQ Influential Voice July Topic is "The Intersection of Quality and Social Responsibility" suggested by ASQ CEO Paul Borawski. I agreed the need of quality professionals to consider more one social responsibility (e.g. ISO 26000) and would like to share Hong Kong's situation for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

Nowadays more and more companies are becoming increasingly aware of the need for socially responsibility. There is a reflection of growing concerns about environmental degradation, social inequality, corporate governance and other issues. Organizations are subject to increasing expectations of their various stakeholders, including customers, workers, trade unions, the community, non-governmental organizations, and lenders, insurers and investors. There are 7 cores Social Responsibility (SR) in ISO 26000 included Organisational Governance, Environment, Human rights, Labour Practices, Fair Operating Practices, Consumer issues and Community involvement / society development.

ISO 26000 is a guide to implement Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) systematically. However, many companies in Hong Kong are only considered CSR as charity activities. Some manufacturers in Hong Kong/China (especially Toy factory) needed SA8000 certification to ensure human rights and labour practices, as well as, local law. It is because of customer requirement.

One of CSR activities in my company was "HKSTP supported the New Territories Walk for Millions on 15 February 2009". My article was summarized this activity below.
20090215 - Walk for Millions and Corporate Social Responsibility http://qualityalchemist.blogspot.hk/2009/02/walk-for-millions-and-corporate-social.html
Moreover, HKSTP has been awarded the “Caring Organization 2008/09” by the Hong Kong Council of Social Service (HKCSS). Most of charity activities we would like to participate but we have no plan to implement a system based on ISO 26001:2010 (Guidance on Social Responsibility).

Moreover, HKQAA is pioneer in Hong Kong to discuss and promote about the underlying principles of social responsibility, the issues that constitute social responsibility and how to implement and integrate social responsible behavior into existing organizational strategies, systems, practices and processes through HKQAA Symposiums since 2008. The following links are summaries of different HKQAA symposium.

20121126 - HKQAA Symposium 2011 - Performing Your Social Responsibility to Recreate the World - http://qualityalchemist.blogspot.hk/2011/11/hkqaa-symposium-2011-performing-your.html
20101126: HKQAA Symposium 2010 – Sustainability Challenges (Part 1)
Part 1 - http://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2010/11/hkqaa-symposium-2010-sustainability.html

20101126: HKQAA Symposium 2010 – Sustainability Challenges (Part 2)
Part 2 - http://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2010/11/hkqaa-symposium-2010-sustainability_26.html
20091125 - HKQAA Symposium 2009 - An Evolution of CSR Era (Day 1)
http://qualityalchemist.blogspot.hk/2009/11/evolution-of-csr-era-hkqaa-symposium.html
20091126 - HKQAA Symposium 2009 - A Smaller Carbon Footprint (Day 2)
http://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2009/11/smaller-carbon-footprint-hkqaa.html
20081212 - HKQAA Symposium 2008 - Green Day
http://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2008/12/hkqaa-symposium-2008-green-day.html

Another certification body (SGS) cooperated with HKSQ to launch a seminar about CSR in 2010.
20101210 - New Trend of CSR & Sustainability Reporting Seminar (SGS)
http://qualityalchemist.blogspot.hk/2010/12/new-trend-of-csr-sustainability.html

Prof. Mok's book entitled "Corporate Social Responsibility in Hong Kong" (In Chinese) was issued and distributed during HKQAA Symposium 2011. I got Prof. Mok's signature.

Until now, the Intersection of Quality and Social Responsibility is not obviously. Many SR activities was responded by Communication and Publicity Department but not Quality Department. They focused on public image more than the indirectly impact on the quality of product, service and life. One of barrier for implementing ISO 26001 is extra resource need. It is not enough incentive especially for SME.

How to Build Collaborative Teams to Unleash Hidden Power

The topic of July 2012 for Executive Study Group seminar entitled “Leadership Strategy: How to Build Collaborative Teams to Unleash Hidden Power”, which organized by An Executive Study Group under the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) and the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corp (HKSTPC), was held on 13 July 2012.

Dr. Mark Lee's seminar topic included “4 Factors of Collaboration Difficulty”, “8 Ways to Build Collaborative Teams” and “Group Discussion”.

In the beginning, Dr. Mark Lee explained what is collaboration in a team. He identified several goals of collaboration included "Share knowledge freely", "Learn from one another", "Shift workloads flexibly to break up unexpected bottlenecks", "Help one another complete jobs and meet deadlines" and "Share resource". Then he quoted Prof. Lynda Gratton statement.

He briefed the four factors of collaboration difficulty.
1) Size of a Team
When the size of the team increased beyond 20 members, the level of natural cooperation among members of the team decreases.
2) Virtual Participation
Teams became more virtual (e.g. Work at a distance from others), collaboration declined.
3) Diversity
The greater the diversity (e.g. Multiple background, age, knowledge), the less likely the team members were to share knowledge.
4) High Education Level
The more likely the team was to disintegrate into unproductive conflicts.
After that Dr. Lee asked us to perform self-assessment about the collaboration in your company. The more "Yes" selected, the less collaboration was in your company.

Dr. Lee introduced the 8 Ways to build collaborative team. There were under four domain included "Executive Supports", "Focused HR Practices", "The Right Team Leaders" and "Team Formation and Structure".

1. Investing in Signature Relationship Practice.
The top management commitment was the most important to create a "Gift Culture (無私奉獻文化)" and invested in Social Relationship Building (建立關係及情義). It was similar to BDTS division's Social Club or HKSTPC's Sport and Recreation Committee. Dr. Lee quoted some examples such as Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) Group Business Improvement (GBI) Teams for short term project (e.g. 30-, 60-, or 90-day projects).

2. Modeling Collaborative Behavior
Dr. Lee explained how important of Role Model for collaboration. He used Chow Tai Fook as an example that top management were switching for regional heads, managers and functional heads. All team flied to Shenzhen monthly for face-to-face review meeting and training, so as to enhance mutual understanding.

3. Creating a "Gift Culture"
Dr. Lee quoted one of famous statement from Confucius, indicating that mentoring and coaching were important. Daily coaching helped to establish a cooperative "gift culture" in place of a more transactional "tit-for-tat culture (以牙還牙文化)".

Then Dr. Lee quoted Prof. Thomas J. DeLong's definition on a good mentor.

4. Ensuring the Requisite Skills
Dr. Lee said culture was not enough and HR should enhance the right skills such as training in skills related to collaborative behaviour and supporting for informal community building. Prof. Lynda Gratton suggested four crucial skill below that HR needed to be considered.

5. Supporting a Strong Sense of Community
Dr. Lee mentioned that HR played a critical role in cultivating Communal Spirit. He quoted Goldman Sach as example that their objective was to build relationship among different departments. They used incentives where all meals (included breakfast, lunch, dinner) were unlimited reimbursement for eating out with other department's colleagues but not for same department.

6. Assigning Team Leader that are both Task- and Relationship-OrientedDr. Lee suggested to use Task-Oriented Leadership first in the early stage and then use Relationship-Oriented Leadership (先對事，後對人。).

7. Building on Heritage Relationships
Dr. Lee emphasized "Trust" was very important to successful collaboration. Don't use 100% new member in the whole new team. The best mix was 20% to 40% of the team members who were already well connected to one another. BP was used as case study to explain.

8. Understanding Role Clarity and Task Ambiguity
Collaboration improved when the roles of individual team members were clearly defined and well understood. On the other hand, the task or path was ambiguous, team members were more likely to want to collaborate.

After introduced of 8 ways of collaboration, Dr. Lee reviewed the four domains which were key factors for effective collaboration.

After the seminar, we had an exercise to find out two of the most difficult things to do collaboration and one the least challenge for discussion.

Reference:
The Centre for Logistics Technologies and Supply Chain Optimization, CUHK: http://www.logitsco.cuhk.edu.hk/
HKSTP - www.hkstp.org

Seminar on Authentication of Chinese Medicines

The Seminar on Authentication of Chinese Medicines was joinly organized by the Hong Kong Accreditation Service (HKAS) and the Hong Kong Council for Testing and Certification (HKCTC) on 10 July 2012. Hong Kong has been a major trading centre for Chinese Medicines (CM). The seminar aims to let the testing and certification (T&C) industry and the Chinese medicines trad know more about authentication testing based on Hong Kong Chinese Materia Medica Standards (HKCMMS). I would like to summarize the seminar below for sharing.

In the beginning, Dr. Lawrence LAI (Convener of the Panel on Promoting Testing and Certification Services in Chinese Medicine Trade) gave a welcoming remarks. He said that the development of T&C industry for CM enhanced the customer trust on CM trade.

Souvenir Presentation and group photo with speakers

The first speaker was Mr. LAW Kwok Wai (Senior Pharmacist (Traditional Chinese Medicine), Department of Health) and his topic entitled "Development of Hong Kong Chinese Materia Medica Standards (HKCMMS)".

The Department of Health had published four phases of the HKCMMS to cover 96 Chinese Materia Medica (CMM), which would be extended to cover 200 CMM in 2012. Mr. LAW said HKCMMS aimed to:
- promote the research of CMM
- provide the reference material to the industry
- ensure the safety and quality of CMM
- enhance Hong Kong Chinese Medicine modernization and international
- increase CMM trade

The second speaker was Mr. NG Chi Shing (Senior Chemist (Pharmaceutical Quality & Investigation Sec), Government Laboratory) and his presentation was "Identification of Chinese Materia Medica by Chemical Testing".

Mr. NG showed the authentication using chemistry technique (e.g. Physical reaction, TLC, HPLC, etc.).

Then Mr. NG described the application for CMM such as authentication, quality measurement using different technique such as LCMS, DNA fingerprint, etc. He concluded that chemical test was able to provide objective scientific data, identify the CMM and provide safety test, as well as, apply for developing HKCMMS.

Prof. ZHAO Zhongzhen (Associate Dean, School of Chinese Medicine, Hong Kong Baptist University) was the third speaker and his presentation title named "Use of Microscopic Identification in the Authentication of Chinese Medicines".

Prof. ZHAO's Standard Authentication Procedure was published by Planta Medica. That procedures were "Literature Review", "Botanical Origin Identification", "Macroscopic and Microscopic Identification", "Physical and Chemical Identification", and "Biological and Molecular Identification".

Cordyceps sinensis and its counterfeits using Macroscopic and Microscopic Identification were discussed.

Q&A Discussion

During discussion, I would like to know what is the different between HKCMMS and China CMM standard. Speakers replied that HKCMMS included cross-section & powder identification but China mainly used powder identification. In chemical test, HKCMMS also included CMM fingerprint analysis. Another question was related to Certified Reference Material of CMM. It should purchase through China Government Organization.

Mr. Tommy Y.S. LI (BBS, MH, JP, Hong Kong Chinese Medicine Industry Association) was the fourth speaker and his topic entitled "The Need for Authentication of Chinese Medicines". In the beginning, Mr. LI briefed the development history of CM.

After that Mr. LI showed several types of Chinese Medicine which were easily confused such as Cordyceps sinensis. Finally, Mr. LI said the CM authentication techniques needed industrial recognization, convenience, economic and government support.

The fifth speaker was Ms. CHIU Shuk-Yee (Senior Investigator, Consumer Protection Bureau, Customs and Excise Department) and he presented the topic "The need of Authentication Test of Chinese Medicine in the Enforcement of Trade Descriptions Ordinance".

Ms. CHIU described the complaint statistics of CM from 2009 to June 2012. Counterfeit of CM was one of key factors.

After described the product description regulation, Ms. CHIU shared different charged cases such as Cordyceps sinensis (Counterfeit).

The last speaker was Dr. John HO (Senior Accreditation Officer, Hong Kong Accreditation Service) and his topic entitled "Accreditation Services for Testing and Identification of Chinese Medicines".

Dr. HO introduced several Accredited Chinese Medicine Testing Services through HOKLAS scheme. It included safety and quality tests.

Finally, Dr. HO concluded that accreditation of CM testing could enhance the position of CMM trading centre in Hong Kong.

Q&A Discussions

One of questions was about the punishment of wrong description of CMM. The punishment was separated into 6 level which were HK$2000, $5000, $10000, $25000, $50000 and $100,000.

Reference:

HKCTC - http://www.hkctc.gov.hk/en/about.html 

HKAS - http://www.itc.gov.hk/en/quality/hkas/about.htm