Award-winning management academic to give inaugural lecture

A top business academic at the University of Bradford will give his inaugural lecture tomorrow (Thursday 2 June 2005) after being awarded two sought-after accolades.



Professor Mohamed Zairi, head of the European Centre for Total Quality Management at the Universityís School of Management, was awarded the Juran Chair in Total Quality Management by the Juran Foundation in conjunction with the e-TQM College - the Dubai-based electronic educational institution that has pioneered e-learning in the Middle East region.

Professor Zairi will be making his first lecture as holder of the Juran Chair in the Cartwright Lecture Theatre in the Universityís School of Management (off Emm Lane, Bradford) at 6pm in front of students and academics. He will speak on the ëmyth, mystery, marvel and miracleí of total quality management.

Professor Zairi, who is also dean of the eTQM College in Dubai, is an adviser to many large organisations and government bodies and is keen to bridge the gap between academic thinking and the application of practical solutions.

Professor Zairi said: ìTotal Quality Management as an emerging science is still at its infancy. The world has just started to benefit from its application and we are still scratching at the surface in terms of understanding its scientific value and its usefulness to society at large, the business community and the whole of humanity.

ìAs we enter a new knowledge-based era, access to information and the level of sophistication that customers will have, will put pressure on everyone to get things done in the right way and right first time. Shoddiness will no longer be tolerated and comprising quality for financial benefits will mean the start of the end for businesses that do not appreciate what quality is.î

The Juran Chair was established by the Government of Dubai through the e-TQM College in 2004 in honour of quality guru Dr Joseph Juran. Dr Juran is credited with adding the human dimension to quality, broadening it from its statistical origin to what today is known as Total Quality Management.

The award of the Chair is made with advice from the Collegeís advisory board and is supported by a consortium of organisations led primarily by the e-TQM College.

Professor Zairi also won this yearís Harrington/Ishikawa medal for ëexceptional adherence to quality principles and leadership in the quality movement throughout the Asia-Pacificí recently.

Professor Arthur Francis, Dean of the School of Management, said: ìThese richly deserved honours confirm Mohamedís standing as an internationally recognised authority on benchmarking and performance measurement.

ìHe is no ëivory towerí academic and has demonstrated time and again how total quality management can improve the performance of large and small organisations across the world. We are delighted to have him here in Bradford.î

Professor Zairi will receive the Harrington/Ishikawa Medal at the Asia Pacific Quality Organisations annual conference at Hanoi, Vietnam, in October later this year.