Recognizing Outstanding Management Practices and Organizational Functions at the 2024 HKMA Quality Award

Hong Kong’s post-pandemic economic transition has challenged organizations to constantly improve their management competence so as to keep up with the new normal. The 2024 Hong Kong Management Association (HKMA) Quality Award continues to serve as a beacon that highlights the best examples of quality management in Hong Kong.

In view of the rapid changes and fundamental transformations in the market in the current economic climate, Dr Jacob Kam, MTR Corporation’s CEO and Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the HKMA Quality Award, stresses the importance of a high-caliber management that keeps close tabs on changing consumer habits, lifestyles and corporate cultures in order to meet consumer demands. All this calls for a reinforcement in corporate resilience, risk management, innovation culture and operational efficiency, ensuring that management can make timely adjustments and resolve problems caused by the many and varied uncertainties.

“Against a backdrop of globalization and digitalization, organizations should encourage employees to think proactively and adapt to changes; teams also need to work together to formulate flexible strategies and decision-making mechanisms in a timely manner in order to transform crises into opportunities and make continuous improvements,” observes Kam. “In this process, I can’t emphasize enough the importance of nurturing human resources that can realize their full potentials.”

At the 2024 HKMA Quality Award Dinner and Presentation Ceremony held on 14 October, the five winners of this highly-coveted award include not only big corporations but also small-and-medium sized companies.

Participating organizations were evaluated using the long-established Malcolm Baldrige Quality framework in the US under seven interrelated criteria that are essential for corporate success, including leadership; strategy; customers; measurement, analysis and knowledge management; workforce; operations; and performance.

Taking into account the unprecedented challenges faced by companies in recent years, Kam explains that more emphasis has been placed on the industry’s adaptability and resilience during the review process, including what response measures and methods were taken by the participants when facing the new normal or major challenges, and how do their financial results compare with the industry.

Overall, Kam is pleased to see that many participants regard the Quality Award as a comprehensive health check on the company’s management, from which they can benefit tremendously from the review process and the judges’ feedback.
Prof Matthew Yuen, Professor Emeritus at HKUST’s Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and Chairman of the Board of Examiners of the HKMA Quality Award, is happy to note the overwhelming response to this year’s award. He is deeply impressed by the performance of the shortlisted participants especially in innovation, training and leadership. He believes that they drive the organization forward to find their unique positioning while retaining staff and customers.

Looking ahead, Kam reveals that as Hong Kong companies extend their business into the Greater Bay Area, HKMA is studying how the Quality Award can match this trend in sync with HKMA’s vision “To be the leading professional organization advancing management excellence in Hong Kong and the Region”. HKMA is also considering setting up a category or award specifically for start-ups to help them improve management capability and achieve greater advances.