ISO 9000 series standards present the ideology of quality management. This ideology is the basis for building and developing a quality system in any organization. The quality management system is based on 7 principles (the 2008 version contained 8 principles). The principles of quality management are formulated quite briefly, but the idea established in the formulations of the principles is further developed in the specific requirements of the ISO 9001 standard. Each principle can be disclosed in several blocks of the requirements of the standard.
Quality management Principles
For the first time, the principles of quality management were included in the standards of the 2000 version. These principles were formulated in the ISO 9000:2000 standard "Quality management systems — Fundamentals and vocabulary".
1. Customer focus - the organization depends on its customers and therefore must understand the current and future needs of the customer. It fulfills the requirements of the customer and tries to exceed the expectations of the customer.
The principle says that any organizations are created to meet the needs of Consumers – their customers, and not vice versa. All actions of the organization from the point of view of quality management should be aimed at identifying, understanding and meeting the needs of customers.
The key advantages that the implementation of this principle provides are as follows:
- increasing the revenue and market share due to a more flexible and rapid response to changes in the market;
- increasing the efficiency of the use of the organization's resources due to the growth of customer satisfaction;
- increasing customer loyalty and thereby increasing repeat orders.
2. Leadership - leaders establish unity of purpose, direction and internal environment of the organization. They create an environment in which people can become fully involved in achieving the goals of the organization.
Employees at all levels should not just want to achieve their goals, but also be leaders in achieving these goals, and they must be an example in striving for these goal I order to effectively achieve the goals of the organization.
The key advantages that the implementation of this principle provides are as follows:
- employees of the organization begin to share the goals of the organization. Due to this they will be more motivated to achieve their goals;
- there is possible to build, perform and evaluate any actions in the organization on the basis of uniform consistent principles;
- inconsistencies and misunderstandings between different levels of management in the organization are reduced.
3. Engagement of people - employees of all levels are the essence of the organization and their full involvement makes it possible to use their abilities for the benefit of the organization.
People in an organization will be able to work well and effectively only when they are passionate about their work and when they are interested in it. The organization must create conditions for maximum interest of people in the work that they do in order to achieve quality goals. This can be achieved through effective personnel management.
The key advantages of this principle provide are as follows:
- there is motivation, active participation and involvement of employees in all processes of the organization, which increases the efficiency of their work;
- employees become interested in developing proposals and introducing innovations in their work and the work of the organization as a whole, which contributes to faster achievement of the goals of the organization;
- there is a real responsibility of employees for their own proposals and innovations;
- employees strive to participate themselves and help the process of continuous improvement in the work of the organization.
4. Process approach - the desired result is achieved more efficiently when the relevant resources and activities are managed as a system of interrelated processes.
Any activity in an organization should be considered as a process, therefore, it should have clearly defined and unambiguous inputs, outputs, resources, operations and the relationship of all these components of the process.
The key advantages of this principle are as follows:
- the cost is reduced and the production cycle is shortened due to more efficient use of resources;
- the results of the work become predictable, repeatable and can be improved if necessary;
- priority is given to opportunities to improve performance.
Earlier (in the 2008 version of the standards) there was another principle - a systematic approach to management. The new version of the standards combined this principle with the principle of the process approach.
5. Improvement - continuous improvement is the constant goal of the organization.
This principle determines the need for continuous development of the organization.
The key advantages of this principle are as follows:
- benefits increment by increasing the organization's capabilities;
- alignment of improvement actions into a single strategy of the organization that performed at all levels of the organization;
- it becomes possible to quickly respond to emerging changes in the external and internal environment of the organization.
6. Evidence-based decision making - the effectiveness of solutions is based on the logical analysis of data and information.
Any decisions, any control actions should be made only on the basis of objective data, objective evidence, but not on the basis of assumptions, conjectures or subjective opinions.
The key advantages of this principle are as follows:
- the adoption of each decision is justified by a set of reliable data;
- it becomes possible to confirm the effectiveness of the decisions made by analyzing the actual data;
- it becomes possible to make reasonable changes to previously made decisions.
7. Relationship management - a mutually beneficial relationship between an organization and its stakeholders enhances the organization's ability to create value.
This principle orients the organization to develop its relationships with stakeholders. Each interested party influences the results of the organization's activities to one degree or another. If an organization can optimally build its relationships with all stakeholders, this will allow it to reduce both external and internal risks associated with the results of its activities.
The key advantages of this principle are as follows:
- costs and resources are being optimized;
- there is an interest of the parties in adequate joint actions in the event of a change in the situation both inside and outside the organization;
- the value of mutual partnership between the organization and its stakeholders increases.
The work of the entire quality system will depend on understanding of the organization managers and employees of the quality management principles.
Building a quality system according to ISO 9000 series standards allows the organization to implement the principles of quality management in the practice of its work. Each of the above principles is presented in the ISO 9001 standard by a set of requirements. Therefore, when an organization develops and implements methods for implementing these requirements in its work, it thereby implements the principles of quality management.
Updated on 26.04.2020
