Benchmarking with Philippine Quality Award

THE MANILA TIMES
Business Times p.B3
Thursday, May 12, 2005
http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2005/may/12/yehey/business/20050512bus12.html

LEARNING & INNOVATION
By Moje Ramos-Aquino, FPM
Benchmarking with Philippine Quality Award

ENTREPRENEUR is derived from the Latin words entre means enter, pre means before, and neur means nerve center. As entrepreneurs you are expected to go where more established firms wouldn’t dare go, e.g. new markets and seemingly chaotic or single-serve opportunities using available tools and techniques or benchmarks, if you may, to beat the odds.

You need not look hard and far for these benchmarks. In 1997 no less than our past President Fidel Ramos signed Executive Order 448 creating the Philippine Quality award and, in 2001, President Gloria arroyo institutionalized it as Republic Act 9013, the Philippine Quality Award Act. The implementing agency is the Department of Trade and Industry Center for Industrial Competitiveness.

The PQA establishes a national performance-improvement system that is comparable to the standard used by world-class organizations patterned after the Malcolm Baldrige Criteria. It also recognizes organizations that practice effective total-quality management, providing a source of inspiration for others to emulate.

Eligible for awards are small, medium and large private enterprises; local and national government agencies; state universities and colleges, government-controlled corporations and government hospitals.

Evaluation and judging is based on the seven criteria of the PQA built upon a set of 11 core values and concepts. These are:

• Visionary leadership—anchored on the fundamental belief that strong leadership is the key to progress in the journey to becoming world-class.
• Customer-driven excellence—directed toward customer retention and loyalty.
• Organizational and personal learning—ability to constantly improve current approaches or adapt to new ones suitable to organizational needs.
• Valuing employees and partners—commitment to the well-being of its employees and other stakeholders.
• Agility—capacity for rapid change and flexibility
• Focus on the future—strong future orientation and long-term commitment to key holders.
• Managing for innovation—create new value for stakeholders and make meaningful changes
• Management by fact—performance measured and analyzed based on facts.
• Public responsibility and leadership—ethical behavior, good corporate citizenship and responsibilities to the public.
• Focus on results and creating value—results used to create and balance value to stakeholders
• Systems perspectives—core values and categories that provide an integrating mechanism for performance excellence.

So far, no company has been awarded the highest distinction of the Philippine Quality Award for Performance Excellence. The following companies have received PQA Recognition.

Only three companies have received recognition for mastery in quality management: Panasonic Mobile Communications Corp. of the Philippines (2003), Intel Philippines Manufacturing./Intel Technology Philippines (2001) and Integrated Microelectronics (2001).

Nine companies have been recognized for proficiency in quality management: United Laboratories (2004), MOOG Controls Corp 92004), PSi Technologies (2002), Philips Semiconductors Philippines. (2000), Texas Instruments (2000), American Microsystems Philippines. (1999), Marikina City (1999), Amkor Technology (1998) and Acbel Polytech Philippines (1998)

Finally, 14 organizations have been honored for commitment to quality management: First Sumiden Circuits (2004), National Economic Development Authority-Region 1 (2004), Indo Phil Group of Companies (2003), ON Semiconductor Philippines (2002), Cypress Semiconductor Philippines (2001), Astec Power (2000), Makati City (2000), PSi Technologies (2000, 1999), National Statistics Office (1999), American Microsystems Philippines (1998), Electronic Assemblies (1998), Marikina City (1998), San Miguel Yamamura Asia Corp (1998) and Yazaki-Torres Manufacturing (1998).

Next columns, we will describe to you what made these companies win PQA recognition. In the meantime, you might want to do your own benchmarking by downloading and filling up the application form at www.pqa.org.ph.

ASTD 2005. Those who are interested in attending the 2005 American Society for Training and Development International Conference and Exposition on June 5-9 at the Orange County Convention Hall, Orlando Florida, may use the delegation code 10429860 to avail of discounted registration fee. You may also call Ms. Grace Victoriano at 715-9332 for other concerns.

(Moje is president of Paradigms & Paradoxes Corp. She awaits your reactions at moje@mydestiny.net)