"Quality management systems do not solve the problems of organizations, it is you who solves them with the effective application of them."
The implementation of quality management systems under the ISO 9000 series of standards has spread exponentially in the last two decades in Latin America. It is increasingly common to find organizations with certified quality management systems. The Senior Management of each organization promotes its implementation in the hope of being able to have more competitive processes in the medium term, which can generate higher incomes and more satisfied customers.
Organizations usually designate a person responsible for the implementation, usually a professional with knowledge of organization and methods and mastery of the referential standards. This person usually prepares a project planning, including the preparation of procedures, training programs and internal audits prior to certification. Once the process has started, the responsible official, who we will call “Quality Manager” from here, becomes a police officer who is usually on the staff, controlling the preparation and compliance of the procedures, reviewing the records and their correct application.
After a couple of months of hard work, where all the staff feel overwhelmed by the demand and permanent control of the Quality Manager, the company achieves the expected certification of its quality management system. Senior Management celebrates intensely and engages all its officers. The recognition is extended to individuals who, not having been involved, also receive the benefits of being identified with the organization. The organization as a whole gives great publicity to the achievement and creates an atmosphere of constant and unceasing celebration. But after a few days, when the fervor of the celebration diminishes, and all the intense work from a long time ago begins to fall into oblivion, it returns to the same rhythm as before the project began.
Senior Management is frustrated by the results, which go no further than improving the corporate image; and its executives will add to the large list of those who believe that management systems are nothing more than marketing to the organization.
Why is this happening? Do quality management systems really not bring the benefits they say they bring? Are we not really prepared for this type of management? and there are even those who even think that they chose a very benevolent certification company. None of the above could be the fundamental reason why your management system does not bring you the promised benefits; the reason is that the quality management system is taken as a goal or end to be achieved, which ends the moment the certification is obtained. But management systems are not an end, rather they are a means of achieving efficiency and improving our processes. With the implementation and certification of the quality management system, the only thing we are obtaining is the tool for improvement,The next step is to start using it daily. The problem centers on waiting for the Quality Manager to maintain the system in the same way that he managed to implement it, and this does not work that way. Each of the members of the organization, starting from Senior Management, must make the system work, but taking quality as a form or philosophy of work and not as an end to achieve. No one but each official can do the work assigned to her, so the responsibility for the quality of the organization cannot be assigned to a specific person, each one is responsible for carrying out their work according to the established requirements. You must be aware that quality is the way to be more competitive and achieve satisfied customers, and not a goal.Quality management systems are tools that allow the organization to go down the quality path to achieve the expected benefits; and the first to be aware of this are the leaders of the organization. Quality begins in each person, with the attitude and commitment they have towards change and innovation, they continue through the permanent application of the tool called management system. With the implementation of the quality management system, the work is not finished, it is only the beginning.with the attitude and commitment they have towards change and innovation, they continue by applying the tool called the management system permanently. With the implementation of the quality management system, the work is not finished, it is only the beginning.with the attitude and commitment they have towards change and innovation, they continue by applying the tool called the management system permanently. With the implementation of the quality management system, the work is not finished, it is only the beginning.
