Eight quality Management principles

This document introduces the eight quality management principles on which the quality management system standards of the ISO 9000:2000 and ISO 9000:2008 series are based. These principles can be used by senior management as a framework to guide their organizations towards improved performance. The eight quality management principles are defined in ISO 9000:2005, Quality management systems Fundamentals and vocabulary, and in ISO 9004:2000, Quality management systems Guidelines for performance improvements.

Principle 1 Customer focus: Organizations depend on their customers and therefore should
understand current and future customer needs, should meet customer requirements and strive to exceed customer expectations. Key benefits:

Increased revenue and market share obtained through flexible and fast responses to market opportunities. Increased effectiveness in the use of the organization's resources to enhance customer satisfaction. Improved customer loyalty leading to repeat business.

Applying the principle of customer focus typically leads to:

Researching and understanding customer needs and expectations. Ensuring that the objectives of the organization are linked to customer needs and expectations. Communicating customer needs and expectations throughout the organization. Measuring customer satisfaction and acting on the results. Systematically managing customer relationships.

Principle 2: Leadership: Leaders establish unity of purpose and direction of the organization.
They should create and maintain the internal environment in which people can become fully involved in achieving the organization's objectives. Key benefits:

People will understand and be motivated towards the organization's goals and objectives. Activities are evaluated, aligned and implemented in a unified way. Miscommunication between levels of an organization will be minimized.

Applying the principle of leadership typically leads to:

Considering the needs of all interested parties including customers, owners, employees, suppliers, financiers, local communities and society as a whole. Establishing a clear vision of the organization's future. Setting challenging goals and targets.

Creating and sustaining shared values, fairness and ethical role models at all levels of the organization. Establishing trust and eliminating fear.

Principle 3: Involvement of People: People at all levels are the essence of an organization
and their full involvement enables their abilities to be used for the organization's benefit. Key benefits:

Motivated, committed and involved people within the organization. Innovation and creativity in furthering the organization's objectives. People being accountable for their own performance. People eager to participate in and contribute to continual improvement.

Applying the principle of involvement of people typically leads to:

People understanding the importance of their contribution and role in the organization. People identifying constraints to their performance. People accepting ownership of problems and their responsibility for solving them. People evaluating their performance against their personal goals and objectives. People actively seeking opportunities to enhance their competence, knowledge and experience.

Principle 4: Process approach

A desired result is achieved more efficiently when activities and related resources are managed as a process. Key benefits:

Lower costs and shorter cycle times through effective use of resources. Improved, consistent and predictable results. Focused and prioritized improvement opportunities.

Applying the principle of process approach typically leads to:

Systematically defining the activities necessary to obtain a desired result. Establishing clear responsibility and accountability for managing key activities. Analysing and measuring of the capability of key activities. Identifying the interfaces of key activities within and between the functions of the organization. Focusing on the factors such as resources, methods, and materials that will improve key activities of the organization.

Applying the principle of system approach to management typically leads to:

Structuring a system to achieve the organization's objectives in the most effective and efficient way. Understanding the interdependencies between the processes of the system. Structured approaches that harmonize and integrate processes. Providing a better understanding of the roles and responsibilities necessary for achieving common objectives and thereby reducing cross-functional barriers. Understanding organizational capabilities and establishing resource constraints prior to action.

Principle 6: Continual Improvement: Continual improvement of the organization's

overall performance should be a permanent objective of the organization. Key benefits:

Performance advantage through improved organizational capabilities. Alignment of improvement activities at all levels to an organization's strategic intent. Flexibility to react quickly to opportunities.

Applying the principle of continual improvement typically leads to:

Employing a consistent organization-wide approach to continual improvement of the organization's performance. Providing people with training in the methods and tools of continual improvement. Making continual improvement of products, processes and systems an objective for every individual in the organization. Establishing goals to guide, and measures to track, continual improvement. Recognizing and acknowledging improvements.

Principle 7: Factual approach to decision Making: Effective decisions are based on the
analysis of data and information. Key benefits:

Informed decisions. An increased ability to demonstrate the effectiveness of past decisions through reference to factual records. Increased ability to review, challenge and change opinions and decisions.

Applying the principle of factual approach to decision making typically leads to:

Ensuring that data and information are sufficiently accurate and reliable. Making data accessible to those who need it. Analyzing data and information using valid methods. Making decisions and taking action based on factual analysis, balanced with experience and intuition.

Principle 8: Mutually beneficial supplier Relationships: An organization and its

suppliers are interdependent and a mutually beneficial relationship enhances the ability of both to create value Key benefits:

Increased ability to create value for both parties. Flexibility and speed of joint responses to changing market or customer needs and expectations. Optimization of costs and resources.

Applying the principles of mutually beneficial supplier relationships typically leads to:

Establishing relationships that balance short-term gains with long-term considerations. Pooling of expertise and resources with partners. Identifying and selecting key suppliers. Clear and open communication. Sharing information and future plans.

Similarities and dissimilarities of important quality management schemes Six sigma is the structured application of tools and techniques applied on project basis to achieve sustained strategic results. Its important to remember that while TQM, or Total Quality Management, was around for quite a while before Six Sigma came along, Six Sigma and TQM do not have to be mutually exclusive in terms of business use. They are actually quite compatible in a number of different business situations and industries. It's best to think of the relationship between TQM and Six Sigma as TQM being able to help you improve the quality of your processes, your products, and your services, Six Sigma has the ability to help you make those improvements even sharper and more focused. Alright, let's start with TQM, Total Quality Management. TQM is a quality control approach that is usually thought of along with the development, implementation, and continual control of different organizational systems that are used with a number of different processes. TQM is based on a particular organizational approach, an approach that zones in on how to keep already existing quality standards at a high while simultaneously improving quality. Essentially, TQM is meant to focus on the culture of a business. What TQM strives to do is to get different departments in your business-whether manufacturing, service, or something else-to work together so that you can all help improve the quality of processes and products. Six Sigma is also an approach that seeks to correct and improve the quality of your processes. So how is Six Sigma different from TQM? Well, let's look at how it's obviously different. TQM strives for general improvements based on a collaborative cultural approach to the problem. Six Sigma also requires the efforts of numerous departments. However, Six Sigma is a statistical and data driven approach that measures and analyzes data in an effort to discover how variations and defects can be reduced to the level where when you are running a process, there are less than 3.4 defects per million cycles or million products. Six Sigma is

used along with Statistical Process Control, and together the two of them use statistics in order to monitor and maintain your processes. Six Sigma is a lot of TQM taken to another level. So now that we've gone over what the general differences are between TQM and Six Sigma, let's talk about the most fundamental difference between the two approaches. The fundamental difference between Six Sigma and TQM is the way that each one approaches quality control. First, let's look at TQM. TQM defines quality as the level to which a process or a product meets standards produced inside the company. Six Sigma shifts the definition of quality to a relational one, emphasizing that quality is based on the fewest number of defects, which must be removed as much as possible. However, Six Sigma's quality is also defined in large part by the customer, who determines the value of the process or the product. Six Sigma takes a more holistic approach to quality improvement, working to improve the entire business instead of focusing on individual processes and operations within segregated departments. Another difference between TQM and Six Sigma is that if you want ot implement Six Sigma's approach, you need professionals who are certified in Six Sigma techniques. TQM does not require this type of complete, full-time dedication to the quality management system chosen by your company. Once again, while there are many fundamental and superficial differences between Six Sigma and TQM, the two can work in tandem and support each other in all situations.

Importance of self assessment in quality management

According to the EFQM definition, Self assessment is a comprehensive, systematic and regular review of an organization's activities and results referenced against the EFQM Excellence Model. The self-assessment process allows the organization to discern clearly its strengths and areas in which improvements can be made and culminates in planned improvement actions which are then monitored for progress. Should a self assessment not be effective in securing quality improvement, the planning and funding bodies will work with the provider, using the services, where appropriate of the Quality Improvement Agency, to enable the provider to improve the effectiveness of its self-assessment as an integral part of its overall improvement strategy. Quality underpins self-assessment reports. This will enable to decide whether these provide adequate justification for the strengths and areas for improvement identified. Self assessment helps to the quality of the product by managing risks, the effectiveness of the provider in improving the quality and the responsiveness of its provision in meeting local needs. Effective self-assessment, supported by an integral quality improvement plan that takes into account the outcomes of inspection, is the key to improvement. For both the planning and funding bodies and the inspectorates, it will be an important tool in determining the extent of risks to the quality and delivery of provision and therefore the scale of their response. Staff consultation Information and consultation are the basic building blocks of every effective organisation. These concepts are as crucial to the relationship between the individual workers and their line manager as they are to the parties on an employee council. Whatever the size or type of your organisation people need to talk to each other. They need to:

exchange views and ideas issue and receive instructions discuss problems consider developments

The Information and Consultation of Employees (ICE) Regulations reflect this by establishing monitoring staff opinions and reacting effectively to their feedback can lead not only to improved retention and productivity, but can also be reflected in improvements in customer satisfaction, and so is a critical component in the management toolkit. ISO 9000 The ISO 9000 family of standards relate to quality management systems and are designed to help organizations ensure they meet the needs of customers and other stakeholders . The standards are published by ISO, the International Organization for Standardization and available through National standards bodies. ISO 9000 deals with the fundamentals of quality management systems including the eight management principles. ISO 9001:1987 Model for quality assurance in design, development, production, installation, and servicing was for companies and organizations whose activities included the creation of new products. ISO 9002:1987 Model for quality assurance in production, installation, and servicing had basically the same material as ISO 9001 but without covering the creation of new products. ISO 9003:1987 Model for quality assurance in final inspection and test covered only the final inspection of finished product, with no concern for how the product was produced. EFQM (formerly known as the European Foundation for Quality Management) is a non-profit membership foundation based in Brussels. To help organizations to continually improve and achieve higher levels of performance, EFQM provides networking and mutual learning experiences, offers education, recognizes achievements and supports the implementation of best in class tools and practices. This is achieved through the use and application of the EFQM Excellence Model. Benchmarking is the process of determining who is the very best, who sets the standard, and what that standard is. To know the standard and the competitors position Benchmark can be used by the organization. Most of the early work in the area of benchmarking was done in manufacturing. Now benchmarking is a management tool that is being applied almost anywhere.