Happenings @ TQMS

13th JRD QV Awards, 2007 Vol. 31, 2007

‘Raise The Bar’ – A guiding philosophy, a vision, a way of life for JRD Tata. This very vision is

inculcated in every member of the Tata family as they strive to outdo expectations and go to the

next level. Hence, it was only apt to use this motto as the theme for the 13th JRD QV Awards

held on the birthday of our beloved JRD – 29th July, at the Jamshed Bhabha Theatre, NCPA,

Mumbai.

The panels lined up in the walkway gave guests a glimpse of

JRD’s incessant quest for perfection through various incidents

and quotes from his personal and professional life. Master of

Ceremonies for the evening, the affable Rustom Vesavewala,

Vice President – Learning & Development, Indian Hotels,

welcomed the guests and Tata colleagues from 25 locations

across India who were connected via live telecast & web-cast.

The evening got off to an auspicious beginning, with the

Group Chairman, Ratan Tata, lighting the customary divo.

In his Welcome Address, Dr. J J Irani, Chairman, TQMS,

expressed his satisfaction at the TBEM movement gaining

ground beyond Indian shores with Global Network Forums in

the USA and the UK, with more such forums being added in

South Africa and Singapore. He noted the increased level of

participation from the senior management and thanked the

CEOs and COOs for their active support and involvement in

the movement.

JRD QV Award

Tata Metaliks

Tata Chemicals

Tinplate

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Sustained Excellence

TCS

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Active Promotion

TACO, IPD

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13th JRD QV Awards, 2007 Vol. 31, 2007

Tata Asset Management

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Highest Delta

Tata Motors, CVBU

Tata Metaliks

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External Assessment 2007 –

Highlights: o Number of

companies winning the JRD QV Award: Three – the largest number of JRD QV Award winners in a single year

o Average Score in

Cycle 1: 567 – the highest average score since 12 years

o Number of

applicant companies – the highest ever in the EA process: Cycle 1 – 17 Cycle 2 – 27

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Dr. Irani emphasised the importance of innovation and encouraged the practice of awarding not

only those innovation initiatives which were successful, but also those innovative initiatives

which had failed though they were novel ideas. Dr. Irani also urged all the assessors and CEOs

to give ‘safety’ due prominence in the assessments.

JRD’s legendary fondness for children was celebrated with the Tata World Children’s

Competition. This year, competitions were held across three categories – Brush Strokes for

drawing, Kaleidoscope for collage and Write Stuff for essays – for children ranging from 5 to 16

years. The paintings, collages and essays added life, colour and imagination to the evening,

with the children proudly walking away with the awards.

It was an emotional moment when special guest for the evening Dr. R A Mashelkar recounted

his first experience with the Tata Group when, in 1960, he got the Sir Dorab Tata Scholarship of

Rs. 60 per month for 6 years – which enabled him to continue his education. Dr. Mashelkar

commended the dignity with which the Tata Group conducted business and observed that the

Tatas had discovered Corporate Social Responsibility long before it became a buzzword in

corporate circles.

Talking about innovation, Dr. Mashelkar observed that

the Tatas were always at the forefront of innovation and

cited the example of TCS, which was started in 1968

with four people, at a time when the World Wide Web

and the giants of the software industry were not even

existent. Had that risk not been taken, today’s ambition

of TCS in the global top ten with ten billion dollar

revenues by 2010 would not have been possible.

Dr. Mashelkar ended his speech on a poignant note by imagining hypothetical questions that

JRD could have asked today if he were alive. Questions like – Why does the order of the

greatest economic powers in 2050 have to be US, China and India…why can’t the order be

reversed? Why does TCS have a dream of becoming top 10 by 2010, why not number 1? Why

is Tata Steel 6th in the world, why not number 1? When will it be that we will be the greatest,

number 1 intellectual property producers in the world?

Dr. Mashelkar’s inspiring address was followed by a

presentation on the Assessment Outcomes by Mr. Sunil

Sinha, CEO, TQMS. The presentation started with a film

made by Mr. Raghunath Kale, Vice President – Internal

Communication, Indian Hotels. The theme of the film ‘Living

Dangerously’ urged employees of the Tata Group to take

risks because the ‘tried path is the tired path’ and the

companies should be constantly looking for their “leopards”

who are the drivers of growth in the organization.

In his presentation, Mr. Sinha noted how crises had driven some organizations within the Tata

Group to strive for excellence and that organizations ought to constantly create a sense of

crisis – a positive danger. Mr. Sinha elucidated the need for positive danger with the statement

– “If we do not create or invent our positive danger, then the danger will eventually find us”.

Mr. Sinha summed up with a presentation on the Tata Knowledge Chain, an initiative which

strives to strengthen the culture of knowledge-sharing and benchmarking within the Tata

Group.

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13th JRD QV Awards, 2007 Vol. 31, 2007

Winning through

Customer

Responsiveness

Avaya GlobalConnect's special initiative – a knowledge portal on Customer Responsiveness (CR), centres around three key pillars – the CEO Forum, the Customer Responsiveness Awards and the Customer Responsiveness Practices. While the CEO Forum and the Customer Responsiveness Awards were launched about two years back, the third part of the portal viz. the Customer Responsiveness Business Practices is being launched on 1

st

September 2007. Some of the Business Practices will be featured in the Corporate Dossier of ‘The Economic Times’ periodically. The Customer Responsive Business Practices submitted on the site will also be eligible to participate in the CR Practices contest, the winners of which will be selected by an independent panel of Jury members. For details, kindly visit - http://www.avayaglobalconnect.com/crpractices

--------------------------------- We extend a warm welcome to Mr. Sudhir Laturkar, who is now a part of the TQMS family. Sudhir joins us from the Mahindra Group. ---------------------------------

The sense of achievement was palpable in Group

Chairman Mr. Tata’s address, as he reflected on the

journey of the JRD QV and TBEM movement – from the

time it started out as a tribute to JRD’s commitment to

excellence as a way of life, to now when it has had

widespread impact on the Group Companies. Mr. Tata

urged everyone to continuously set higher standards and

not be complacent about success. While applauding the

Group for its innovative practices, Mr. Tata said that what

he would ideally like to see is innovation leading to

disruptive technologies. Mr. Tata’s thoughts were

captured in his statement, “Great innovation has been built on that, questioning the

unquestioned, dwelling into areas, which others had considered impossible, and I have

really come to believe that given the right circumstances nothing really is impossible.”

Mr. Tata also stressed on empowering young people to dream and harnessing the power of

those dreams and ideas, however crazy they may seem – because great ideas have their roots

in strange places, happen at strange times and may come to the most unassuming people.

Mr. Tata pointed out that the challenge for everyone in managerial positions was to create the

environment of encouragement and motivation. Mr. Tata ended his address by quoting the

President of Toyota Motor Corporation – “What we want to be is the best motorcar company,

being the largest is incidental.” Mr. Tata urged everyone present to follow this paradigm and

raise the bar in everything they do.

With these words echoing in everyone’s minds, the evening of celebration, learning and

inspiration continued into the night over cocktails and dinner.

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13th JRD QV Awards, 2007 Vol. 31, 2007

Our Assessors