Hesan A. Quazi

A journey toward total quality management through ISO 9000 certification ‐ a study on small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises in Singapore

Literature review highlights the importance of TQM for SMEs to improve their current business practices as well as quality of products and services, to ensure long‐term survival. However, there are several barriers to effective implementation of TQM in such organizations, namely, the apparent lack of business experience and knowledge, and limitation of financial as well as human resources. Singaporean SMEs account for a large share of its economy, however, little has been written on how TQM has been applied in these companies in Singapore and the region. This paper reports the results of a pilot study conducted among a sample of local SMEs. The findings are compared to an earlier work done in Singapore. Furthermore, this paper reports the findings of follow‐up interviews with some local SMEs regarding the perceived benefits of and barriers to ISO 9000. Based on the experience in Singapore, ISO 9000 certification has provided significant benefits for SMEs. The journey towards TQM will, however, require not only full commitment of the company management, but also a quality culture created externally by the government which is crucial to the progress beyond ISO 9000.

Development and validation of critical factors of environmental management

Purpose – The literature reveals that various authors have indicated various sets of requirements for corporate environmental management but no study has yet identified and statistically established the reliability and validity of a set of critical factors. It aims to develop and validate a set of critical factors of environmental management that could be used by the managers in assessing and improving their own environmental management practices.Design/methodology/approach – Using a thorough synthesis of the environmental management literature the authors identified a number of critical factors. Performance measures for each of these factors were developed through literature review and interviews with environmental managers. A survey methodology was used. A pre‐tested questionnaire was mailed to the managing directors or the chief executive officers of 848 electronic and chemical manufacturing companies in Singapore and 186 completed responses were received. Using the data collected, the identified criti...

Motivation for ISO 14000 certification: development of a predictive model

Environmental issues have become critical concerns of businesses in recent years. The Singapore Environment Ministry is urging organizations to consider adopting the ISO 14000 Environmental Management Standards. The main purpose of this study was to investigate and identify a number of variables which would be able to predict the motivation of organizations in adopting the ISO 14000 Standards. Through extensive literature search eight possible predictive variables/factors (cost savings, top management concern, employee welfare, meeting environmental regulations, meeting customer expectations, concern over trade barriers, following head office environmental practices, and gaining competitive advantages) were identified. In total, 300 pre-tested survey questionnaires were mailed out to companies from the Electronic and Chemical industries in Singapore. A response rate of about 20% was obtained. The survey instrument was tested for reliability and validity. Using stepwise discriminant analysis, a predictive discriminant function was developed. Only four out of the originally identified eight variables were included in the model. Possible benefits of such a model for Singapore and other industrializing countries are highlighted.

Summary and Discussions

The issues related to presenteeism and its impacts on employees as well as employers have been discussed. This book also explores the reasons why employees come to work despite being sick and the strategies adopted by the employers to manage such behaviour. Concepts of presenteeism and the consequences of such employee behaviour have been discussed. In Chapter 1, it is noted that there are two types of presenteeism: ‘sickness presenteeism’ and ‘non-sickness presenteeism’.

A journey towards total quality management through ISO 9000 certification ‐ a Singapore experience

Highlights the importance of TQM for SMEs to improve their current business practices as well as quality of products and services, to ensure long‐term survival. However, there are several barriers to effective implementation of TQM in such organizations, namely, the apparent lack of business experience and knowledge, and limitation of financial as well as human resources. Singaporean SMEs account for a large share of its economy; however, little has been written on how TQM has been applied in these companies in Singapore and the region. Reports the results of a number of case studies conducted among a sample of seven local SMEs in Singapore.

HUMAN RESOURCE STRATEGIES FOR MANAGING KNOWLEDGE WORKERS: AN AFRO-ASIAN COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

We use the model of culture fit to determine the human resource (HR) strategies for managing knowledge workers in two socio-culturally different countries: South Africa (SA) and Singapore. The national culture of SA is ethnically more diverse. Enterprise environment, such as institutional factors, particularly ownership, organization size and industry type, has more HR impact in Singapore than in SA. We found that there were convergent effective HR strategies used for motivating and retaining, but practices were divergent for attracting knowledge workers. When most frequent and ineffective strategies were studied, there were divergent practices. This knowledge of effective strategies being transferred to the two countries from more developed economies is in line with similar HR research.

Implementation of an environmental management system: the experience of companies operating in Singapore

Examines the issues related to ISO 14001/Environmental Management System (EMS) implementation in Singapore. Using a literature review, the factors that hinder implementation, the possible benefits of such implementation and a list of critical success factors (CSFs) are identified. Seven case studies were conducted with companies which were either ISO 14001 certified, or in the process of certification. The case studies are used to examine the validity of the factors identified in the literature. All the listed CSFs were found to be applicable to all the ISO 14001 certified companies. However, all of these factors were not uniformly applicable to all companies. Similar to the CSFs, all the barriers to implementation that were identified in the literature review section were found to be applicable to the sample companies. However, once again, all of these factors were not uniformly applicable to all companies. The majority of the sample companies reported some form of tangible and intangible benefits from i...

Impact of ISO 9000 certification on training and development activities: An exploratory study

The push for ISO 9000 certification in Singapore can be viewed as a positive step towards enhancing training and development activities in the certified companies. This exploratory study examined the nature and extent of impact of ISO 9001 certification on training and development activities of organizations operating in Singapore. A survey approach was adopted. The respondents were asked to indicate the nature and extent of human resource development (HRD) activities three years before and three years after ISO certification. They were also asked to indicate whether the changes, if any, were due to the certification only or other reasons. The findings indicated improvements in training needs analysis, training design, training delivery, training evaluation and HRD activities in the sample organizations. The small sample size has constrained the authors’ ability to generalize the findings. Researchers interested in the topic may like to request a copy of the survey instrument that was used in this study and carry out similar studies in other ISO member countries to validate (or disprove) the findings of this study.

A methodology for developing a self‐assessment tool to measure quality performance in organizations

This paper proposes a development methodology that uses the assessment criteria of the national quality award as the basis for creating a self‐assessment tool to measure quality performance in organizations. The Singapore Quality Award (SQA) assessment criteria were used as the framework for developing the self‐assessment tool. The SQA award criteria were translated into a multi‐item questionnaire. The self‐assessment tool is used to assess quality performance in various functions of the organization. The scores obtained using the assessment tool was tested against those of the recent SQA applicants. Results showed significant correlation between the assessment score bands and the actual score bands that they received on their SQA application. As of the end of 1998, about 200 business organizations in Singapore had used the self‐assessment tool. Self‐assessment tools using different national quality award criteria could also be developed based on the proposed development methodology described in this paper.

Sustainable development: integrating environmental issues into strategic planning

As we begin the twenty‐first century it appears that for a growing number of industries environmental issues are emerging with increasing frequency as strategic problems. If human economic activity is to be sustainable, then strategic behavior of companies must take account of the structural elements. Researchers in the western societies are trying to understand how the companies integrate the sustainability issues into their strategies. No such study has been reported on companies operating in the ASEAN countries. This paper reports the findings of a case study research on this issue which was conducted on seven global companies operating in Singapore. Two frameworks were applied to analyze the nature and extent of integration of environmental management practices into the organizational strategic planning process. The study reveals that the majority of the sample companies have well‐developed environmental management systems in place which satisfies the requirements of the strategic planning criterion of the (Singapore) business excellence framework. These companies are also found to be actively engaged in at least four of the five best practices of environmental leadership framework suggested by Dechant and Altman.