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Pacanowsky, M. (1995). Team tools for wicked problems. Organizational Dynamics, 23(3), 36-52.
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ISO 9000 Series of Standards and Beyond (Prepared by Lesley Flanik)
This intervention is comprised of three quality system models:
1. ISO 9001Quality Systems: Sets out the requirements for an organization whose business processes range all the way form design and development, to production, installation, and servicing
2. ISO 9002 Quality Systems: Sets out the requirements for an organization which does not carry out design and development
3. ISO 9003 Quality Systems: Sets out the requirements for an organization whose business processes do not include design control, process control, purchasing, or servicing, and which basically uses inspection and testing to ensure that final products and services meet specified requirements
It is important to note that the ISO 9000 series is in the process of being revised and when completed, will require organizations with documented ISO 9000 certification to update to conform to the additional and new standards of ISO 9001:2000. The focus is being changed from “activity” to “process.” More emphasis will be placed on continuous improvement, the role of top management, consideration of legal and regulatory requirements, attention to resource availability, determination of training effectiveness, and measuring customer satisfaction (Available: http://www.bsi.org.uk/iso-tc176-sc2/FAQs.html).
It is also important to include in this introduction the mention of another common set of ISO standards: ISO 14000. Although less commonly implemented than the ISO 9000 series of standards, ISO 14000 is widely accepted in the business community as a reliable set of standards on environmental management. This intervention is appropriate for companies whose materials, processes, or products impact the environment. (Available:
http://www.isonet.com/informat.htm). This report will not include an in-depth analysis of ISO 14000 standards or its implementation process because this intervention is less common than the ISO 9000 series and does not focus on an end result of quality in process and product.
2. TARGETLEVEL(S) OFANALYSIS:
ISO 9000 is generally implemented on an organization-wide basis, although the organizations do have the freedom and flexibility to define the boundaries of the implementation. The system may cover the entire organization, or specific units or activities of the organization. Some businesses have achieved company-wide certification of all their processes and activities.
However, in the majority of cases, companies achieve quality system certification on a site-by-site basis, with a final result of company-wide certification. ISO officially encourages
participating organizations not to misrepresent the extent of their certification.
3. PURPOSEOFTHEINTERVENTION:
ISO 9000 is a series of quality systems standards applicable to every business engaged in production or service. This family of standards represents an international consensus on good management practices with the aim of ensuring that the organization can time and time again deliver the product or services that meet the client’s quality requirements. Twenty standards were developed by ISO, the International Standardization Organization, to provide a framework
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for an organization desiring a quality system that is stable, comprehensive, and consistent. The standards provide models against which the organization’s systems and processes can be audited to give the organization and its clients assurance that it is operating effectively. The standards include requirements such as management responsibility, contract review, design and date control, control of nonconforming product, and corrective and preventative action. All of these standards require consistent documentation describing how the organization addresses each of the twenty standards (Available: http://emedia49.netlibrary.com/api-bin/viewbook.dll).
4. EFFECTIVENESSCRITERIA:
The most appropriate outcomes to assess include perceived quality, customer demand, amount of scrap material produced (when applicable), operational efficiency, profitability, and time to complete project (i.e. product or service).
5. EVIDENCEOFEFFECTIVENESS:
The market is often the driving factor behind ISO 9000 implementation in an organization. ISO 9000 implementation can also improve overall business efficiency and demand, ensure timely, accurate, and accessible information, help develop “best practices” for the organization, and eliminate costly surprises (Available: http://www.qs9000.com/iso/iso-what-is.html). Quest Analytical, Inc., a consulting firm that offers ISO 9000 certification services, found that 85% of registered organizations report external benefits including higher perceived quality and greater customer demand (Available: http://www.questanalytical.com/ISO9000/FAQ/benefits_of ISO 9000.htm). Quest Analytical also found that 95% of certified companies report internal benefits, including greater employee awareness, increased operational efficiency, and reduced scrap expense. An Irwin Professional Publishing survey confirms the higher perceived quality and increased customer demand resulting from ISO 9000 certification (Available:
http://www.questanalytical.com/ISO9000/FAQ/benefits_of _ ISO _9000.htm) . A September 1991 survey of registered companies revealed that 89% reported higher operational efficiency, 48% reported increased profitability, 76% reported improvement in marketing, and 26% reported increased export sales (Available: http://www.qs9000.com/iso/iso-what-is.html).
As of December 31,1999, a total of 340,000 ISO 9000 certificates have been issued worldwide in 150 companies (Available: http://www.rcglobal.com/wrcqual.htm). Laserco is a high-tech manufacturer, employing 150 people. Five years ago, a senior director wanted greater
‘discipline’ in the engineering function. Quality was chosen as a means. The quality manager wanted to introduce continuous improvement but needed a start and felt that ISO 9000 would provide the foundations. Manufacturing found implementation to be very easy. The personnel in manufacturing were all used to working in a structured way. With implementation, only a few requirements were changed employees were required to simply document the processes, most of which they were already practicing. In Engineering, implementation was a little more difficult.
Prior to introducing ISO 9000 into Engineering, there was no predefined method to establish a unified design process across the various groups. The whole implementation effort took
approximately two and a half years. Laserco claims reductions in time, reductions in errors, and reductions in waste. None of these outcomes were quantified by the organization (Available:
http://www.iso9000.com/iso/iso9000_cases.html).
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ISO 9000 implementation has been successful in many worldwide firms and many Fortune 500 companies. Companies with registered ISO 9000 sites include Allied Signal, Inc., AT&T, Eastman Kodak Company, Exxon Chemical Company, GE Medical and Plastic Systems, and Xerox Corporation (Available: http://www.qs9000.com/iso/iso-what-is.html).
6. HOW/WHENOUTCOMESWILLBEASSESSED:
Outcomes are assessed after the certification product is complete, usually up to two years after its introduction into the organization. Although some organizations have reported a measurable rise in quality or demand after only a few months, the full range assessment of success should not be conducted until certification is achieved. Once the organization becomes certified, surveys on employee attitudes may be conducted, profitability examined, and product or service turnaround documented. Most of these services are offered by consulting firms that implement the ISO 9000 standards. There is cause to conduct some skeletal evaluations during the implementation process, if only to reassure upper management that the ISO 9000 are worth implementing.
7. CHARACTERISTICSOFTYPICALPARTICIPANTS:
Although ISO 9000 implementation must be an organizationally embraced procedure, from the top levels down, most participants in the actual documentation and operational process are blue-collar production workers and the lower level managers that supervise them. However, as mentioned earlier, ISO 9000 certification may involve any organization that provides a product or service.
8. TIMEFRAMEOFTHEINTERVENTIONITSELF:
An implementation project will typically take about 12 months, but ranges from 9-24 months, depending on the size and complexity of the organization
(http://www.questanalytical.com/ISO9000/FAQ/How_Long_Will_it_Take.htm).
9. TIMEFRAMEOFANTICIPATEDCHANGE:
As reported earlier, some organizations report a measurable rise in quality or demand within only a few months after the introduction of the implementation process. Almost all companies report positive internal and external outcomes after certification is complete and assessments have been conducted. Because the implementation and certification process may take up to two years, depending on the size and complexity of the company, an organization may only expect to see quantifiable positive results after this amount of time.
10. RESOURCESTOCONDUCTINTERVENTION:
Becoming ISO 9000 certified requires large investments from an organization, most daunting of which are money, time, and man-hours. The organization will have to choose a registration body (a consulting firm that certifies companies) and often elects to have consultants guide the
implementation process as well. The major costs an organization incurs will come from preparing the audit (the certifying inspections). For the average one hundred person
manufacturing facility with minimal documentation, the cost will in most cases exceed $50,000 (Available: http://www.questanalytical.com/ISO9000/FAQ/Cost). Although it is not completely necessary to hire an external consultant for this process, nearly all certified organizations have done so in order to be recognized by their clients as an ‘officially certified’ company. The organization attempting certification also need training for key personnel and will need to create
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and maintain a permanent internal quality audit (IQA) team to sustain the ISO 9000 standards within production.
11. EXPERTISEOFCONSULTANTS:
ISO does not certify or endorse any particular consulting firm to conduct the implementation process. Therefore, consultants may claim whatever they like and organizations should be careful when selecting a registration body. Sometimes recommendations from an organization’s customers will lead the company to the appropriate consultants. Most of these consultants have done research on ISO 9000 and case studies of successful interventions. As to date, these consulting firms may only rely on client organization feedback to prove themselves worthy, making available their performance track record.
12. DOPARTICIPANTSNEEDTOPREPARE:
Management must know why they are implementing the ISO 9000 standards. Educating management on what the system is and is not and what it will do for the organization is the best way to start the implementation process. This information needs to trickle down to all levels of production, whether formally or informally, so that no one feels left out of the loop. The other step in planning implementation is to perform a Gap Analysis, a comparison of the
organization’s current quality system to the requirements of the ISO 9000 standards. Using this report, an organization develops an implementation approach, project plan, and timeline
(Available: http://questanalytical.com/ISO 9000/isoplanning.html).
13. HOWISTHEINTERVENTIONCONDUCTED:
To receive an ISO 9000 certificate, the organization must document, through its written quality procedures and instructions, that its quality system fulfills the formal requirements of the relevant series of ISO 9000 standards. It must then demonstrate to a certifying body that its system, in practice, functions as described. The quality assurance system consists of a set of overall quality objectives, procedures, and instructions. These quality objectives, formulated by top management, depict what the firm seeks to achieve with its quality system, taking into account what customers want, an how the organization’s general goals and resources can be matched to customer needs. The procedures describe how the firm proposes to live up to these objectives. The instructions describe how the work is done (Brecka, 1995).
In many firms, the implementation of quality assurance represents the first opportunity people have had to systematically discuss their work together. The more that everyone involved contributes to the construction of the quality system, the more successful it will be. People discuss the work that they do so that everyone can argue about it. Then they agree on how things are done and they write it down. The documents are eventually assembled in the form of a quality manual.
At some point, the firm chooses a certifying body, or registrar. The registrar reads through the organization’s quality manual and other documentation to ascertain whether it conforms to the requirements of the standards. If the documentation falls short. The registrar enumerates the problems in a report. For each shortcoming, the organization answers the registrar, either by convincingly justifying the system put into place, or by agreeing to make the requested changes.
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During the final certification audit (anywhere from 9-18 months after initial certification efforts), which normally takes several days, the registrar visits the firm and goes through its quality assurance system with a fine toothed comb to determine whether people, in practice, do what they say they do. If the organization ‘passes’ its examination, the certification is granted.
Subsequently, the registrar returns at regular intervals to check the system; if it fails to live up to the ISO 9000 requirements, the organization either makes improvements or loses its certificate.
The firm may also invite its customers to audit the quality system after its certification. In addition, internal audits are conducted by the internal quality audit (IQA) team on a
predetermined regular basis. The quality system itself will continue to be modified, as customer needs change, work processes evolve, people learn to do things right the first time, and new job functions are added (Available: http://www.questanalytical.com/ISO9000/implementation.htm).
14. RESISTANCETOCHANGE:
Companies that implement ISO 9000 are told to expect confusion from staff members at first.
Employees may not know how they will fit into this process, so organizations are encouraged to communicate their plans as early as possible and to provide adequate training on processes (especially documentation) and on what the new system will do for them. This information sharing will help douse the fire of fear of the unknown.
Supervisors may also fear losing responsibility to the consultants or the process or having their work processes redefined, causing them to fall in status and position within the firm. If upper management shares information fully and in a timely manner, fear of the unknown on the part of supervisors should also diminish. An organization should encourage their lower level managers and supervisors to share information about the implementation as freely and as fully with their workers as upper management has with them (Available: http://emedia49.netlibrary.com/api-bin/viewbook.dll)
Bad management practices, such as poor communication, the failure to recognize employee talents and skills, lack of tradition for employee involvement and cooperation, lack of discipline, sloppiness in work routines, poor time and task management, lack of clear lines and
responsibility, and lack of clear company policies will also contribute to the difficulties of implementing quality management in a positive way. Upper management must learn to
recognize and correct the aforementioned practices in the beginning, targeting problem areas or people and conducting adequate training or interventions to reconcile the difficulty.
15. MAINTAININGCHANGE:
ISO training does not appear in the structure of the maintenance phase. Training does not stop;
indeed, training of all kinds is one of the basic ISO requirements. Management also has its ISO responsibilities defined in the certification phase and continuing in the sustaining phase. Success is maintained if there is a focus on leadership within the organization. After certification is achieved, the glory of victory fades in the onslaught of daily business. Effective and positive leadership can ensure that the opportunity is pursued to build on the purpose and the power of the ISO 9000 program. Marketing is an additional key to sustaining ISO certification. The organization must go beyond the ISO requirements of marketing, which focus on customer satisfaction. In the sustaining phase, the organization continues with customer satisfaction in
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order to maintain conformance, but the firm will want should ensure customer awareness of the new capability and its advantages. The certified organization will sustain a quality position by tracking changes and trends in customer requirements (Available:
http://www.questanalytical.com/ISO9000/implementation.htm).
16. FOLLOW-UP:
As described earlier, in the implementation section, follow-up by the certification body and internal quality (IQA) audit team is a requirement of the ISO 9000 certification process. After certification, the registrar returns at regular intervals to check the system; if it fails to live up to the ISO 9000 requirements, the organization either makes improvements or loses its certificate.
The firm may also invite its customers to audit the quality system after its certification. In addition, internal audits are conducted by the internal quality audit (IQA) team on a predetermined regular basis.
17. SPECIALCONSIDERATIONS/CRITIQUE:
A common misconception regarding ISO 9000 is that the certified organizations are certified or recognized by ISO. Indeed, they are not. In fact, a certified organization is not even allowed to use the ISO logo, which is copyrighted, to promote their achievement. ISO does not even certify or recognize the certifying bodies or auditors that implement and evaluate ISO 9000 standards within organizations. Client feedback remains the only ‘certification’ that a registrar or certifying body can receive.
Another misconception appeared with the promotion of “ISO-Certified” products. In fact, no product can be certified. It is the organizational process that is certified not the product.
Lastly, the question of what to do if the organization attempting certification already has a quality program(s) in place has not been addressed. In this case, the organization has two options; create separate but parallel quality systems using ISO 9000 as a model or review existing quality systems and harmonize them to the ISO 9000 standards (Jackson, 1992).
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