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What is continuing professional development?
Published in Greg Watts, Norman Watts, CPD in the Built Environment, 2021
Research and development in the field of professional development has been around for over 150 years and focused mainly in the education sectors. The term ‘continuous improvement’ gained prominence in post-war 1950s which saw the reconstruction of large economies such as the likes of Japan’s automotive manufacturer Toyota. The company implement a concept known as ‘Kaizen’ in its production process. The meaning of Kaizen is ‘improvement’ or ‘continuously improve’. Known as continual improvement process (CIP), this is an ongoing iterative effort to improve the system or process for an improved product or service.
TQM application by client organisations in Hong Kong
Published in HKIE Transactions, 2018
Andrew W T Lau, Raymond T Aoieong, S L Tang
The full-scale implementation of the 109 improvement recommendations contained in the CIRC report has, since the early 2000s, initiated the transformation of quality culture in the Hong Kong construction industry, such that the previous quality assurance culture has gradually been replaced by the TQM philosophy. Some very critical TQM elements including continual improvement, process management and customer management are emphasised in the ISO 9001 quality management standards (2000, 2008 and 2015 versions), compliance with which is required for all government construction related departments and all government contracts for design and construction. These industry reform activities and mandatory quality system requirements have driven the construction stakeholders in Hong Kong to adopt the TQM philosophy and integrate TQM elements into their daily management procedures. Client organisations have made an effort to effectively manage their human and material resources so that other stakeholders are satisfied with the project planning at an early stage and the project management at the design and construction stages.