Oleh/By		:	DATO' SERI DR. MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD 
Tempat/Venue 	: 	SHANGRI-LA HOTEL, KUALA LUMPUR 
Tarikh/Date 	: 	03/11/85 
Tajuk/Title  	: 	THE OPENING OF THE 20TH. WORLD 
			MANAGEMENT CONGRESS, 




Yang Berbahagia Datuk Jaafar Husin, President of The World Council of
Management; Distinguished Guests; Ladies and Gentlemen; 

I feel honoured to be asked to address this 20th World Management
Congress, and to open it officially. To our foreign guests who have come
from all corners of the world, I would like to say 'selamat datang' to
Malaysia and I hope you will find time after this Congress to get to know
KL,as the locals call it, and this country better.

Ladies and Gentlemen, 

2. The World Council of Management cannot choose a better or more
appropriate topic than 'Managing for Excellence' for this Congress in
Kuala Lumpur. Managing for excellence seems to be on the lips of every
manager, irrespective of region, state or nationality. We are constantly
showered with books and periodicals that focus on what needs to be done to
create and attain excellence in management. Many models, principles and
prescriptions for excellence have been identified, expounded and
elaborated by academics and management consultants. But like everything
else managing for excellence is easier said than done.

3. In this context we may perhaps agree with the opinion of several
learned scholars and observers that in the present era, in this time of
global recession, it is getting tougher and not easier to achieve
excellence. Today the business environment is increasingly characterised
by intensified domestic and global competition, economic uncertainty,
accelerated technological breakthrough, constantly shifting markets,
fundamental changes in consumer behaviour and the alternating call for
liberal trade and protectionism. Our own diligence and efforts can easily
be frustrated or negated by the selfish counter-actions and policies of
others. The only thing that is certain is uncertainty.

4. But then managers who can only manage under fixed conditions are not
truly managers. The real managers are those who can forecast and foresee
changes, who can meet them and overcome them. It is during uncertain
conditions that the best qualities of the managers are tried and
tested. It is then that their ability to manage for excellence will show
up.

5. And so despite the prevailing bad times we need not be over-pessimistic
or give in passively nor seek excuses or hurl accusations. There is an
even greater need now to be positive, to look for opportunities and to
manage them to our advantage. In fact there are many instances and
examples where managers have risen to the occasion and have profited. Thus
when foreign exchange becomes a problem for many countries, managers have
adapted and benefited from counter-trade. Currency has now become a
commodity and is traded like any other commodity. Cash management has been
refined to an art and profits extracted from what would have been idle
capital.

6. It is comforting to note that the reported cases of new and successful
enterprises, do not come from any given region, country or
nationality. 'Managing for excellence' is within the reach of any
organisation, country or people. The important thing is for managers to
have an enquiring mind, an eye for opportunity, and total commitment to
the task of managing whatever presents itself in order to extract the
maximum benefit. The world had gone into recession before and had
recovered. The present recession must be managed by managers at all levels
so that recovery would come soon.

7. Malaysia has fully committed itself to the pursuit of excellence. In
the last five years we have critically examined all the things that we
have been doing or which we have taken for granted. We have questioned old
policies and approaches. We have even assaulted many administrative and
management methods that have been considered sacred. At least the
Government has.

8. Change is always uncomfortable. And this assault on the traditional and
the familiar has met more than the usual quota of criticisms and
resentment. Thus the idea of a country as a corporation in which the
Government, that is the officials and staff of Government departments,
helps the private sector to make profits is quite alien to the concept of
Government as the regulator and enforcer. Similarly turning over whole
Government departments to the private sector is contrary to the age-old
trend of the Government expanding its role. Leadership by example means
the top men coming to office earlier and wearing name-tags instead of
privileged disregard of rules by the executives including the Prime
Minister. Work-flow charts, office manuals, desk files, management
courses, up-dates, etc. are all part of the process of up-grading
management capacity in Government.

9. In the private sector turnkey contracts given to foreign firms have
caused an uproar. But it has also forced the locals to adopt and adapt to
new methods, to appreciate time, to be conscious of quality, and the role
of the Quality Control Circles and a host of other details that generally
make for excellence in management.

10. What is clearly evident, from our own experience and those of others,
is that the pursuit of excellence requires efforts, energy, time and
sacrifices. It takes tremendous investment of energy, time and resources
to create and build the foundations for excellence. The leadership and
managerial quality that is most highly desired for the tasks in hand is
perhaps the will to lead and succeed, the deep abiding commitment to
excellence; the persistence and patience needed to steer and persevere in
the management of programmes for increasing productivity while remaining
dedicated to quality. The will is born out of a genuine commitment and
love for the organisation and country, a deep sense of mission and purpose
to see the country prosperous and respected by the world.

11. I must however hasten to add that this "will" to succeed and excel may
not lead to the final effects if it resides in the minds and actions of
the top leadership and managers only. Plans and strategies are only good
if they are implemented. No vision or brilliant strategy can succeed if we
cannot implement them or if it is implemented without due care, proper
attitude and discipline. Indeed we need to do much more. We have to ensure
that the commitment and dedication to excellence is espoused and shared by
every member of the organisation; that it should finally become the
"superordinate value" or the culture of organisation and society. This is
by no means easy. We have to constantly face, ride and win over the voices
of cynicism, apathy, dissent, resistance and short-term orientation. In
short, the commitment to excellence must be a national agenda, national
consensus, a collective commitment to a common purpose. There is no short
cut on the road to excellence. We have to work for it. We need the stamina
of a top-class marathon runner rather than the speedy sprinter.

Ladies and Gentlemen.

12. We may also take note that no organisation or nation, however
successful, can afford to rest on its laurels. It pays to be vigilant and
receptive. Today's winning product can be obsolete tomorrow. Without
proper care, a peaceful, stable and prosperous state can easily become
unstable, hounded by civil strife, conflicts and revolts. History has
given us enough insights into the evershifting bases of civilisation and
modernisation, the constant ebb and flow of prosperity, wealth and
power. We should take cognizance of the natural law of entropy, which
states that living things, if left to themselves, will degenerate to a
state of disorder, anarchy, and disintegration. Obsolescence and death is
the natural order of things. Any project, for instance, has a
life-cycle; the transition from birth, development and maturity and
finally to the state of death. It takes strong will, profound thinking,
sound strategy and good management to negate the entropic process - an
action- programme which is now conceptually defined as the process of
negative-entropy. Effective organisational management is not only
desirable, it is in fact a social necessity, a prerequisite for survival,
progress and excellence. We certainly require more and greater amounts of
energy and "thinking" if we hope to lift the organisation from the state
of survival to the level of excellence.

13. That "thinking" is needed more than ever today when the world is going
through a period of unprecedented recession. Again and again we have been
told that we have bottomed out, that recovery is just around the
corner. There is recovery, but it is shallow and transient. The subsequent
bout of economic depression hits a new low. There is a danger that the
managers among us may despair and resign themselves to what seems to be
inevitable, the collapse of the system. Should the managers surrender then
catastrophe will follow.

14. It is unthinkable that the market economy that the managers have built
up, the market economy that has contributed so much towards human
prosperity, could so deteriorate that the managers cannot put it right
again. The wealth of the world did not just happen. It was the result of
human ingenuity, of man's ability to manage his environment. Needs were
created which went beyond just food, clothing and shelter. From these
needs came demands and the supply to meet the demands. And so an economy
develops and managers manage. Whether one economy is better than another
depends very much on the abilities of a country's managers. Thus many
countries have land and climate suitable for rubber growing but few manage
to be the top producers of rubber. The managers make the difference.

15. The competition is unending. To relax and rest on one's laurels is to
invite stagnation and then displacement. And so managers must continue to
improve management techniques, to search for excellence. The reward is
great. Managers by whatever title are the highest paid people in the
world. Even in Malaysia they command very high salaries, at least in the
private sector.

16. But the greatest reward is not material wealth. It is the knowledge
that a degree of excellence in management skill has been achieved and a
disorderly collection of men material and money has been brought together
and husbanded so as to become a cohesive force to overcome obstacles and
yield returns. Excellence is a reward in itself.

17. I would like to commend you on the theme of your discussion,
'Management for Excellence'. It is a quest for perfection, the elusive
goal of civilized man. Today the field is management. Perfect management
is unattainable, for only God is Perfect. But we must still try, and even
if perfection is not achieved, we will at least be less imperfect. And
that is worth the labour.

Ladies and Gentlemen.

18. With the hope that you will gain much by your discussion and dialogue,
I now take great pleasure in declaring open this 20th World Management
Congress.