Importance and seven principles of quality management
Quality management is the process by which a company seeks to achieve its quality objectives. But how important is it really? Our article gives you an explanation.
Quality management: what exactly?
It is the set of strategies implemented by a company in order to establish a quality approach within it. This approach aims, for its part, to improve the quality of organization and production. To do this, it seeks to optimize the quality of management, products, and services offered to customers or the employee environment.
The ISO 9001 quality management approach calls on strategies, equipment, and actors who contribute to the implementation of concrete improvement actions. Therefore, these actions and the resources involved constitute the quality management system (QMS), governed by the ISO 9001 standard.
The importance of quality management for the company
The quality management system represents a pillar of growth for the company. The reason is simple: its effectiveness is largely based on this system. It is indeed this process that allows the company to have an efficient organization in which employees participate in achieving development objectives. This quality approach is also essential to set up a service that meets customer expectations and achieves a high level of satisfaction.
In a word, quality management is the pivot of the company's competitiveness. Without this system, it will be difficult for him to make a profit from his activity and optimize his profits. Therefore, the development of an effective quality management system is crucial for any company that wishes to evolve in its environment.
The basic principles of quality management
An effective quality approach revolves around the seven principles set out in the ISO 9001 standard. Indeed, these principles are considered to be the main factors for the success of a QMS.
The seven principles of quality management
The ISO 9001: 2015 standards on quality management systems are based on general principles. There are 7 quality management principles are used, compared to 8 for the 2008 edition. These principles are developed in 2.3 of ISO 9000: 2015 ("Quality management systems - Essential principles and vocabulary"); part of this information is included in annex B of ISO 9001: 2015. This article uses these standards to present the "philosophy" of management principles. Each principle is illustrated with a quote for ease of understanding.
The seven principles of quality management
The titles are those of ISO / DIS 9000: 2014; they should not change in the final version. Some are obvious and natural, and all show common sense.
1.Client orientation
2.Management responsibility
3.Staff involvement
4.Process approach
5.Improvement
6.Evidence-based decision making
7.Management of relations with interested parties
To convince you of the merits of this approach, let's imagine these seven principles, but taken in reverse:
1.Customer operations
2.Impassibility of management
3.Staff impairment
4.Rambling approach
5.Deterioration
6.Heads-up decision
7.Disengagement from relationships with interested parties
1 - Customer orientation
There is only one boss: the customer. And he can fire all the staff, from the manager to the employee, simply by spending his money elsewhere. The challenge of this principle is to satisfy the customer to build customer loyalty. This is all the more important since today, with social networks and the internet in general; the customer can express his dissatisfaction/delight and be heard by everyone, immediately. What demolish the image of an organization or, on the contrary, forge an excellent reputation.
To strengthen its customer orientation, the organization must work on its customers' expectations: identify them (and even anticipate them) and make every effort to ensure that the products/services offered to meet them. Quality management must take an interest in customer needs in order to understand them better and set up services that adapt to their expectations.
2 - Management responsibility (Leadership)
The performance of a company depends on managers' ability to mobilize collective intelligence for the achievement of the objectives set.
In addition to not investing all of the company's profits in the renovation of its bachelor apartment, management is expected to:
- Define the direction of the body
- Ensures the availability of resources to achieve the objectives
- Involve staff
Thus, the body knows where it should go, has the means, and the desire.
3 - Staff involvement
Employee involvement:
Employee involvement and motivation are the pillars of the company's performance and growth.
The title of this principle is reductive:
In addition to being involved (due to its management's great work), the staff must be competent and feel valued. It is really a question of considering the individual under the blue of work. In this spirit, recognition must be expressed by communicating on the added value of the work of the staff and the initiatives taken. Personal skills need to be developed, which will improve the skills of the organization as a whole.
4 - Process approach
Managing resources and activities as a global process make it possible to obtain a more precise vision of its performance. Having a process approach means considering the activity of the organism as a set of correlated sub-activities. In this model, each process takes into account input data and produces output data. This data can go from one process to another. This approach makes it easier to tackle the different activities, their management, their needs, their objectives. It is, of course, natural that a company organizes itself in services, each managing processes.
5 – Improvement
This involves maintaining development actions continuously in order to improve the performance of the company constantly. The organization must constantly seek to improve (the famous continuous improvement), at least to maintain its performance levels, ideally to progress. Improvement applies to the principles already set out: the improvement of customer satisfaction and improvement of process performance. In ISO9001: 2015, reducing risks, seizing opportunities, or even correcting non-conformities are all sources of improvement.
6 - Evidence-based decision making
The objective is to pay particular attention to the elements and factual results.
The idea is to reduce the inevitable uncertainty when making decisions by relying on objective data, where we look at the causes to understand the effects.
7 - Management of relations with interested parties
Supplier Relations is finding a way to maintain a strong relationship with suppliers.
The stakeholders include all factors that influence or are influenced by the organization's activities. They include, in particular: suppliers, bankers, regulation, and even the ISO9001 standard. It is by communicating with interested parties and taking their requirements into account that the organization will be able to improve its performance.
Have you any questions? Let us know in the comment box. And for business essay
, don’t hesitate to contact us.
Author: Vicki Lezama