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Participation by Top Management in Quality Systems – Part 1


Introduction

The following information on the role of top management (leadership) in quality management systems is broadly based on information from Juran’s Quality Management Handbook, 4th Edition, published in 1988. It is surprising to see how much insight there was on the role of leadership and top management in quality, even in those days.


Juran pointed out that,  as much as we like to use these words, there is no way known for defining top management participation through the use of the words “commitment” and “involvement”. The definitions of these words are just too wide to be helpful. If top management is committed, what does it actually mean? Does it mean that they endorse the establishment of a quality department, or that they encourage quality inspections, etc.? Juran believed that we should rather precisely define 2 things:

  •        Which specific decisions are to be made by top management  
  •       Which specific actions are to be taken by top management

While the requirement of ISO 9001:2015 includes a lot of what Juran is talking about, it is worth looking at exactly what he is saying in this regard. He defined a number of topics in which top management should participate, sometimes as a collective group, and sometimes individually in their spheres of responsibility.

The topics are:

  •     Establish a quality council
  •     Serve on the quality council
  •     Establish quality policies
  •     Establish quality goals and objectives
  •     Deploy the goals and objectives
  •     Provide resources
  •     Provide problem-orientated training
  •     Serve on quality improvement teams
  •     Review progress
  •     Stimulate improvement
  •     Give recognition
  •     Revise the reward system

These topics are associated with the concept of Company Wide Quality Management (CWQM). Think ISO 9001!

Establish  a quality council

The 1st topic is the establishment of a quality council or quality committee. This council plays a pivotal role in directing and coordinating the efforts of the organization to manage quality.

The council is established at the highest level of the organization as part of CWQM. The members can include persons from the lower levels of management, but top management should serve on the council if it is going to be effective.

The aim is to establish CWQM as part of the business planning of the organization. Thus quality is not a separate issue, but is part of the strategic and tactical planning of the organization. The goals of CWQM and the goals of the organization become integrated and inseparable from the strategic goals of the organization. Thus, quality management and corporate management becomes one, to the point where one would not talk about the quality council as a separate function, but as part of the corporate or business management of the organization.

The council, including the members of top management has to establish company goals, provide the means to achieve those goals and objectives, and review progress towards achieving the goals and objectives.

This topic incorporates the role of top management and leadership in ISO 9001 to establish context, set policy, quality objectives, providing The resources and processes to achieve the goals, do management reviews, etc.

Serve on the quality council

Membership of the quality council exposes members to the essential inputs relative to the quality problems requiring solutions, the resources needed, etc. The council cannot be effective if its members lack decision-making powers over the subject matter. Thus it is essential that top management is part of the council.

Additionally, if the quality council or quality management group is established without top management being part of it, it sends the wrong message to the rest of the organization. It tells them that quality and quality management is not a matter of priority, and causes a culture within which quality is not regarded as important.

Remember that in previous publications I have mentioned that the quality management system is the basis for managing business in the organization, with health and safety management and environmental management then being integrated into the overall management system. That is the reason why the management system standards published by ISO are all written (or in the process of being written) following the same Annex SL structure – to make integration more effective and easy.

Establishing quality policies

Policies are rules for the organization. They guide us to managerial action. High level policies are formulated and approved at the highest levels of the organization. Lower level policies are formulated at appropriate levels of the organization, but under the control of top management. All policies are approved by top management, regardless of who formulated them.

Top management participates in the formulation of policies in several ways:

  •        Identifying the need for policies: Major evidence for the need of policies (at various levels and functions) is found in repeated questions raised by the lower levels, asking for direction on certain broad issues. In many cases lower levels of management take the initiative in identifying the need for policies.
  •        Assigning responsibility for preparing a draft policy or policies: Policy formulation usually requires securing inputs from multiple sources. In the absence of clear responsibility it is unlikely that a draft policy will be prepared.
  •        Reviewing, revising and approving: Because policies must be approved at the highest level, top management must personally review the draft policies for approval.

Bear in mind that there will be a company or organizational quality policy (as well as health and safety and environmental policies) as established by top management. All other policies formulated at the lower levels must be consistent with the overall policy, with no contradictions.

Establishing quality goals

At the top level the quality goals or objectives are quite broad. These are set by top management for the organization as a whole, and it includes the information gained form the results of the context analysis for the organization.

Broad quality objectives are properly orientated to the results needed to be achieved by the organization. They are not the means for achieving the results, the plans for achieving the results are the means. Also, do not fall into the trap of becoming tool-orientated, instead of results-orientated. The tools for achievement is not the objective, they are the means for achieving the results.

Quality objectives should be expressed in numbers as far as practically possible. The plan for achievement should include a time frame or time frames, responsibilities, resource requirements, etc. The achievement of objectives must be monitored by top management.

Remember that quality objectives must be formulated within the framework of the quality policy.

Deploy the goals

The broad goals and objectives at the top level are merely “wish-lists” until they are properly deployed.

The top level goals are cascaded down through the different levels and functions of the organization, providing relevant objectives to all, with plans for achievement.

Provide resources

A major failure of top management is the failure to provide the resources to carry out the plans to achieve the objectives. This, of course, also sends a negative message to the lower levels. They perceive top management as all talk about objectives, but, because they do not provide the resources to achieve the objectives, top management is not perceived as serious about them.

The planned activities to achieve objectives must be incorporated into the normal day-to-fday activities of those who have to carry them out. In other words, sufficient time is allowed to achieve the objectives, and they are not separated from the normal work activities.

The resources are a price to be paid for meeting the objectives. Thus, they must be worth achieving, based on risks and opportunities that have been identified.

Part 2 of this article will provide guidance on the rest of the topics for management participation in CWQM. It will be published shortly!

Feel free to share your thoughts with us or ask any questions that you may have. You can use leave a comment or e-mail me at koosgouws10@gmail.com.

Also check out our website at www.sheqmanagementsystem.co.za.

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