This is part 3 of my series of radically reviewing ISO9001 for the 21st century. In this post I continue my discussion on how to improve the Quality Audit function in an ISO9001 company. My editorial comments are in [square brackets].
Support [of the system]
Internal
Audits contain another opportunity for improvement in this new perception of
the ISO9001 standard. Being an internal
auditor is not an easy task as detailed by Karr & Klemens (2011). The main reason for the difficulties are due
to a company culture that pre-disposes employees to consider an internal audit
as, at best, a nuisance and, at worst, a waste of time. A simple change of terminology and work
method could change this perception of Internal Audit and lend it a renewed air
of respectability and value. The change
in terminology would be from “Internal Audit” to “Internal Assessment” and the
change in work method would be from an impartial evaluator to a cooperative
consultant. The new terminology for the
auditor him/herself would be “Internal Consultant”. When coupled with the previously described
real-time assessment these simple changes would help improve compliance with
the standard and the working conditions of the consultants. An assessment would be conducted in a similar
fashion as the current audit but would be different at the time of the closing
meeting. Having identified the gaps in
the department’s activities compared to the standard the consultant would then
meet with the functional head and discuss the corrective actions together. Rather than make an audit report and move on
to the next area the consultant would remain engaged with the manager and
actively support the creation and implementation of the corrective
actions. This type of knowledge sharing
often happens informally with the current method without recognition of this
value from higher management (Alic & Borut, 2011). The new method would acknowledge the value
brought by the consultant and when combined with full functional manager
responsibility for the QMS will lead to the functional managers requesting
support from the consultants rather than dreading their approach. [Assuming that] ISO9001 is a strategic decision by the
management of the company this improvement of knowledge sharing and internal
cooperation will lead to improved business performance.
References
References
Alic, M.; Borut, R. (2011). Managerial relevance of internal
audit. The TQM Journal 23(3).
Karr, J. & Klemens, P. (2011). When quality needs an
audit. Journal of GXP Compliance 15(4).
