Point 5.1.1f of ISO 9001:2015 asks us to communicate how important it is for the quality management of an organization to be truly effective. The communication process is essentially based on what the sender of the message communicates and what the receiver understands from that message.
In this specific case, everything is based on explaining and understanding the term "quality management." ISO 9000:2015 defines "quality management" as what coordinates activities aimed at directing and controlling an organization with respect to quality (e.g., establishing policies and objectives, designing the processes needed to achieve these objectives through planning, etc.).
Although the definition implies that quality management should be carried out from the top, that is, by the organization's leadership, and its implementation should involve all members of the organization, perhaps the definition given by Ackoff at the time is more on point: quality management is the management that serves to increase the quality of an organization’s outputs, i.e., how to manage an organization to produce increasingly higher quality. However, the requirement we are addressing here asks us to communicate the importance of effective quality management, not just the importance of quality management itself.
Quality, as we know, is a variable. Consequently, even when an organization fails to satisfy one of its customers, it is still managing quality, albeit ineffectively. Additionally, there is not just one way to increase the quality of an output because this too is a variable. What may be completely appropriate in one situation may not be at all in another. There may also be cases where, to improve the quality of an output, an organization creates significant instability within the entire system. To work effectively on this requirement, one must pay close attention to all these nuances. Explaining to people that quality is important is unfortunately not enough, as they also need to know how they can work to ensure this quality consistently and even improve it over time, seeing it reflected in the organization's outputs.
This is what "quality management" means, and this is why it is crucial that this message comes from top management. In addition to this requirement 5.1.1f, there are three others in ISO 9001:2015 that concern the same subject, expressed in different ways. Let’s look at them one by one:
- Point 5.1.2 – requires us to demonstrate the leadership and commitment necessary to focus on the customer;
- Point 5.2 – requires us to communicate the quality policy;
- Point 7.3 – specifies that those working under the organization’s control must be aware of the quality policy, the objectives, the contribution they personally make in ensuring the effectiveness of the quality system, and the implications of any non-conformities with the standard’s requirements.
The responsibility of educating employees to work in a way that continuously improves the quality of their outputs lies with the individual managers. However, their work is made much easier if the importance of this requirement is emphasized by the company's leadership. It is up to management, in fact, to find the right words to express the importance of effective quality management. For example, they could try to make employees understand how important it is to build a good reputation and what this means for customer satisfaction, job stability, the ability to attract talent, and even the contributions they can make to the environment in which they operate and to society.
There are many factors that can influence effective quality management, and it will be up to management to decide which ones to focus on to raise awareness among employees. Here are just a few, knowing that each of you could add many more:
- learning;
- objective evaluation;
- planning;
- sharing;
- communication;
- clarity;
- control;
- trust;
- recognition;
- commitment;
- responsibility;
- policies;
- values;
- vision;
- understanding;
- listening;
- attention;
Let’s conclude by explaining how to demonstrate compliance with this requirement of the standard, i.e., that top management has communicated the importance of having effective quality management. You can follow these approaches:
- Select employees who can explain in detail how they identify those factors in their daily work that are essential to ensuring the quality of their outputs and explain why these factors have the greatest impact, rather than others;
- Present evidence collected by top management that led them to believe that the workforce fully understands the importance of managing quality effectively;
- Select and present feedback from customers that includes both negative and positive responses, which align with the results presented earlier, and associate them with the analyses done to fully understand the issue.