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ISO Certification or Business Management?

By Ed Bones

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Published: 25May2009
Word count: 462
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The concept that an ISO standard registration is an indication of a well organised and managed company is well established in the minds of business managers, despite the evidence to the contrary and the logic that would deny this generalization. In reality, for many the certification - because you seldom find ISO implementation that is not accompanied by a certificate - has become an alternative to rational management practice.

Success in an organisation requires leadership in real terms, not just a bunch of directions. Leaders need a system of management, an agenda. They have to understand that money is nourishment, quality the fabric and relationships the soul of the organisation. To build enduring relationships, employees, suppliers and customers must be helped to be successful. For an organisation's managers to dump their responsibility onto a group of procedures is a violation of the most basic ethics.

The adoption of a management standard could be a good start to an improved experience in any organisation, but for the majority it leads to the establishment of fiefdoms and barricades where the perceived 'owners' of the documented system fight a continual war - and according to them unsuccessfully - to compel an unwilling organisation to comply with the rules as written.

Ask the average company executive about their system, and they will have no idea what it says or means. They will offer to call someone to explain it. They hear and see other companies following the path to ISO registration and believe it must be a good thing. They wouldn't dream of taking this approach with finances or human resources.

Running an organisation of any type is concerned with two things, transactions and relationships. Quality management should focus on the creation of an organizational culture where all transactions are understood completely and accomplished correctly every time, and where relationships are successful. Effective quality management cannot be a collection of activities, procedures and events, but a serious and pragmatic reality; it should be seen as the fabric of the way the organisation is run. It is built around an unshakeable policy requiring conformance to agreements, clear transaction requirements, continual education and training, attention to relationships, and management involvement in the operation. How often do we see any real commitment to these concepts, or even an understanding of their significance?

Information gathered within documents such as ISO9001 is useful - as information - because they bring together the conventional knowledge of quality assurance. There is no requirement for an organisation to be certified to them, or benefit in so doing.

For many, if not the majority, their ISO certificate has become the alternative to thoughtful and informed management, the standard being blamed for irrational and unnecessary bureaucracy, when inept management is the real cause of such failings.

Ed. Bones is a chartered quality professional, an IRCA registered Lead Auditor, and is a senior partner with Meon Consulting Group, providing expert audit and consultant services for ISO9001 & ISO14001 management systems. The company web site provides detailed information, and includes the offer of FREE Advice.

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