Newsletter No. 197

CUHK Newsletter No. 197 4th February 2002 3 Exemplary Service Award Goes to Six Staff Member I n recognition o f services we ll rendered, six staff members o f the Un i ve r s i ty have been awarded the first ever Exemplary Service Award. They are Ms. Jowie Chan Siu-wai o f the Bursary, Mr. M i gg ky Fong o f the Faculty o f Education, Ms. Stephanie Kam o f the Personnel Office, Miss Annie Leung o f the Department o f Psychology, Mrs. Lo A u Shui-king o f Shaw College, and Mr. L u i Fu ng Wa i o f the Depa r tment o f Geog r aphy and Resource Management. The awards were presented amidst much applause and good w i l l by Prof. A r t hur K . C. L i on 19th January in the Esther Lee Bu i l d i ng. Prof. L i u Pak-wai and Prof. M i c hael H u i delivered speeches on the occasion as chairman o f the Staff Training and Development Committee and chairman o f the Selection Panel o f the Exemplary Service Award 2001 respectively. There were about 120 people in attendance, including the families o f the awardees, as we ll as their colleagues and supervisors. The Newsletter has asked the award recipients and their supervisors to share w i th our readers feelings related to their work, their nomination, and their winning. Here are the interviews w i th three o f them. The rest is carried on the Chinese pages. M r . M i gg ky Fong Siu-yi, Senior Technician, Faculty of Education Joined CUHK in 1991 Ma i n duties: mu l t i -med ia production (including teaching materials), overseeing the installation of audio-visual systems and equipment in lecture halls and classrooms, assigning duties to coworkers 'Time flies. I have been with The Chinese University for a decade. I am very grateful to the Faculty of Education for nominating me for the 2001 Exemplary Service Award. It is a sign of recognition by the faculty of my services over the last 10 years. What I haven't expected was winning. When on the job, I always keep in mind that every individual is most concerned about his/her affairs or interests. That is why when I ' m dealing with clients, I always use my sensibility rather than my intellect, my heart rather than my mind, and try to imagine how I would feel, what I would expect, i f his/her request were mine. With this as a basis, I can allocate my time and resources sensibly and flexibly. This is how I always try to satisfy my clients. It gives me the greatest satisfaction i f I can be involved in a project from beginning to end, participating in its planning, coordination, and implementation, ironing out problems with competent coworkers in the process, discussing issues with them, and delivering the final product together. The most difficult part of my job is when clients come up with last minute changes. When that happens I have to strike a balance between j ob completion and perfection. There is space for expressing and developing oneself working at the University. The crucial thing is whether you are willing to take an extra step. I have a rather unusual hobby, which I picked up when I was a student at the Academy for Performing Arts. I was studying technical arts, one course of which was make-up for the theatre. It was fun but I was more interested in make-up for beautification. I then enrolled in a make-up course offered by the then Department of Extramural Studies of the University and was awarded a professional make-up diploma by an Ame r i can authority in the field. Now when my friends get married, I sometimes help to make up the bride.' Words f r om supervisor: Prof. Teresa Siu, associate professor, Department of Curriculum and Instruction 'I have known Miggky for over 10 years. He is one of the section leaders of the Education Technology Unit under my supervision. To the colleagues of the unit, Miggky is an expert in his field, an omniscient professional adept at all audio-visual matters. What impresses me most is his outspoken and perfectionist character. He is able to foresee problems, articulate hardship, while proactively seeking solutions. I am not only satisfied with his work—I am sometimes surprised by the unexpectedly perfect outcome! I think other people share my feelings, as I frequently receive appreciative notes, verbal or written, about his performance. Miggky's service quality and professional attitude have shown continuous improvement over the years. By teaching and persuasion, he has turned many colleagues into competent users of high-tech equipment. He uses simple daily examples rather than technical jargon when explaining complicated technical issues to laypersons. He has also introduced us to state-of-the-art, tailor-made and user-friendly equipment to facilitate our teaching and enhance our teaching quality.' Mr s. Lo A u Shui-king, Workman I, Shaw College Joined CUHK in 1992 Main duties: reception desk, c l e a n i n g t h e l o b b y , c ommun i c a t i ng between hostel and college office, r egu l ar maintenance o f rooms, assigning duties to coworkers ' I n the midst o f salary cuts and layoffs, I feel especially honoured and heartened to receive the Exemplary Service Award. Getting recognition for your work is something rare and invaluable. I hope to do even better in the future in order to exemplify what this award truly means. I feel very happy with my job. Having young people around in the workplace makes me feel young. My job isn't very difficult. I can always refer big problems to the hostel warden who is responsible for making the important decisions. The students are never truly bad, only naughty at times. I f they keep making the same offence, e.g. putting their own things in the corridor, I simply need to be patient with them and use my art of persuasion, or art of nagging, to be exact. They never do it intentionally and they usually comply at some point i f I keep nagging or i f I suggest other places for them to store their stuff. There are other ways to make them happy. Sometimes, i f something in their room needs fixing, I would get some repairman who happens to be nearby to fix it for them, although no formal order has been placed. I do not follow any rigid rules when I ' m working, but I do try to be fair when I assign tasks to my coworkers. And please tell students from Hostel I I who have graduated to come back and visit us whenever they have time. It makes me extremely happy to see them. Early this year, the first batch of boarders in the hostel came back to visit me during the Feast-for-a-Thousand. That was wonderful. I hope everybody does that and more often.' Words f r om supervisor: Prof. Chan King-ming, Hostel Warden, Hostel II Low Block, Shaw College 'Frankly speaking, I find all workmen at Hostel II of Shaw College dedicated and responsible, always providing excellent services to the students, wardens, and the college. The fact that Mrs. Lo, or 'Big Sister King' as she's known, has been selected from among them to compete university- wide indicates that she is the best of the best. Not only can she identify ALL the problems and proactively make suggestions to solve them efficiently, but she is actually a "super-woman" who can remember all the names of the students and their room numbers at Hostel II, even those of our alumni who have graduated for years.' Piera Chen In his speech, Prof. Liu Pak-wai shared with the audience his definition of quality service for the Un i ve r s i t y , a non-profit-making entity. The mission of the University, he said, is to create knowledge, nurture expertise, and strive for excellence through teaching and research. To accomplish such a mission, a professional, flexible, and efficient administrative and support system is extremely important. And in the core of such a system lies the spirit and culture of service. The service quality of the administrative support units of the University received commendation in the Management Review Report of the UGC two years ago. Prof. Liu pointed out that to ensure such excellence in service continues, the University has decided to step up staff training, to evaluate staff performance against external and internal performance indicators, and to reward good service. The Exemplary Service Award is one of the many efforts made by the University to this end. Prof. Michael Hui began his speech by quoting the words of the six awardees during the selection i n t e r v i ews—'WhenI see a dirt spot, I see a job oppo r t un i t y . ' , 'Most customers are reasonable.', When others are happy, I am even happier.', 'As a technician, I may have to operate complex machines, but my aim is simple— to solve the problems of my customers.', 'It is only by putting oneself in the shoes of one ’s customers that one can understand how they f ee l . ' . 'A cooperative and friendly relationship with coworkers is of utmost importance. 'Prof. Hui also pointed out that although the awardees come from different departments and have different duties, they all respect and love their work. They always think of their customers first, value teamwork, and are sensitive to their customers' demands and their problems. And they f u l f i l their duties proactively and creatively. In the process, they also experience a lot of job satisfaction. Each and every one of them, Prof. Hui added, is an exemplar of quality service.