To have an impact on business organizations must understand the importance of Quality and the impact on the financial and operational results. Starting with a vision leader of the organizations should embedded a Quality commitment where everybody understand and share the same values about Quality and throughout the whole organization.
Understanding the Quality principles is crucial to implement an innovative quality management culture.
- QMP Customer focus, The primary focus of quality management is to meet customer requirements and to strive to exceed customer expectations. Sustained success is achieved when an organization attracts and retains the confidence of customers and other interested parties. Every aspect of customer interaction provides an opportunity to create more value for the customer. Understanding current and future needs of customers and other interested parties contributes to sustained success of the organization.
- QMP Leadership, Leaders at all levels establish unity of purpose and direction and create conditions in which people are engaged in achieving the organization’s quality objectives. Creation of unity of purpose and direction and engagement of people enable an organization to align its strategies, policies, processes and resources to achieve its objectives.
3. QMP Engagement of people, Competent, empowered and engaged people at all levels throughout the organization are essential to enhance its capability to create and deliver value. To manage an organization effectively and efficiently, it is important to involve all people at all levels and to respect them as individuals. Recognition, empowerment and enhancement of competence facilitate the engagement of people in achieving the organization’s quality objectives.
4. QMP Process approach, Consistent and predictable results are achieved more effectively and efficiently when activities are understood and managed as interrelated processes that function as a coherent system. The quality management system consists of interrelated processes. Understanding how results are produced by this system enables an organization to optimize the system and its performance.
5. QMP Improvement, Successful organizations have an ongoing focus on improvement. Improvement is essential for an organization to maintain current levels of performance, to react to changes in its internal and external conditions and to create new opportunities.
6. QMP Evidence-based decision making , Decisions based on the analysis and evaluation of data and information are more likely to produce desired results. Decision making can be a complex process, and it always involves some uncertainty. It often involves multiple types and sources of inputs, as well as their interpretation, which can be subjective. It is important to understand cause-and-effect relationships and potential unintended consequences. Facts, evidence and data analysis lead to greater objectivity and confidence in decision making.
7. QMP Relationship management For sustained success, an organization manages its relationships with interested parties, such as suppliers. Interested parties influence the performance of an organization. Sustained success is more likely to be achieved when the organization manages relationships with all of its interested parties to optimize their impact on its performance. Relationship management with its supplier and partner networks is of particular importance.
Adapted from: Seven Quality Management Principles (QMPs). ISO 9000, ISO 9001.
HBS Global Consulting. 