Quality management axes: the responsibility of management. the management system

The responsibility of management

Question:

"Is a Quality Management System (QMS) viable without the support of the Directorate?"

The answer is very simple: No.

Situation

With logical nuances, a situation is often repeated in many organizations: that of the person in charge of the project for the implementation of the QMS who receives, as the only form of support from the Management, a pat on the shoulder accompanied by the phrase "Take charge … »

Root of the problem

In many cases, the problem is rooted in poor strategic planning, which defines the implementation of a QMS as a very favorable project for the organization, but at the same time fails to analyze the way forward.

This inadequate analysis tends to have as a common denominator the erroneous idea that implementing a QMS is just a matter of preparing a procedures manual.

In these cases, and for different reasons, one of the key issues in this type of project is marginalized: the need to raise awareness about what it means to implement a QMS, with special emphasis on the enormous responsibility that falls on those who run the organization, and that the authors of the ISO 9001: 2000 standard were careful to clearly detail in Chapter 5 called, very aptly, " Management Responsibility ".

This responsibility that defines the ISO 9001: 2000 standard ranges from the commitment that Management must demonstrate towards the QMS, to the periodic performance of reviews or updates, through planning and the establishment and control of policies and objectives.

General guidance

The general orientation that this International Standard defines for Management Responsibility focuses on the vital concept that the leadership, commitment and active participation of top management are essential to develop and maintain an effective quality management system and efficient to achieve benefits for all stakeholders. Always bearing in mind that to achieve these benefits it is necessary to establish, maintain and increase customer satisfaction, senior management should consider actions such as:

Establish a vision, policies and strategic objectives consistent with the purpose of the organization Lead the organization by example, in order to develop trust among staff Communicate the orientation of the organization and the values related to quality and the quality system quality management Participate in improvement projects in the search for new methods, solutions and products Obtain direct feedback on the effectiveness and efficiency of the quality management system Identify the processes of realization of the product or service that add value to The organization Identify the support processes that influence the effectiveness and efficiency of the implementation processes Create an environment that promotes active participation and staff development.Provide the structure and resources necessary to support the strategic plans of the organization.

In addition, top management should also define methods to measure the performance of the organization in order to determine whether planned objectives have been achieved. These methods include:

Financial measurements Measurements of process performance throughout the organization, External measurements, such as benchmarking and third-party evaluation, Evaluation of the satisfaction of customers, organization personnel and other interested parties, Evaluation of the Perception of customers and other stakeholders of the performance of the products or services provided Measurement of other success factors identified by management.

The information obtained from these measurements and evaluations should also be considered as an input for the review by the management in order to ensure that the continuous improvement of the QMS is the engine of the continuous improvement of the organization.

Undoubtedly, the Responsibility of the Directorate is the foundation on which a quality management system can then be built, which will definitely have the same solidity that this foundation demonstrates.

The management system

«If we put in the sky four latest generation turbines, fuselage, wings, pneumatic system, computers, radar, a commander with 100,000 flight hours, a co-pilot with 80,000 flight hours, a cabin manager and a dozen flight attendants, none of this releases flight, because flying is a systemic emergent…

Competitiveness is a systemic emerging, as is profitability and the creation of economic value too »

Alberto Levy

"Mayonnaise: The Essence of Marketing"

Although in many cases it is only seen in isolation, quality is also a systemic emergent, which arises as a result of the permanent interaction of a set of elements in an organization.

Running and operating an organization successfully requires managing it in a systematic way. The management system must continually improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the organization's performance. Managing an organization includes managing quality among other management disciplines.

The success of an organization should be the result of implementing and maintaining a customer-oriented management system, based on the definition of systems and processes that result:

clearly understandable, manageable, and best

In order to ensure the effective and efficient operation and control of the processes.

In order to establish a customer-oriented organization, activities that favor this approach can be undertaken, such as:

Define and promote processes that lead to improved performance of the organization Acquire and use process information on an ongoing basis Direct the progress of the organization towards continuous improvement Use appropriate methods to evaluate process improvement

Within the framework of this customer orientation, the International Standard ISO 9001: 2000 leads an organization to establish, document, implement and maintain a quality management system.

The adoption of a quality management system should be a strategic decision made by the top management of the organization. Its design and implementation is influenced by different needs, objectives, products or services provided, processes used, size and structure of the organization.

This quality management system is explained as the set of interrelated elements of a company or organization by which its quality is managed in a planned way, in the pursuit of customer satisfaction.

Among the elements of the quality management system, the most relevant are the following:

the structure of the organization, its processes, its documents and its resources.

Just like the airplane components that Alberto Levy describes, it will be very difficult for an organization to "fly" if it does not first manage to build a system with all these elements.