Importance of pursuing excellence stressed

Acting President of Fiji Ratu Epeli Nailatikau has underlined the importance of pursuing excellence at all levels to achieve greater productivity and profitability.

He said those achieving excellence must be recognised and rewarded.

“Fiji needs a workforce that understands that our competitiveness as a nation is contingent upon the increased productivity of every enterprise and that each individual is contributing in every way possible to make this happen,” he said, speaking at the 11^th annual Fiji Business Excellence Awards Night held at Novotel in Suva on October 3.

He said the current economic downturn, loss of jobs and the resultant hardships must be considered as challenges to human endeavour and ability.

“We must not allow these factors to deter us from scaling greater heights in our quest to raise the standard of living for every person, every family, every organisation and ultimately making Fiji a more vibrant economy.

“Let the pessimists say what they want to say; we the optimists must forge ahead and continue to work better at what we do, be the best that we can be and bring back patriotism and rally together to realise our dreams,” he said.

Ratu Nailatikau said the Training and Productivity Authority of Fiji had launched the ‘Business Excellence Awards’ scheme to motivate Fiji based organisations, especially small and medium enterprises and the cottage industry to lift their performance.

Such awards will create a quality culture in every facet of the society, he said.

But it was equally important to analyse whether such celebrations had an impact on other organisations and whether they felt motivated to achieve similar milestones and contribute to economic progress, he said.

“If we can all boldly say that our awards system has had a positive impact on others, we could then be convinced that we are moving in the right direction, taking the right decisions and making the right investments.

“While only a handful of companies will win awards, others must challenge themselves to improving their productivity and profitability and re-examine their systems and processes,” he said.

The organisers added ‘Service Excellence Programme for Civil Service’ as an additional category this year. The programme uses the same framework as the Fiji Business Excellence Awards, and provides for application of good governance and business practices for the public sector companies.

“More organisations are becoming aware of the holistic nature of the framework as it focuses on every facet of an enterprise, from leadership to organisational results.

“There is also acknowledgement that involving people in the process provides them with a better understanding of their individual contributions to the organisation as  most quality gurus believe that when people are involved, they become more committed,” Ratu Nailatikau said.

The Tanoa Hotel Group (comprising a chain of six hotels in Fiji, three in New Zealand, and one each in Vanuatu and Samoa) is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Reddy Group, which won three awards for as many properties in Fiji.

The Tanoa International Hotel won the ‘Achievement to Business Excellence Award,’ while the Tanoa Plaza Hotel and the Tanoa Waterfront Hotel, individually won the ‘Commitment to Business Excellence Award.’

These categories were launched two years ago.

Among the others who picked up awards were British American Tobacco, DHL Fiji Ltd and Oceans Soaps Ltd.