Quality, synergy and planet earth

by Gamini T Pandikorala

ISO President (2013-2014) commenting on ISO’s global business of standards (ISO Focus+ the magazine of the International Organisation for standardization-volume 4, No 2, February 2013) says ‘...one of my priorities will be to encourage ISO to provide standards that address the vital economic infrastructure needs of the economy’ business and society.’

As a civil engineer from a developed country he focuses on highly technical area to achieve high quality or standards. But how about the people who are ignorant of the quality philosophy? It’s equally important creating a quality atmosphere for such people who are still in the majority. The plan I developed for this purpose is called ‘Pre ISO’(once recommended to a state bank by a foreign expert) a very easily achievable level. However, it needs a better network covering developed and developing countries to spread the idea globally. Much work has to be done in the area of educating people to enable them to grasp the significance of quality principles and then it’s a matter of proceeding to document the existing systems in their respective organisations.

The reservoir of quality principles have been accumulating from ancient times. The most famous utterance by King Parakramabahu the great(1125-1186) ‘not even a drop of water that comes from the rain must flow into the ocean without being made useful to man’ can be considered as such a valuable contribution to an agricultural economy.

The recent past witnessed quality gurus such as Demin Phillip Crossby, and Juran. The late Dr Stephen R Covey said ‘Principles are deep, fundamental truths, classic truths, generic common denominators. They are tightly interwoven threads running with exactness, consistency beauty, and strength through the fabric of life.’

The word ‘synergy’ appeals to me not merely because it speaks about working together to apply principles of creative cooperation learnt from nature but because it has proved 1+1 = not three but anything over 3. Secondly, you can apply synergy inwardly by observing your thoughts both analytical and creative and be the seeker of truth which I do with my colleagues dedicated to quality.( E_sonet associates)synergy helps you to achieve excellence therefore undoubtedly a quality tool.

I decided to link planet earth with quality not merely because once it occupied the position of god and now it’s ‘nobody’s child’ but to give you the ownership of the planet after restoring its status core.

That said, I firstly go for a brief account of quality an ocean of philosophy and technical jargon. If the quality environment is properly created in work place or at home you become stronger with your ability to access quality tools to achieve your business or personal goals. A widely used quality principle familiar to us in this part of the planet earth is ‘do what you say and say what you do’.

Begin with this idea and perfect your existing system with basic knowledge of a quality system for example ISO. With this simple approach you can begin your quality journey. In an article of mine published by ‘The Professional banker’ a prestigious journal in banking sector in Sri Lanka - March 1997 issue I have stated that the whole banking industry should come under ISO quality system(or at least pre-ISO level)so that every employee is able to work creatively and make his /her contribution in quality system sharing each other’s experience to meet the challenges of the 21st century.’

Major task

Winning the leader of the institute for quality is the major task of a quality consultant. The quality has to start from top and go cascading to all the levels below even though the bottom-up approach is also used in various situations. Training is an important area in quality management targeting continual improvement. If the head of an institute is committed to quality it’s the greatest thing that can happen to the institution.

Recently the press reported that the Speaker of the parliament had decided to conduct classes for members of the parliament on certain procedures which indicates his wish to raise the standards, a good juncture to begin a quality journey seriously.

Internationally famous magazine on financial management commenting on Total Quality Management (TQM) says total means everything and everybody in the organisation (This can be the parliament of a country)and extends to suppliers(suppliers of all services to the parliament).

It puts the onus on each individual and group to take responsibility for quality.(Quality means customer satisfaction - all members of the parliament are the customers of the Speaker-when addressing the speaker or performing some duty on his instructions all members see that the speaker is delighted all the time. The magazine says that the quality has five basic principles: right first time, zero defects, customer satisfaction, continuous improvement and fit for purpose. Any institution, individual has a right to go for quality system, Pre-ISO is ideal to start with.

According to the late Dr Stephen R Covey synergy means that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts which means that the relationship which the parts have to each other is a part in and of itself. It is not only a part, but the most unifying and the most exciting part.

Because of the infinite value of synergy as to what it can do it has become the key factor for the success of any principle centered projects such as installation of quality systems or any individual aiming to achive excellence. It can unleash the greatest power within people. you will be amazed to hear what it can do if you think for a moment how synergy works on human body. Peter Russel in his book Spirit of Now says, “you are an assortment of several trillion individual cells, and acting for its own interest yet simultaneously supporting the good of the whole. If it were not for this high degree of synergy each of us would be just a mass of jelly, each cell acting only for itself and not contributing to the rest of the body.’ When synergy is not operating organism becomes ill due to lack of coordination. When synergy is lost altogether the organism dies. The individual cells may live on but the whole living organism no longer exists.

As appeared recently in the press the offer of synergy by the president of USA towards the trading organisation of BRICS is admirable and will produce good results if all parties follow the principles of synergy.

Now you can see how the miracle of synergy links us with the planet earth. If you observe nature carefully you find synergy everywhere in nature. The human body is part of the nature, therefore a part of the earth. Scientists now hold the view that the earth has its own conscientiousness. But we have no way of seeing it as a whole for synergy to operate and miracles to happen. The minds of people can visualise earth in parts only. Governments have separated it with the power of their constitutions. Oceans and great rivers are divided. The very rich hang on to their deeds claiming thousands of acres, others hundreds and some with few perches of land. The way you see the wood (not the trees) you must see the planet earth.

Great poet

Even Robert Frost the great poet who saw and admired the forest missed the planet when he wrote the poem ‘Mending Walls’.

It’s pathetic to know that the people live on banks of some great rivers are forced to focus only on parts of rivers belonging to their country. This separation in minds of people extinguishes the life of the river. E.g. River Brahmaputra in India. The issue is open to the world’s seven billion odd population to find a solution. In Sri Lanka I feel that every individual has the right to believe that planet earth belongs to them for the purpose of synergy.

Just imagine, can there be conflicts when the planet earth is vigilantly protected by over seven billion people? On February 14, 1990 an astronomer Carl Sagan expressed this view of ownership of planet earth when he uttered these words after seeing the blue earth in data coming from in excess of four billion miles away, appearing as a pale blue dot on the screen at NASA ‘…That’s here.

That’s home. That’s us.’ We failed to realise the truth in those words - every human being on this earth is a ‘Carl Sagan’ a proud owner of this planet. It becomes your duty to protect not only ten perches in your deed but the next door neighbour’s land as well.The idea is not strange.

Every one of us owns the stock of oxygen in the earth’s atmosphere. In New York, Kremlin, and Beijing or in Colombo…. you breathe in oxygen freely.

You have a birth certificate which can refer to yourself. Any company has a document issued by registrar of companies to refer to it as a legal entity. Planet earth performing such magical functions has none at all.

In order to assist us can all governments together develop a simple document to refer to Planet Earth? Scientists can do their part by developing an animated 3D model of planet earth for the entire world to view 24 hours.

I am thankful to Mr Gunasekera in Arthur C Clarke Institute for Modern Technologies for enlightening me on this point.

World War II ended in May 68 years ago and wrote this article in this significant May 2013 to give the world an idea to consider to end conflicts and save the lives of human beings. I reproduce a concluding passage of an article published in a local quality magazine more than a decade ago.”

The quality system targets always look for ‘win-win’ situations. Victories for humanity will come in abundance from every person every moment in quality systems.

The problems are escalating in the world in an environment of greed for profits inhumanity to humanity displayed by terrorist activities sexual harassment of women, child abuse, drug trafficking, dishonesty of people holding top positions. The situation is alarming.

The very existence of the planet earth is being challenged. Quality is our only hope!”