Dr Manu Vora honored with ASQ’s Ishikawa Medal for innovative contributions and achievements - Dla times

Dr Manu Vora honored with ASQ’s Ishikawa Medal for innovative contributions and achievements - Dla times

The Pros and Cons of Conferences

This blog post is in response to April 2015 ASQ Influential Voices topic "The Pros and Cons of Conferences".

This month's question is to the quality community about the value of conferences, meetings, and in-person events. How do you decide which ones to attend? Do you stay close to home or is international travel desired or necessary? If you travel, do you go to learn, network, or both?

First let me share my personal experience organizing/attending conferences, meetings, and in-person events over the last 30 plus years.

• AT&T Bell Labs Quality Management Retreat, New Jersey (summer 1985) - Lead Organizer:

          A two-day retreat with International Switching Systems Business Unit management 
          with Dr. Joseph Juran in attendance. Focus was sharing quality improvement plans 
          across various divisions through various teams. Great success in sharing major 
          initiatives across entire business unit to develop synergy and encourage 
          networking.

• AT&T Bell Labs Switching Systems Business Unit Recognition Event (fall 1992) - Lead Organizer:

          Around 6,000 employees from three countries (Netherlands, U.K., and USA) gathered 
          for a 1/2 day Recognition event in Illinois. There were lot of logistical challenges, 
          however, the cultural issue of giving and receiving Recognition was driven 
         home across the entire work force under one roof.

• ASQ 50th Annual Quality Congress, Chicago (AQC,  now World Conference for Quality and Improvement) (May 1996) - Chair, Host Committee

          After 3 years of benchmarking of previous AQCs, our core team of 12 Member 
          Leaders from 6 ASQ Sections in Illinois area organized world-class experience 
         for over 3,000 attendees from around the world. A small army of 300 ASQ 
          member volunteers made all the gusts feel at home. Our team had a simple vision 
         "serve all guests as your personal guests" and it worked well. To date many ASQ 
          members rave about what an experience they had at the 50th AQC including 
          International Dances and Chicago Police Department Bag Pipers welcoming guests at 
          Tuesday night dinner banquet. These ASQ Section Leaders then started a       
         Northern Illinois Quality Conference (NIQC) in 1998 through 2012.       

• ASQ Northern Illinois Quality Conferences (NIQC) - Vice Chair Technical Program and Recognition (1998-2012):

          For 15 years, four ASQ Sections (Chicago, Fox Valley, Illiana, and Northern Illinois) 

          organized a high-value conference with workshops to serve members and non-

          members from the Mid-West area. There was tremendous teamwork among 

          sections and the conferences were well managed both financially and 

         technically. All NIQCs were in black (a record for any ASQ conferences) and serve  

         the community for a long time providing great networking opportunities.

• ASQ Peru International Quality Congress - Chair Technical Program (2011, 2013, 2015):

          In Lima, Peru starting in 2011, every two years an International Quality Congress is 

          held attracting over 180 attendees from industry and academia. This high-value 

          congresses provide excellent opportunity to learn from global thought 

          leaders and offer networking opportunities to quality professionals.

Let me summarize Pros and Cons for organizing conferences, meetings, and in-person events.

Pros:

• Face-to-face Knowledge Sharing 

• Professional Networking opportunities

• Fostering teamwork among volunteer organizers

• Serve members and non-members though value addition

Cons:

• Logistics management challenges

• Fiscal management challenges

• Understanding attendee expectations for value-added events

• Project management challenges

Personally, I attend many face-to-face events globally as well as leverage technology (Google Hangouts and Webinars) for free knowledge transfer to engineering students and quality professionals in India. For more information see the following links at:

http://iit.org/blog/2015/03/15/free-knowledge-transfer-using-technology/

http://www.itbhuglobal.org/chronicle/archives/2015/03/letter_sent_by.php

I look forward to learning from your experiences.

Encourage the Next Generation of STEM Professionals

This blog post is in response to March 2015 ASQ Influential Voices topic "Encourage the Next Generation of STEM Professionals".

To start with let me include my blog post on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) from February 14, 2012 here -

http://voraonquality.blogspot.com/2012/02/stem.html.

Personally, I strongly believe in nurturing math and science skills with youngsters in K-12. Once they see the value and impact of it in real life, they will continue to take interest in those subjects. 

With a strong foundation in math and science, youngsters will be equipped with necessary skills to enter engineering and technology fields. To survive and thrive in the global economy, STEM is extremely important.

Importance of STEM in India:

In 1947, after gaining independence from the United Kingdom, India needed to develop its own industries. To achieve this objective, the Indian Institute of Technology (IITs). were created. In 1951, the first IIT opened in Kharagpur in West Bengal followed by Bombay, Maharashtra (1958), Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh and Madras, Tamil Nadu (1959), and Delhi (1963). Over the years more IITs were added and currently there are 16 IITs with 10,000 seats.

In India, IITs are autonomous public institutes of higher education. They are governed by the Institutes of Technology Act, 1961 which has declared them as "institutions of national

importance", and lays down their powers, duties, framework for governance, etc. The Institutes of Technology Act, 1961 lists sixteen institutes located at Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Delhi, Gandhinagar, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Indore, Jodhpur, Kanpur, Kharagpur, Mandi, Mumbai, Patna, Ropar, Roorkee and Varanasi. Each IIT is an autonomous institution, linked to the others through a common IIT Council, which oversees their administration. The IITs award degrees ranging from B. Tech. to Ph.D. The IITs have a common admission process for undergraduate admissions. It was called IIT-JEE, which was replaced by Joint Entrance Examination in 2013.

In April 2014 over 1,356,000 students appeared for JEE (Main) of which 128,000 qualified for JEE (Advanced) competing for 10,000 seats in 16 IITS (overall 0.74% Admit rate, which is much tougher than prestigious schools in the US). Those who could not get into IITs, go to 30 National Institutes of Technology (NITs) and other engineering colleges.

These centrally funded IITs are heavily subsidized (80%) by the Indian Government. Graduates from the IITs have spread out globally making outstanding contributions in engineering, science, and allied fields.

I was fortunate to study chemical engineering at the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) now 16th IIT (BHU), Varanasi. After my B. Tech., I joined the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago to complete my graduate work with M.S. and Ph.D. in chemical engineering. After working for few years in the industry, I realized the value of business education and obtained my MBA in marketing management from the Keller Graduate School of Management in Chicago. I personally believe engineers need to understand business aspects to make bigger contributions. Hence, exposure to business courses during engineering studies is beneficial to both industry and the individual.

In summary, in India there is a national mandate to develop STEM professionals by providing opportunities through education funded by the Government. With this STEM emphasis, India has achieved a top place in information technology field.

I came across an article from Harvard Business Review (March 24, 2015) by Joan C. Williams entitled "The 5 Biases Pushing Women Out of STEM". The article is talking about biases, and not pipeline issues or personal choices, pushing women out of science - and that bias plays differently depending on a women's race or ethnicity.

I look forward to your personal experience with STEM.

Why Should Quality “Go Global”?

This blog post is in response to February 2015 ASQ Influential Voices topic "Why Should Quality "Go Global"?"

ASQ's mission statement talks about increasing the use of and impact of quality in response to the diverse needs of the world. In my humble opinion, we need to do more, throughout the world, to accomplish that mission.

Here is my logic for 'Why':

• In the 21st Century, globalization is the name of the game. An organization cannot survive and prosper, if it is only US focused.

• Need for good education, proper healthcare, and responsive government are universal.

• With limited global resources, need exists to ensure people's livelihood through economic prosperity.

• We are polluting the world (air, land, water) faster than our forefathers did.

• World is constantly in turmoil due to barbaric and uncivilized behavior of few people and groups.

Here is my logic for 'What' should be done:

• Take a case of global supply chains. In the globalized scenario, the key players of the supply chain (suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, retailers, and customers) could be anywhere in the world. When these key players integrate quality management to optimize their entire supply chains, they will achieve best performance for their supply chains. 

• There is a need to skillfully integrate quality management with supply chain management to create innovative products/services to provide for the global citizens. ASQ should promote the use of Baldrige Performance Excellence Criteria for better management of  global supply chains.

• Quality is a common denominator for providing access, containing cost, and ensuring best outcomes in education, healthcare, and government sectors. ASQ should act as a catalyst to share best practices in all sectors globally.

• For Economic prosperity, ASQ should promote effective and efficient deployment of ISO 9001 Standards globally.

• For Environmental stewardship, ASQ should promote effective and efficient implementation of ISO 14001 Standards universally.

• For Social Responsibility, ASQ should disperse effective and efficient use of ISO 26000 Standards for good governance and promote spirit of cooperation and collaboration among 7 billion people on this earth.

Here is 'How' we can carry the "Quality Torch" forward collectively and individually: 

• Education Sector: ASQ India in collaboration with IIT (BHU) Varanasi, IIT BHU Global Alumni Association (IBGAA), and Business Excellence, Inc., USA we  initiated a Free Knowledge Transfer Using Technology (Google Hangouts). Under this initiative a 12 session Leadership Excellence Series (LES) was unveiled in August 2014 to impart soft skills and quality management principles/practices to India's top 1% of youth in engineering college. The resultant YouTubes are shared widely with 6,500 students, faculty, and administration at the IIT (BHU) campus.

          https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140822213201-1800896-knowledge-transfer-via-google-hangout?trk=mp-           reader-card

          https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140902040132-1800896-successful-launch-of-iit-bhu-asq-india-leadership-excellence-series 

• Healthcare Sector: In 1989, we established Blind Foundation for India (BFI) with a mission to prevent and cure blindness as well as provide education and rehabilitation to over 15 million visually challenged people in India. This staggering number translates to one out of three blind people in the world residing in India. 

          Refer to my April 13, 2013 TEDxIIT Chicago Talk on "Exponential Power of the                      
          Gift of Giving" at  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-fmkivYcVg&feature=share 

• Government Sector: Refer to ASQ™ TV - Quality and Indian Government at:       https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20141003192404-1800896-asq-tv-quality-and-indian-government?trk=mp-reader-card

• Social Responsibility:  On April 7, 2013 gave my TEDxIIT BHU Varanasi, India Talk on "Leveraging Social Responsibility to Unite the World" at         https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94kXi9WTl04

ASQ and quality professionals have treasure trove of knowledge which needs to be disseminated to uplift citizens of the world for economic prosperity, environmental stewardship, and peaceful coexistence.

I look forward to learn from your perspectives and practical experience in making Quality Global.

Finding Inspiration from Quality Leaders

This blog post is in response to January 2015 ASQ Influential Voices topic "Finding Inspiration from Quality Leaders?"

In my journey of excellence I have come across several leaders who influenced my thought process.
Here are few of them whose teachings inspired me including lessons I have learned from each one of them.

1). Late Prof. Gopal Tripathi, Head of Department, Chemical Engineering & Technology, IIT (BHU), Varanasi, UP, India

I had my good fortune to study from a Giant in the field of chemical engineering whose contributions made a great impact for chemical engineering education in post-Independent India.

Lessons Learned:  

• Subject Mastery - He shared his deep technical knowledge in an engaging ways. He was an  inspiration to kindle my interest in teaching. It is my pleasure to teach quality management and operations management as an adjunct faculty in business schools in USA and India for the last 22 years.
• Humility -  He had photographic memory and would always greet students by their name. He is my role model to keep me grounded throughout my life.   

2). Prof. Darsh Wasan, Motorola Chair Professor in Chemical Engineering and Vice President, Illinois Institute of Quality (IIT), Chicago, Illinois, USA

After coming to the United States for my graduate work at IIT Chicago, I was privileged to work with Prof. Darsh Wasan for my research work. He is an eminent academician and a researcher blazing new trails in the field of surface phenomena and chemical engineering.

Lessons Learned:

• Focus: He would communicate with students to remain focused whether conducting research or writing reports and proposals. He had exacting standards and high expectations. I have learned the importance of simple communication, focus, and setting high expectations of everyone I interact with including my family members and friends.

• Networking: I witnessed his extraordinary networking abilities connecting with professionals. I learned a life-long lesson to keep building my network. It has served me well, both professionally and personally.

3). Mr. John Delatore, Retired Director, International Switching Systems Engineering, AT&T Bell Laboratories, Naperville, Illinois, USA

I worked with Mr. John Delatore in Systems Engineering at AT&T Bell Laboratories. He provided extra-ordinary support for quality planning and implementation initiatives in the International Switching Systems Engineering Division.

Lessons Learned:

• Visionary: He spearheaded quality planning and implementation initiatives from grounds up. His vision and foresight to bring the best practices from both within and outside of AT&T to benefit the organization was par excellence. I learned how to leverage best practices and always stay focused on the improvement journey.

• Caring: He had very high standards, however, he would always care and support his people. I learned the importance of caring for people and provide required support when leading projects.

4). Late Dr. Hans Bajaria, ASQ Medalist and ASQ Fellow, Dearborn Heights, Michigan, USA

I had a pleasure to interact with late Dr. Hans Bajaria for over a decade. He was a great ambassador for quality management. With his keen insights he served his clients well globally.  

Lessons Learned: 

• Innovation: He used to look for innovative ways to tackle customer issues. I learned from him how to be customer focused and find end-to-end solutions in an innovative ways. 
• Boldness: As a subject matter expert, he would speak his mind challenging conventional wisdom. I learned how to present a counter-point with conviction to persuade others about the merit of my proposal.

5). Mr. Ron Kingen, Past President and Chair of ASQ, President, CVI Group, LLC, Racine, Wisconsin, USA

It has been a delight to interact with Mr. Ron Kingen, the past President and Chair of ASQ for over 25 years. First at the ASQ Certification Board, then at ASQ Board level including the ASQ Capital Campaign.

Lessons Learned:

• Inclusiveness: He is a role model for inclusiveness. Working on a variety of teams, his insight to engage members from different background is outstanding. I learned a simple lesson on working with diverse group of people to achieve best project results. 

• Respect for People: He exhibits tremendous respect for everyone he interacts with. I have learned from him how to be a professional and respect everyone, irrespective of their viewpoints or positions.

6). Mr. Navin Dedhia, Past Member of ASQ Board, San Jose, California, USA

I have a pleasure to interact with Mr.Navin Dedhia for over 25 years at ASQ at the ASQ Certification Board, ASQ International Chapter Member Advancement Team, ASQ Capital Campaign, and ASQ Fellow Process Coach Team.

Lessons Learned:

• Global Focus: He was Chair/Trustee of the ASQ International Chapter for over 18 years. He nurtured involvement from the International quality community which paved the way for ASQ to become ASQ Global. My lesson is how to look beyond the US borders to add value for global ASQ members. 

• Mentoring: Has has mentored generation of quality professionals globally in a most effective way. His mentoring contributions are phenomenal. I learned a lesson from him on becoming a mentor to other quality professionals.

I look forward to hear about your views on this topic.

Is Quality Ambitious Enough?

This blog post is in response to December 2014 ASQ Influential Voices topic "Is Quality Ambitious Enough?"

Personally, I believe Quality is Not Ambitious Enough. 

Here are my thoughts on issues and opportunities to make quality more ambitious:

Issues:

• We the quality professionals have not done a good job selling the value of quality to the C Suite. Hence, the Quality Department is a Cost Center rather than Value Center. Too often we hear stories of organizations dismantling quality departments when times are tough. 

• Everyone wants quality, however, in majority of organizations there is no underlying mechanisms to create and sustain quality, other than delegating work to quality department.  

• Executives are busy drawing strategies and rest of the management is busy in day-to-day affairs. Quality is an afterthought. 
• There is a lack of single-minded focus in instilling quality in Education (K-12, undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate levels), Healthcare (physicians, nurses, administrators, hospitals, nursing homes, etc.), Government (local, state, and federal levels), Non-profits, Manufacturing, Service, and Small Businesses.

Opportunities:

• Each one of us rededicate ourselves to sell the value of quality to our top management in any organization we work in.

• In an organization wherever we serve, ensure we help build necessary mechanisms to create and sustain quality.

• Provide input to our executives for their strategy formulation to build quality in the strategic plan so that they can drive quality from the top. Reinforce quality value proposition for the middle management and get their engagement to move the quality forward. 

• In various sectors such as Education, Healthcare, Government, Non-Profits, Manufacturing, Service, and Small Businesses, volunteer your time and talent as appropriate. Start instilling importance and value of quality at all levels of organizations. As a quality professional be a champion or catalyst for the cause of quality rather than become a police person focusing on compliance only.

• Here are my personal actions in making quality ambitious in various sectors:

         Education: Sharing Baldrige Performance Excellence Framework at K-12, 

         Undergraduate, and Graduate levels. Initiated Google Hangout for free knowledge 

         transfer at various educational institutes in India to strengthen soft skills and exposure 

         to quality management principles and practices.

         

         Government: Shared Baldrige Performance Excellence Framework at local, state, 

         and International levels.

         Manufacturing: Leading a Knowledge Sharing Series for a very reputable Corporate 

         House in India in collaboration with ASQ India.

         Non-Profits: Personally instilled quality discipline in managing a non-profit (Blind 

         Foundation for India) for over 25 years.

         Service: Championed use of Baldrige in organizations for significant transformations.

         Small Businesses: Shared best practices and outstanding frameworks to benefit 

         them in quality improvement.

I look forward to hear your views on this topic.

Leadership and Quality Professionals

This blog post is in response to November 2014 ASQ Influential Voices topic "Is Every Quality Professional a Leader?"

I would start by defining leadership, leadership quotes, leadership versus management, leadership core competencies, some examples of great leaders, and leadership paradigm.

Then I will share my personal quality journey to stress the importance of leadership in all aspects of work (corporate, academic, professional, and not-for-profits).

Leadership Definition:

Leadership Quotes:

Leadership versus Management:

Leadership Core Competencies:

Great Leaders (Some Examples):

Leadership Paradigm:

Let me briefly elaborate on the Leadership Paradigm shown above. Rare are the Servant Leaders who sacrifice and provide service to others (e.g., Abraham Lincoln, Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, etc.). Most of the enlightened C level executives are Value Leaders. They focus on organization's growth and profit. Knowledge Leaders are generally educators who care for and share their knowledge with those who they come in contact with. Then finally there is Position Leadership. These are generally front to middle level managers (and sometimes C levels), who wield undesirable influence in the path to progress for an organization. 

Now I will highlight my quality journey and importance of leadership in various roles to be effective (For-Profit, Academic, Professional Organizations, and Not-for-Profit organizations).

For-Profit Organizations (40 years):

• Served in a number of corporations at various levels to promote the mission of quality and excellence. 
• Took extensive leadership and quality management training while working with AT&T Bell Laboratories.
• Worked with senior leadership teams to elevate importance of quality including global clients.
• Served as a champion/catalyst to raise the flag for quality using leadership skills acquired over the years.

Academics (21 years):

• Currently associated with 33 educational institutions globally.
• Teach courses in quality management, operation management, leadership excellence, supply chain management, project management, risk management, etc. at graduate level.
• Continue to refine my leadership and subject matter knowledge by reading articles from Harvard Business Review, MIT Sloan Management Review, McKinsey Quarterly, etc.
• Continue to learn new practices through students/professionals from various domains.

Professional Organizations (30 years):

• Honor to serve at ASQ in various leadership capacity since 1988.
• Served in leadership roles at ASQ Chicago Section, Regional, National, and International levels. Led number of strategic initiatives for ASQ including Capital Campaign and Volunteer Leader Recognition process. Served as a Site Committee Chair for ASQ's 50th Annual Quality Conference (now World Conference for Quality and Improvement). Also led ASQ Certification Process Improvement initiative.
• Currently serve in advisory capacity at ASQ India promoting quality mission in education, health care, government, and corporate world.
• Served in lead capacity at Information Integrity Coalition. Also served as a Chief Judge for the Illinois Team Excellence Award Program for seven years 91993-1999). From 2006-2010 served as a Chair of the Illinois Institute of Technology's Alumni Awards Program Judge's Committee.

Not-for-Profit Organizations (44 years):

• Honor to serve and lead the Blind Foundation for India (BFI) since 1989.
• The BFI is supporting over 15 million blind people in India through prevention, cure, education, and rehabilitation.
• Served as Honorary Executive Director with GOSUMEC Foundation, USA to support Seth G. S. Medical College and K. E. M. Hospital in Mumbai, India,
• Served as a Chair of the AT&T Bell Laboratories' Save the Children Holiday Fund Drive from 1985 to 1999 sponsoring 50 children in 20 countries around the world.

In summary, from my personal experience I can unequivocally stress the need for leadership for all quality professionals to be effective in adding positive value in any setting.

I would love to hear your perspective on this topic.