Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Employment, Productivity and Industrial Relations, Salaseini Daunabuna has commended the role of Quality Circles (QC) in educating and training the staff through upgrading of their knowledge and skills.

While speaking at the Internal Quality Circle Convention (IQCC) organised by Fiji National University’s (FNU) National Training and Productivity Centre (NTPC), Ms Daunabuna said QCs in industries were known to increase productivity, improve quality, boost employee morale and served as a human resource development tool.

She said by harnessing potential of new technology, innovation, education and up skilling the workforce, productivity would be lifted, moving towards a more sustainable and productive economy.

Ms Daunabuna furher added that this was something the Government of the day was working towards.

She urge trainees to work smarter and make better use of the resources to ensure equal distribution of the benefits across society.

“To sustain productivity, it must start in your own back yard, your organisation, and your own people,” Ms Daunabuna said.

“We must sustain our own productivity by learning the new changes towards human needs, technology as well as taking on new challenges that will benefit not only the institution but the nation as a whole.

“Be innovative, think outside the box, conduct research and upgrade your skills and education.

“The rationale of the quality circle is to simply sustain and foster collaborative work, include leadership qualities among the staffs and to develop staffs participation in day to day activities.”

Meanwhile, FNU Vice Chancellor Professor Nigel Healey said this year’s IQCC theme sustainable productivity meant looking for ways of making and delivering goods and services without damaging our environment.

Mr Healey said sustainable productivity covered a range of subjects from interacting better with customers, developing innovative products, creating a more enriching workplace for employees, investing in  the development of greater staff competence, engaging in the local communities and creating safer, more efficient products and services with reduced environmental impact.

The vice-chancellor said activities like IQCC broke barriers that could hinder creativity, teamwork and innovation.

“The Circle allows employees to bounce ideas off one another and facilitate a freer exchange of ideas. The role of the Internal Quality Circles is to encourage the managers to seek advice and guidance from everyone, including the most junior and least powerful stuff,” he said.

“It is equally about giving junior staff a license to challenge the status quo and ask why things cannot be done differently and better. In an internal quality circle, everyone is equal and everyone is a member of a team trying to achieve a common purpose.”

The QC circle idea was initiated by Japanese Doctor Kaoru Ishikawa and was formally organised in 1962 to get organisations to encourage team building and to prepare employer and employees to meet the challenges of the changing time and condition.

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