Kesenangan Sementara

Tiap yang hidup akan mati. Yang bernyawa akan hilang nyawa. Yang tumbuh pun akan berhenti tumbuh. Dan juga yang memimpin akan hilang jawatan (itu pun satu dari jenis mati). Jika semua makhluk yang bergelar manusia, atau insan, sedar sesedarnya bahawa apa yang kita miliki sekarang, apa jawatan yang dipegang sekarang, apa harta (kereta mewah, motor lama ke, tanah ke, saham ke, dan lain-lain) SEMUA akan terlepas dari pandangan, pegangan, simpanan, apabila kita meningglakan dunia ini atau pun maut. Cukuplah mati itu menjadi pengajaran kepada kita supaya menghentikan sifat manusia pemimpin yang zalim, tidak adil, penting diri, tamak harta, dan segala benda yang tidak baik. Dan kita hijrah kepada keadaan yang lebih baik yang apa yang kita lalui sekaranag. Kenapa saya berhujah sebegini rupa dan cara. Sebabnya adalah kerana Allah subhanahuwataala telah beri peluang kepada saya untuk menyaksikan dua kematian (Almarhumah Dr Asiah Othman isteri Hj AminolHuda Hassan dan juga sahabat kita Abd Kadir Kusene, pelajatr SAJOHA. AlFatihah
Coretan Rabu Malam Khamis 11malam

leader and leadership

Leaders are born. There are also those who have made themselves leader. What are the characteristics of a good leader. This list is not exhaustive.

They are:
1. Guided by Knowledge
2. Sidiq (Truthful)
3. Amanah (Trusted and responsible)
4. Tabligh (To always convey and preach good message)
5. Fatonah (Wisdom in deeds and actions)

The subcharacteristics:
1. Akhlak terpuji
2. Baik Pekerti mulai
3. Humble tidak sombong
4. Sangka Baik
5. Percaya orang bawah
6. Pendidik dan pendorong
7. Rajin, tekun dan berkerja untuk Allah
8. Sentiasa fikir orang lain dulu sebelum diri sendiri
9. Taat perintah agama
10. Jauhi maksiat dan dosa (termasuk minum arak, zina, penipu, bohong, dll)
10. Sentiasa perbaiki diri (sikap, ilmu, amal,dll). Macam Quality Improvement lah

Always think Quality. In TQM, leadership toward excellence is a critical factor. Committed and exemplary leadership will result in the creation of excellent organization. Ia seperti 'baldatun toibatul ghafur' dalam bentuk micro iaitu organsisai. Biasanya kita hanya rujuk kepada 'negeri yang aman sejahtera dan sentiasa mendapat rahmat dari Yang Maha Esa. Tetapi 'organisasi juga sebuah 'negeri kecil' yang harus diurus dan dibentuk secara total agar mencapai 'excellence' dalam seluruh aspeknya. Allah knows best.

Effective Leaders

Three common elements in all humans that are recognized by effective leaders as said by Paul O' Neill are :
1. Everyone wants to be treated with dignity and respect
2. Everyone wants to make a contribution to give his or her life meaning
3. Everyone wants someone else to notice his or her contribution.
He said that President Bush (in 2004)"did not make decisions in a methodical way. There was no free flow of ideas or open debate" (Quality Progress, June 2009, p37, ASQ).

So, those aspiring leaders or currently leaders or heads of departments , please reflect upon yourselves (Me, I have always been critical of leaders to the extend that people brand me as 'opposition', what to do).

Terjemahan BM
Tiga elemen :
1. Setiap orang ingin dilayan secara hormat dan beradab
2. Setiap orang ingin menyumbang kepada kehidupan yang bermakana (termasuk tempat kerja)
3. Setiap orang ingin orang lain melihat (memberi perhatian) sumbangan dia.

Jadi, kepada bakal pemimpin dan yang sedang memimpin, sila cermin diri. (Penulis juga sentiasa muhasabah diri).

Quality leaders knows how to praise their workers.

Asrama mendidik peribadi mulia

JUmpa kawan di kedai Sukimin. Bila kita dapat jumpa sahabat lama, kita akan rasa seronok kerana dapat mengingati zaman kita bersama-sama terutamanya bagi mereka yang duduk asrama penuh atau serupa dengan itu. Pengalaman berdikari, bertengkar, pengalaman makan nasi kawah dan ayam plastik tidak akan kita lupa. Banyak lagi yang kita semua lalui - kawan ramai, berkenalan dengan rakan perempuan, adik angkat, kakak angkat, dan lain-lain.
Bab sukan paling saya kenang kerana memang aktif dan juag ada yang wakil sekolah (SMSJ lah). Semua game nak rasa, ragbi, bolasepak, bola tampar, sepak takraw, semua nak wakil sekolah. Sukan telah mendidik kita semangat juang, tidak cepat putus asa, kita tahu ada skill tangan, kaki, dan pelbagai skill. Tapi yang penting saya rasa adalah semangat pasukan team work untuk capai kejayaan. Ilmu inilah yang kita bawa kedalam alam pendidikan tinggi dan juga pekerjaan. Sikap dan sifat pejuang mesti ada untuk berjaya. Keterbukaan memahami bahawa ada ahli pasukan yang memain peranan dan ada kekuatan masing-masing harus difahami, dihayati dan diamal serta diguna sekarang dan seterusnya hingga kita dapat meningkat kepada tahap yang lebih tinggi dalam pekerjaan. Semua itu kita capai tanpa perlu kita pijak kaki lawan atau rakan seperjuangan. Inilah apa yang dapat saya luahkan hari ini. Fikir-fikirkan lah. Saya mohon pandangan dan teguran semua. Amin.

Tanggunjawab Pemimpin Berkualiti

Kita semua pemimpin. Kita pimpin keluarga di rumah dan kita jadi pegawai atau boss di tempat kerja. Kita mungkin seorang Guru Besar, Pengetua, General Manager, CEO, Naib Canselor Universiti, dan .. dan.. dan ...

Pada saya, pemimpin yang berjaya adalah mereka yang dapat memahami proses pengurusan itu sendiri. Management is actually to get things done in the most effective and efficient manner, through people and with people. It involves Planning, Leading, Organizing (including coordination), Monitoring, and Controlling. Secara ringkasnya, pengurusan itu satu proses, maknya ada input-transform-output, yang memerlukan pengembelingan tenaga manusia (pelbagai peringkat - pekerja ini semua ada peranan, hatta tukang sapu hingga pengurus), kalau semua tahu t/jawab dan peranan masing-masing, senang kerja kita semua. Masalahnya ramai yang tidak tahu (atau buat tak tahu) peranan, dan ramai juga yang abaikan tanggungjawab (abdicate responsibility). kena ingat, tukang sapu, PAR Kerani juga ada tanggungjawab sama seperti Pengurus Besar atau Naib Canselor. Tanggungjawab saya sebagai pendidik adalah memastikan anak didik saya mendapat ilmu yang dapat digunapakai dalam menyelesaikan semua, kalau tak semua kebanyakkan, masalah semasa kerja.

Planning itu merancang, jadi tanggungjawab semua untuk merancang. Rancang apa? Rancang sumber yang terhad seperti masa, bahan mentah (gunahabis), kapasiti mesin, kewangan (jangan bazir, jangan rasuah). Pendek kata semua perkara kena rancang, kenapa nak rancang - supaya kerja dan aktiviti kita semua berjalan lancar, penuh koordinasi, cukup dengan alat yang perlu dan tidak bazir sumber (yang ini kita kata cekap dan berkesan). Semua kerja jika tepat masa, cukup bahan, maka kita tidak perlu balik pukol 6 petang. Fikirkan...

Untuk menjadi cekap dan berkesan kita perlu sistem yang jelas, cukup dengan prosedur kerja, dan siapa, bila, bagaimana, di mana, (when, where, what, who, how,) buat kerja itu.

Seorang pemimpin yang berjiwa besar akan hanya fikirkan 'bagaimana saya dapat sumbang kepada organisasi saya, bagaimana saya dapat tingkatkan kuantiti dan kualiti kerja saya (seperti research saya, publications saya) bagaimana saya dapat sumbang kepada akademik negara, bukan asyik-asyik fikir macamana aku nak naik lagi tinggi. Lepas Dekan, NC, lepas ni mana pulak, boleh masuk politik ke? Saya rasa pemimpin mesti fikirkan rakyat/atau dalam syarikat stakeholders and customers termasuk pekerja dia. Kalau jabatan kerajaan seperti PKNS, JKR, mesti fikir dan rancang bagaimana nak bangunkan modal insan, contohnya agar mereka menjadi pekerja yang boleh menjadi rujukan oleh jabatan lain, yang dapat memberi khidmat untuk masyarakat/bangsa/rakyat dikampung dan dibandar dalam bidang kepakarannya.

Leaders out there... please think about your people... be answerable to your customers, and ultimately, lets us all be answerable to Allah AL Mighty. Sebarang komen positif dan negatif dialu-alukan.

quality of service

Waited from 8:40 am until now 11:45 at HPJ. Accompany wife for check up. Still not out of the system. Talking about the Quality of Hospital, the KPI for Minister of Health should be 'Patient waiting and Processing Time'. I dont know what the Pemudah Task Force has done.

Studying in USA - Quality of Life

When I first arrived in the USA, to do my degree, there were only 9 of us. Siapa eh? Rohaimi, Aziz Mahmud, Benzin, Bahardin, Fauzi Mansor, Myself, Maheran, Hawa and Supiah. We were the first undergrads batch sponsored by M'sian Govt. All of us fresh from high school arrived after Miami was hit by Hurricane David if I am not mistaken. When we arrived at the airport, it was already nighttime, if I remember correctly, after 9pm. I called the university contact number given by the Ministry staff who sent us off at KL. To no avail, there was no answer. All of us having traveled from KL Subang, then to London Gatwick/Heathrow, and then to New York (forgot which airport) and then another connecting flight to Miami, all in all over 30 hours travelling. All lepak (flat out). Dah lah tu dalam flight from London to Miami tak makan apa pun, tired and hungry. Back to Miami airport, finally an old lady helped us and advised us to stay at one Holiday Inn hotel, and she called a cab to bring us to the hotel. The cab brought us to this hotel, and at last we managed to take our shower, rest and got some sleep. The next morning when we woke up, we suddenly realized that the Holiday Inn is in Coral Gables, just across I95 was the University of Miami. We contacted the International Office and finally we arrived at the office, and the next thing we know was we got our dormitory placement, our class schedule (we came one week late after classes has started but arrangements was done for subject registration, etc) and the next thing I know I was already in classes the next morning with Engineering Drawing, Prof. Mariem (forgot the name). I was put in Eaton Hall together with Fauzi. I took 5 subjects - chem, calculus 1, drawing, static, intro to basic programming i think. That was in Fall Semester 1979 -.... pheew that is long time ago. almost 30 years ago.

I think university life in USA - first, we got to do so many things, we have this Malaysian Students Association, in which I was President for one year,and the next year the Vice President (a senior Syed Sheikh Al Habshi ex-ITM became President). We organized dinners, gathering for new students, raya, we put up a 'Malaysian food sale - satay also available' and 'sepak takraw display' during the International week. The Malaysian volleyball team in which I also played entered the university tournament but we managed to enter only secong round.

America is such a big country, and traveling is fun and easy. The highway is free, that's why they call it freeway. We managed to travel from Miami to Los Angeles by car and went up to San Francisco, and through the Midwest till Illinois, and back to Miami. It took us, I don't know, I forgot, 12 days all in all. It was exciting , and you know, every signboard that we can find such "welcome to Mexico" or "University of ...' we will stop to take a picture. It was great. I will continue when time permits.

Pemimpin Berkualiti

Apabila kita sudah jadi boss, kadang-kadang kita lupa bahawa kita dulu juga seorang junior staff. Contohnya, sebelum jadi Manager, katalah Production Department, kita mesti mula dari Engineer, entah level apa, mungkin 1 ke 2, ke, pokoknya junior lah. Umur mungkin 20'an. Sama juga untuk pensyarah, kita mula dari bawah, dulu Penolong Pensyarah A, dapat Master dapat naik jawatan Pensyarah, dan lepas PhD cuba cuba mohon dapat naik jawatan Profesor Madya dan kalau rezeki murah seterusnya naik Professor. Itu jawatan hakiki, tapi dalam universiti ada jawatan pentadbiran, seperti Ketua Makmal, Ketua Jabatan, Timbalan Dekan, Dekan, hingga ke atas sekali yang digelar NC. Apa yang saya nak cerita ni?

Saya cuma ingin sampaikan luahan orang bawahan tentang ketidaktentuan polisi dan arahan yang tidak disedari sentiasa bertukar-tukar. saya sangat simpati dan faham 'their predicaments'. Kita ambil satu contoh. Perkara Lanjut Pengajian Peringkat Master dan Phd. Ada universiti membuat polisi macam ini:
1. Penolong Pensyarah buat master lepas tu balik dan join queue untuk sambung phd
bidang itu perlu menepati keperluan umum universiti, ada interview dan ada 'JK' Cuti Belajar luluskan. Master by course work pun boleh, by research pun boleh
2. Lepas tu selang beberapa purnama, ok, Pergi Master ke luar negara boleh tapi selain dari UK, Australia dan New Zealand.
3. Kena buat Master by research pasal kita nak jadi research university.
4. Tak boleh buat overseas , buat dalam negeri by research
5. dan pelbagai macam cara, polisi, itu tak masuk IELTS, TOEFL, BTN, entah apa lagi

Ini belum cerita pasal proses permohonan naik pangkat. Standards dia berubah-ubah dan tak tahulah apa akan jadi akan datang. Ada satu law di universiti . Saya panggil law itu "Shariff' s Law (Prof shariff is now retired from university but he still consults us a lot and he ws Dean when I joined UTM 20 years ago). The law is this. "Things will NEVER get easier in university". During his times, orang pergi PhD boleh hingga 6 tahun, lepas tu disingkatkan 4 tahun. Ok, fine, ruling itu perlu untuk memantapkan keperluan Universiti dan costs. Apa yang saya lontarkan .. Ramai Ketua lupa bahwa mereka dulu nobody , macam orang miskin lupa asal usal dia...' you need to be sensitive to the needs of the staff' . Listen to your internal customers. Cuba buat - Employee Satisfaction Index, tanpa campur tangan dan lihat sejauhmana 'you adminstrators are being seen as 'management doing a good job'. Kadang-kadang sedih yang senior staff at top level bukan tidak ada pengetahuan management (maybe tak de kot), the way they act, speak for themselves. Remember when you are the top, people can see and will remember all your steps , people have the opportunity to 'evalaute' and 'ponder' upon your words, actions, body language, . and also, please remember, SIDDIQ, AMANAH, TABLIGH, FATANAH. Ingat - semua kita ini pemimpin, dan kita akan dipertanggungjawabkan dengan pimpinan kita. Buat saya, saya tetap saya, saya akan teruskan luahan dan prinsip yang saya pegang hingga saya dapat survive 'managing people' lebih 25 tahun. Saya akan balance kehidupan 'work' and 'family' and ' self'. Saya doakan keamanan dan ketenteraman anda.

Japan

After finishing my degree from Miami USA, I came back to Malaysia. Many of the people I met will always tell me "Best lah Miami". Well, it is a holiday destination but if you are thinkingabout the beach it is actually quite far (at least to us students at that time) about 30 miles from our campus. We only get to go to the beach after examinations. I am not going to talk about Miami, but my experience in visiting and living in Japan.
The return flight to Malaysia from Miami, Los Angeles took us to Narita airport near Tokyo. That was in May 1983. Our group had to stopover in Tokyo, and it was such an experience. First, I find the people don't speak English, they are very polite people. I remembered bila nak makan kat restaurant kat situ kena draw ikan.. nak draw benda lain takut nanti entah apa dia bagi makan. So the best bet is to eat fish. The next day bus was arranged to bring us to Airport. One more thing I remembered was that the airport was heavily guarded by army all around the perimeter of the airport. I know that it was a new airport built on rice field and the farmers were protesting to the opening of this new airport. Anyway, the fear is there when you are on foreign land. Next day reach KL , home sweet home. But, I fell in love with Japan from that short stopover. I told myself may be if I have chance I will go to Japan or stay there.

In between May and Spetember 1983, I was contemplating of either going to Japan under the Malaysian National Car Project training at Mitsubishi Motors Corporation with the order to report to Kementerian Pelajaran for appointment as Polytechnic Lecturer, the sponsor for my studies. I told myself that I want to practice first as engineer. So, I broke the contract and 'kena saman dengan KP'. In the meantime, I was also applying for Penolong Pensyarah at UTM, I was interviewed by Tan Sri Ainuddin Wahid. I got the job but I did not get KP release. Or the release came a bit too late, in fact one week after I left for Osaka, Japan. My mom called me and asked me to come back. I didn't want to since I was already in Japan starting to learn Japanese and enjoying the new language and the new country. It was early October 1983. I decided to continue with Japan and Proton, which is my first employer. Pergi Jepun kena sign contract 5 tahun ooh. I still remember, asking Kakak Rozlina who was taking care of us P2 trainees (13 of us) to go to Japan. Nak sign ke contract .. finally sign jugak. So Japan here I come.

The first 6 weeks was spent on studying Nihon Go. Mainichi Nihon Go O Benkyo shimasu. Taihen Muzukahi saisho ni, Mainichi sanju no tango o oboimashita. shiken mo maininchi ga arimasu. sore wa taihen ne. Shikashi Ganbattemasu. Issyokenme yarimasu. Sore o Nihon no kangae-kata. (Translation - Enam minggu pertama belajar Nihon Go -bahasa Jepun. Tiap hari belajar bahasa Jepun. Susah betul mula-mula. Tiap hari 30 perkataan kena hafal, ujian pun tiap hari, itu yang sakit tu, Tetapi Cekal dan Usaha. Buat dengan sungguh-sungguh. Itu lah cara fikir Jepun)

After that we were sent to Mitsubishi Mizushima, terus ke dalam kilang kereta dan memang belajar buat kereta dari A sampai (hampir) Z. Macam orang gila, belajar buat kereta dalam bahasa Jepun dalam masa satu tahun. Inilah pet project Mahathir. Me and my friend Aris in Body Assembling / welding had to learn as fast as possible all the things so that when we go back we can transfer that knowledge to our Malaysian workers through training, education and operations.

Japan is such a wonderful country, except may be for some of its problems like suicide. Well, tell me if there is a country with no problems. I just admire the people. They have values which are 'very Islamic' yet they are not Muslims. We are Muslims but we have 'non Islamic values'. I think Hassan Al Banna saw this same phenomena in foreign country he visited or studied. Lessons learnt is to learn and pick up values from different cultures. Wallahu 'alam

Kualiti Individu Muslim

Kualiti seorang insan dalam Islam sangat jelas. Ia berpaksikan atas iman, 'amal, taqwa dan ihsan. Beriman atas 6 perkara dalah wajib dimana ia menjadi batu asas atau 'foundation' sebelum apa-apa perbuatan tindakan kerja dan 'amal soleh dapat dilakukan. Percaya kepada Allah bermaksud keyakinan Ketauhidan Pencipta, Pemerintah, Penguasa, dan Raja Di Dunia ini dan Di Yaumul Akhirah. Keyakinan akan perkara ghaib termasuk percaya hari akhirat, malaikat, 'qada dan qadar, adanya rasul (memang ghaib pasal kita tak dapat bertemu Nabi Muhammad, Nabi Isa, Nabi Ibrahim - tetapi kita yakin mereka itu telah wujud satu ketika dahulu untuk menyampaikan risalah Islam dan tauhid) dan kitab termasuk Quran. Rukun iman 6 perkara. Iman itu asas atau fundamental.

Lepas tu kualiti insan akan dapat diukur dengan melihat sejauh mana dia beramal dan yang pokok dan utama adalah melaksanakan Rukun Islam yang Lima itu. Kita wajib Ucap dua kalimah syahadah bukan ucap saja tapi yakin seyakin-yakin 'La Ila ha Illallah Muhammadurasullullah - Tidak Ada Tuhan Melainkan Dia Allah Sahaja dan Muhammad itu PesuruhNya) . Kualiti insan Islam yang paling utama harus diberi perhatian hari ini dalam masyarakat kita adalah dalam bab / perkara mengerjakan Solat 5 waktu sehari semalam. Subuh, Zuhur, Asar, Maghrib dan Isyak . Ini yang sedang di hadapi oleh anak kita, diri kita, adik beradik kita, kawan-kawan kita. Solat ini jika ditinggal, kita akan ditimpa musibah, kita akan mendapat 'azab, cahaya akan hilang dari muka orang yang tidak solat. Itu tak cerita lagi balasan neraka. Minta jauh lah.. Marilah kita bertaubat. mari kita nasihat menasihati satu sama lain.
Jangan kita jadi antara orang yang lalai tinggalkan solat. Jangan kita leka dengan keindahan material dunia yang penuh dengan hiburan, 'shopping mall', kedai-makan, futsal, kereta modified kita, hatta kerja kita di pejabat yang terlalu banyak dan mendesak hingga kita alpa. Jangan langgar waktu solat contohnya Zuhr dipejabat. Asar di dalam kereta terperangkap sesak jalan, terutamanya di KL ini. Apa kata kita rancang waktu solat Asar sebelum balik. Maghrib dan Isyak why not solat kat Masjid dekat rumah.. Ada hadith kata 'Tidak dikira solat (dirumah) bagi mereka yang berjiran dengan masjid. Maknanya kena solat di masjid/surau. Marilah kita penuhkan Masjid dan Surau dengan solat berjumaah (kaum adamlah aula). Ganjarannya 27 kali ganda, tak mahu ke, pahala 'bonus'. Jangan nak minta bonus hujung tahun aje. Saya rasa solat ini sangat penting... dan sama-sama kita ingat mengingati.

Rukun Islam zakat, puasa, dan haji... Haji , susah nak cerita. kena pergi sendiri. Seronok dan 'sedap' nya haji itu. Ia adalah pengorbanan jiwa, harta dan masa. Duit banyak dalam bank, kereta besar boleh beli, rumah besar boleh beli, kenapa tak pergi haji.. Pergilah pergilah.. nescaya kita akan dapat sesuatu yang luarbiasa, dan mesti sentiasa doa agar Allah sentiasa beri kita petunjuk dalam mencari keredaanNya. Nak masuk Syurga itu bukan atas berapa banyaknya 'amal tetapi ia adalah dari reda Allah. Kalau Allah reda dengan 'amalan kita walau sedikit pun.... tapi syarat kena buatlah semua seperti Solat 5x.... Syurga itu milik Allah. Jadi, jangan kita solat untuk syurga, kita solat kerana kita Hamba ... 'Aisha pernah bertanya Rasullullah kenapa Baginda masih juga solat malam hingga bengkak kakinya, padahal baginda maksum.. ..dan baginda juga beristighfar kurang-kurang 70 kali sehari semalam... Baginda jawab ' Apakah tidak boleh aku jadi Hamba yang Syukur".. Itu Nabi tuan-tuan.. gerenti syurga. saya pesan pada diri saya juga, Insaplah, tingkatkan 'amalan, dan saya pesan kepada pembaca blog ini dan kawan semua, doakan moga kita semua mendapat taufik hidayah dan juga mendapat penghabisan yang baik (husnul khotimah) dalam penghidupan kita. Amin.

Tugas Headboy SMSJ 1978

I have been writing serious stuffs until now. I think I should actually tell my life story. Randomly. In term of time and event. I will write about my Form 5 experience in Sains Johor, SMSJ. I was actually the Head prefect , the first head boy (Saadiah Ahmad was the Head Girl) selected from the Form 5. I remembered that year there was no Upper Six. So, the HM, at that time Cikgu Hamzah Rashid appointed me as HB and Sudin (Shamsuddin Md Dom) the Secretary. We were seen as the 'bad guys' by the students just because we had to enforce all rulings in this boarding school. Common 'kesalahan' was curi barang, hisap rokok, bising masa prep, apa lagi, etc. I remembered every Sunday during assembly, I have to stand in front of everybody, I will shout "Sekolah. Baris Sedia" when the HM enter the school hall. There was 'public caning' at that time. I don't remember now who got the whack. There are things that you tend to forget because you 'forgive and forget' not keeping in the heart or 'dendam' business. To me I was doing my job, as best as I can, and if I need to scold anyopne I will do so. Thousand apologies. One thing I remembered till today is during prefect meeting, I think I went overboard and scolded especially the Girls Prefect, (for not doing their job well) this I will apologise , Fati, Hafizah, who else, I know that I was 'garang' at that time. In fact I am also at times garang till today but have mellowed a lot. I learned the hard way of being a leader at a very young age. But, I have no regrets because I have been given many opportunities to lead throughout my life in undergraduate, and in my career. I thank SMSJ for giving me that chance.
There are also stories which I will not forget, such as being reprimanded by Cikgu Hamzah Rashid about 'why students are wearing 'tudung', why this dakwah movement?' If you all remembered masa kita form 5 dulu kita sangat ketagihkan ilmu Islam, so we seek to find truth and we found it. As Headboy, I have to defend some girls for putting on 'tudung'. Anyone remembered the HM asking some of them to remove it, Hafizah ingat? Myself and Sudin pergi mengadap HM dan terpaksa backing pelajar. In fact I questioned him back, 'Apa salahnya pakai tudung - tutup aurat" He did not answer. Probably he was in a position where the authorities (Kementerian) need some answers as to why the dakwah movement is getting much interests.....

to be continued

Hari Anugerah Cemerlang UTM

Today UTM had its Citra Karisma. Well it is the Anugerah Kecemerlangan for staff at at levels, as well as in recognition of achievements in various aspects in a university including publication, consultancy, research, teaching, sports, community service, safety, IT, and the ultimate Anugerah Kualiti Naib Canselor (AKNC). I was invited to the occasion not that I received an award but as one of the member for evaluating the AKNC. Perpustakaan Sultanah Zanariah (PSZ) was declared the winner and I think they deserved it.
Reward and recognition is part of the process to achieve organizational excellence. People, whether individuals or as teams/unit/faculty must be given due recognition. I am proud that my Faculty of Mechanical Engineering emerged as winner for Anugerah Penerbitan, FKKKSA has always been our close rival for this award. Congratulations to all award and also to FKM.

Business and Organizational Excellence

What do you mean by Business Excellence? The idea of Business Excellence within the context of quality mangement resulted from advances and compilation of concepts and philosophies that demand organizations to become, not only profitable, but excellent in everything they do. In their struggle to deliver, produce and provide high quality products, services, or projects, organizations must capitalize on the limited resources that they have or will obtain. They must use/work on/employ/deploy their resources to ensure continuity and sustainability (i.e. survive and the intiatives continue to work).

One important resource or asset is the people. Not only companies must locate, select , recruit the talents from the global pool of human beings, they must provide the avenue and opportunities that the talented workers are able to perform at the level desired by the organization, producing the desired outcomes, results, performance, as agreed by the parties involved. And at the same time providing a caring and emotionally stable environment which the person can work.

I was in Port Dickson on Saturday and Sunday 25th and 26th April 2009, participating in a workshop on a new Master of Science in Engineering Business Management programme with industry and academics brainstorming (with some heated arguments) about the subject matters, the contents, the outcomes and the expected product out of the program. When discussing about the program outcomes, one guy from Proton pointed out the need to incorporate the soft elements missing in many academic programmes. It is about injecting the elements of not only IQ but EQ, SQ and CQ in the programme. How it will be done is another matter (or another workshop), but they must be taken into account. The industry is telling the academia that we need to put EQ and SQ in our engineering business subjects/modules. Technical matters are already enough, managerial issues are more than sufficient. We need the 'human inner elements' through the inculcation of ethics, moral, integrity, spiritual, emotional values and principles to the leaders and managers so as to ensure sustainability of business and organizational excellence. This is the critical success factor. Greed has destroyed the US economy and infected all countries including our beloved country, Malaysia.

In short, Business Excellence is not only technology, management related but most importantly the 'INSAN' and 'IHSAN' as defined in the teachings of Islam. Think about it..... or Read about it.

Lean Thinking

Lean means no waste. Slim and fit. Developed by Japan TPS and the likes, I remembered the 3 Mu - Muri, Muda Mura when I was training in MMC, Mizushima in 1983/84. Japanese organizations have been practising lean for a very very long time. Only recently that many companies (manufacturing and services) are hopping on the bandwagon of 'Lean Manufacturing' 0r 'Lean Enterprise'. Now it is quite a big issue in Malaysia. Last year, I went to Jeffrey Liker's two days course on TPS organised by Proton and it was enlightening.
Lean is a philosophy as well as a system which requires everyone to contribute their ideas in eliminating wastes in everything that we do and think. Just try to remove or reduce waiting time, idle time, travelling time, etc. Or even overproduction is a waste since we are making a product that no one needs at the moment. That is why the Toyota system is designed to be flexible and it is based on a pull system. Only make what the customer request. Imagine trying to make the system perfect.... just like a masterpiece Swiss watch. So, the next time you go to a bank, a hospital, or any commercial or government service for that matter, try to observe the system in working. In fact I found a book titled 'Lean Hospitals' published 2009 at the KL International Book Fair now on till 26th April 2009. In Europe and US, they are already making their health care systems lean. So, make Lean our way of life and this is what Islam has taught us. Pembaziran adalah amalan syaitan (Wasting is an act of the satan). So try not to waste.

bijaksana

bertindak bijak.
apakah yang dikatakan bijak?
yang dikatakan bijak itu ialah berpindah dari keadaan yang baik kepda keadaan yang lebih baik. what ever...apa saja...kalau dulu banyak sangat bercakap..kurangkan sedikit bercakap...bijaklah tu. kalau dulu kita gagal dan rendah markahnya..kini kita mendapat markah ujian yang lebih tinggi..maka bijak lah tu.

dalam meningkatkan kualiti langkah bijak dan pemikiran bijaksana amat perlu. dengan langkah bijak dan pemikiran bijaksana sajalah akan menyerlahkan kualiti pada apa yang kita lakukan.

salam

KPIs

Key Performance Indicators is the new word and concept. The new word has evolved form earlier concept of Management by Objectives where objectives equals KPIs. At the end of the year, your immediate supervisor (boss) will evaluate your performance based on the agreed targets. Then (supposedly) you will be rewarded based on the outcomes that you have achieved.
The current system is ' no time limit' do work until finish even if it takes 24 hours. then I measure you e.g.

Read the book - tell me what the book says
versus you have 4 hours , tell me what the book says

You have 8 hours to do the work, then work - who gets there first gets the reward.

Hypothethical Case
40 hours per week (in fact less minus Friday time)
teach 2 subjects which consists of
contact hours = 3 hrs/wk x 2 = 6 hrs
grading and preparing = 2 x 3 hrs/wk = 6 hrs
supervising PSM students = 1hr x 4 students = 4 hrs
supervising phd students/master research 9 students x 1hr = 9 hrs
supervising master by course 2 students x 1 hr = 2 hrs
reading manuscripts (proposals, chapter writeups, paper publications, etc) = 2 x 5 = 10 hours
committee members, managing programs = 1 x 5 = 5 hours
what about preparing research reports, examiners role for phd and master (internal and external). may be 5 hours average per week.
and now they (who they. Dont know) are talking about 3 journals per year, 70 k grants, and others...
Employer is having a nice time not getting people who openly fight their rights.. as the malay saying goes... Reda dan Syukur dengan apa yang ada...

not finished... still thinking

Quality Management

How can you produce or make a product that people need.
1. Design with end in mind, i.e. acceptable product quality level (function, form, fit) and not forgetting design for processibility and manufacturability and maintainability - easy to make and maintain the product (e.g. automobile)
2. Produce it based on standardised work by qualified workers
3. Prepare equipments and machineries that can achieve the desired effficiency and effectiveness - low downtime, high uptime, high throughput
4. Equipment selection and maintenance system
5. Quality suppliers through selection, control and to remove poor performing suppliers - so purchasing quality materials
6. Proper and suitable production planning, progress control and logistics systems - internal and external to the producer.

what did I leave behind ? All these can be viewed as Quality Processes. R and D integrate with Manufacturing, supported by Plant Engineering and Maintenance, serviced by PPC and Procurement, with Marketing and Sales getting customers requirements right. Not to forget the Human Capital doing their job in getting the best people to the organization. After that ..... work hard...... monitor .... then Improve and...

Quality of Roads

Last week I went to UTM Skudai for my weekly lecture and also attended a meeting for deciding the winner for the UTM AKNC (VC Quality Award). On the way from Senai to Persada, where the meeting took place, the airport taxi driver (a Chinese about my age) talked about why flash flood occur in JB. He gave a laymen's reasoning on why it occurs. He complained on how small the size/width of the drains are, and also he emphasised in his broken Malay that 'rumah makin banyak buat tapi itu longkang sama saja - kasi besar/kasi dalam lah) literally translated as -more houses are being built (around JB there are many housing estates), but the drain are still of the same (size) - why don't make it bigger/deeper. I thought to myself, even this 'taxi driver' can think of how to resolve the problems. I just cannot understand why those who have been paid to do the job to think such as the engineer/s and planners at local council, contractors, consultants/architects cannot think like this taxi driver. I guess people are so tight up with their busy schedule that they don't solve these problems faced by the people, and mind you it is our own people, i.e. Malaysians that we are going to help at the end of the day.
Then how does it relate to quality. Well, I have always said that quality of construction can begin right from design step. During the design and planning stage, those responsible, be it technical peole and policy makers, must put the people's interest first, and MUST pro-activley design for the future use, not just for immediate solutions. THINK ABOUT IT.
I have not talked about poorly maintained drains - all clogged up with rubbish and sand. Don't tell me the taxpayer will have to clear the stucked drain by himself, is it not the job of the local municipal to check and rectify these drains. DO YOUR JOB MEN.

Designing Quality

High quality products and services must start from proper planning. Quality should be designed into products and services, taking into consideration customer requests and requirements. The design stage involves many steps all focused on confirming, verifying all new methods, technologies, materials and functions that has been proposed and developed. They must be tried and tested before the new design can go through the production stage. Wastes are produced from defective designs that are passed on to production, and vendors. It is acknowledged here that it is not an easy process, there are difficulties and all must comply with legal and commercial requirements. Come to think of it, achieving high quality products through good design must be set as a challenge to all organizations to survive especially in this difficult times.

Design Quality into Goods and Services

Quality in design means ensuring you have captured and incorporate all your customer needs from your products and services. Customer can be internal, external, user, maintenance people, public authorities, enforcing agencies/bodies, etc. Quality must be built during design stage. Design must ensure products are 'easy' to be produced, 'easy' to be checked and inspected, easy nice, fun, good for the user to use, and does not pose major problems (safety, usability, performance, etc) to all people who will come into contact throughout the life of the product/goods/services. Maintenance and after sales personnel must be able to disassemble and reassemble the components/systems of the products easily and time desired. Spare parts to replace broken or damaged components must also be made available so that repair time is shortened and customer is happy.

I don't buy a car to be put at the service centres for repair or waiting for spare parts to reach before repair work can be done.
Design for manufacturability is an aspect needed to be learned and applied by engineers. Construction industry has not advanced much in term of design for constructability since a number of infrastructure projects have faced with structural and quality defects even after it has been used for quite some time. The MRR highway in KL is a case in point that I can remember.

My suggestion is Think about How to Build Quality INTO all our Artifacts/Products/ and Services. It is difficult, I know, but, tell me what is easy in life?

Quality in Teaching

Someone ask me to write about the quality of teaching in local university. Many people has the perception that the quality of teaching in IPTA is average, not high. I have been involved in teaching various subjects at both undergraduate and postgraduate. I can talk for myself and what I believe in, The quality of teaching as viewed by students (customers) are being evaluated by students every semester for every subject the lecturer teaches, in major aspects including - Teaching Delivery, Preparation, Use of Aids, Quality of Assessment - tests, quizes, exams, etc. Therefore, lecturers (and management) will know how 'good' the lecturer is based on this semesterly evaluation. The evaluation can also be used for promotion, yearly award, best teacher purposes. For example, if I got 4.34 for subject SMM2343, and for that semester the Faculty's average is 4.25, and the university's average is 4.55, then it shows my standing. Individuals can then be ranked based on this students' perception of quality of teaching by the particular lecturer. However, the lecturer's role is to facilitate learning, and if the lecturer gives a 'tough set of question during tests and exams' he or she will normally be given low ratings for assessment, and if a lecturer is 'strict' in terms of grading, class attendence, etc. he or she will normally face the same consequences. These are from my own personal experience.

Quality of teaching is also affected by many other factors such as the availability (and in good working condition of lab equipments, computing facilities to aid in the teaching and learning process. Obviously the lecturer's knowledge is the most important component. I think quality of teaching can also be observed by the level of motivation and commitment shown and expressed during lectures, and in the learning process. And to me, management commitment in the provision of adequate resources, and opportunity for the employee (read as lecturer) to perform well is vital. Same as in any other organization, management must provide the necessary motivation, support, facilities, resources, and monetary rewards for the professors to give his best. ...... It is not easy.... I have not touched on the Islamic perspective. Quality teachers come from the inside... Faith.. Iman.. work for Allah and not for Any other Creatures including man.

Reliability

Quality of data one gets depends on a number of factors. How do you know that a sample of 2 from 2000 over students that you have taught represent a 'true' picture of one behavior. Obviously, 2/2000 is only 0.1% of the population. So, the results surely cannot be conclusive. This is an aspect called sampling and it is especailly important in research, and probably in life as well. So, the next time someone tells you that 'that person' is not up to 'standards' please ask yourself. Is the numberof samples representative, sufficient, valid and reliable. Reliability can be checked thorugh content validity, construct and criterion validity. An one more thing try not to generalise from unfounded figures and 'facts'.

Quality in health

I just recovered from dengue fever. I was hospitalized from Monday 19th Jan till Sunday 25th January 2009, confirmed one of the 1200+ dengue cases in Selangor. Where I live? Batu 12 Jln Cheras Kajang. There seems to be no medicine for dengue, only this 'water' drips into my body and the '100Plus drink' which I took a lot. My lowest platelet count went down to 11,000 on Wednesday in between a count of 18k, 23k, moving up to 54k on Friday, 100k on Saturday, and 160k on Sunday. How I got it? I don't know. I can only guess. Long story short, I just moved in to my wife's late father's house after some minor repair works on the piping and roofing. The kampung house has a big yard in front of it, and the old fence is grown with 'lalang' and other growth. I just want to clean it up, but I forgot that mosquitoes come out during 'senja' time. Well, as what we Malays / Muslim say, 'dah nak kena', . This dengue is nothing to be played around with. It is dangerous, and I can still feel how weak my body was when I was in hospital. The dirty drains, I can't find dirty drains, the 'air bertakung' none. But, I did notice the guy who did the fogging on the Thurdsday evening before I got the fever, fogging intensely in one of the 'longkang pecah' in the main road. That night, there were many mosquitoes in the house. I think they have 'disturbed' the mosquitoes nest and set free to attack as many people as possible. I was one of the unlucky victim. Anyway, I have somewhat recovered, and I am now (at least in this moment of time) very conscious (read as afraid) of mosquitoes, and also the unkempt bushes and growths surrounding homes and all premises. I guess, the government must also try and do their part by 'fixing the broken drains, pipings, etc. Local authiorities must organise health campaign and 'gotong royong' to clean our living space. And, also please get rid of all the foreign illegal immigrants as they are a menace and nuisance to our society. They don't care, they are here to 'just make money', we 'have to make a living and make our life livable'. As for me I will ensure that quality of environment will always be assured to ensure quality of life and healthy Malaysian citizens.

Total Quality

The word total in total quality management signifies the ultimate importance about managing quality by all organizations. Management must not only be committed to the quality efforts, they must be well versed about everything in 'quality knowledge', they must lead in the struggle to reach organizational excellence, and they must provide all the neccessary resources, be it human, equipment, finance, or even time, to ensure success. Not only success but also to sustain the process. Within the TQM principles, oranization must design all their processes, execute all their processes (also related to value cahin and supply chain) that will result in quality products and services to the customers and end users. I believe that quality must start from you, the employee, and mind you the CEO is also 'an employee'. Think about it. Deming once said 'Survival is not compulsory'