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In this article David Hoyle & John Thompson of
Transition Support look at the various ways people have commenced the
application of ISO 9000 and arrived at a result that is less effective
for the organization than might have been the case had they started
from a different point.
There is an old Irish story
told of a tourist passing through Ireland and seeing an old man sat on
a wall, stops to ask him the way to Dublin. The old man replies
“Dublin is it you want? - Oh I wouldn’t start from here”.
This illustrates the dilemma of
those making the transition to ISO 9000:2000. They get so far along
the road and get lost only to find they have to retrace their steps
because they have started in the wrong place. Or, they assume they
have reached the right place but then discover months later that they
are nowhere near it.
By proceeding in the direction
in which they set out, it may look like they have built a ‘quality
management system’. In reality they have probably done no more than
create a collection of documents – a ‘Quality Manual’, ‘Quality
Procedures’ and Forms - which describe a set of responses to clauses
contained in ISO 9001 in the form of a series of transactions.
If the result is no more than
that a collection of documents you will not have improved
performance, nor have an effective
(quality) management system.
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“What you need to do is to
document all your activities”
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“All you need to do is to turn
your procedures into flow charts”
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“You need to map your processes”
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“A good place to start is to
define your objectives”
We examine the
‘helpful’ advice above and find where each might take us if we were to
start from there. However, look out for sharp rocks and crevices
along the way........... |
