© ISO Management Systems, www.iso.
org/ims
The eight Quality Management
Principles – a practical approach
The eight Quality Management Principles (QMP’s) are as fundamental and integral a part
of the IS0 9000:2000 series as the requirements for management review and preventive
action, and provide a platform for deploying good management practice throughout the
organization.
BY J OHN H ELE
John Hele is a Business Support
Manager with the British
Standards Institution (BSI).
He has been involved with quali-
ty for nearly 27 years, including
17 with BSI and the other 10
with a defence contractor, deal-
ing with materials technology.
He has overall responsibility for
quality management systems
within BSI Management Systems,
including responsibility for the
ISO 9000:2000 revisions
through membership of ISO
technical committee ISO/TC 176’s
Subcommittee 2, where he
works on user support.
BSI, 389 Chiswick High Road,
London W4 4AL, United Kingdom.
Tel. + 44 208 996 90 00.
Fax + 44 208 996 74 00.
E-mail John.Hele@
bsi-global.com
Web www.bsi-global.com
36 ISO Management Systems – March-April 2003
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T he eight Quality Management
Principles (QMP’s) are as fun-
damental and integral a part of the
agement systems – Guidelines for per-
formance improvements, and they
should be considered when introduc-
IS0 9000:2000 series as management ing a management system based on
review and preventive action. The the ISO 9000:2000, series in conjunc-
QMP’s not only provide the founda- tion with the QMP’s.
tion for the rest of the series’
The eight QMP’s are :
requirements and guidance, but more
importantly provide “top manage- Customer focus
ment” with the framework for intro- Leadership
ducing good management practice to
Involvement of people
underpin the organization’s manage-
ment systems. Process approach
When ISO decided to embark System approach to management
upon the revision of the ISO 9000
series, those involved in the develop-
Continual improvement
ment of the standards decided Factual approach to decision
through experience and knowledge making
of management systems that the prin- Mutually beneficial supplier
ciples would provide a framework to relationships.
help organizations towards continual
improvement. For the ISO 9000:2000 series of
For an organization to gain the standards to work effectively, a clear
most from the ISO 9000:2000 series, understanding of the principles is
they should first read and implement required together with how they
ISO 9000 and ISO 9001. work in conjunction
In order to understand with the requirements
the concepts and The QMP’s provide of ISO 9001:2000,
philosophies behind the ‘ top management ’ Quality management
standards, the user systems – Requirements.
should start with the with the framework Each of the principles
has its own part to play
Introduction and
Fundamentals sections
for introducing good in the management of
of ISO 9000:2000, management practice the organization, but the
Quality management main benefit is derived
systems – Fundamentals from looking at the
and vocabulary. The user will note principles as one homogeneous set of
there the references to “ interested enablers that top managers can use
parties ”. These are explained more and develop for the benefit of their
fully in ISO 9004:2000, Quality man- organization.
 © ISO Management Systems, www.iso.org/ims

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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.
Without customers, an organization cannot organization and its customers. These relation-
exist. There are many facets to the relationship ships are tested to determine the level of satis-
with the customer, but probably the most impor- faction that the customer has with the organiza-
tant one is to understand what the customers’ cur- tion’s product, also taking into account the
rent and future requirements are. By establishing customer’s perception of the service that deliv-
this understanding, the organization will be able ered the product. The results of these satisfac-
to focus on what its customers’ current needs are tion measures should be fed into the strategic
and plan for their future needs with, in some cases, information that top management uses to deter-
the help of the organization’s suppliers. mine the future strategy and resource needs of
It is vital that strategically, the top manage- the organization.
ment of the organization understands the overall Communication should also play a large part
and market needs of their current and future cus- in the relationship with clients and with these
tomers so that it can make any necessary plans relationships, communication should be two-
and arrangements to meet these requirements. way, the customer having a clear understanding
Clearly, the relationships that are developed of how to request help and information, as well
with customers are key to the well-being of the as whom they should contact.

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.
The opening line of the Introduction to ISO should be used as a checklist for establishing the
9001:2000 states : system. Top managers should also note that they
The adoption of a quality management system are responsible for resources (Clause 5.1e), so the
should be a strategic decision of an organization. whole of Section 6, Resource management, is also
applicable.
Strategy should be agreed and communicated
For top management to clearly understand what
from the highest level, in other words those that
goes on within the organization, as well as under-
lead the organization. Section 5, Management
standing the current and future needs of their cus-
responsibility, of ISO 9001 should be specifically
tomers, it will need to be involved in the manage-
owned and addressed by the most senior manage-
ment review process. With the ISO 9000:2000
ment. It is only through good communication with
series, it is now a strategic activity of management
the rest of the organization that the policies and
to seek continual improvement in order to estab-
objectives will be known and monitored, and it
lish and improve upon customer satisfaction.
also provides the impetus for the organization to
Management will also need to take into considera-
improve, as well as motivating the workforce to
tion the interested parties of the organization that
strive for a better future.
are outlined in ISO 9004:2000. These are:
Although top management has overall respon-
sibility for the entire management system, it ! customers ! suppliers ! the organization
should pay special attention to Clause 4.1, Quality and its shareholders (if it has any) ! staff, and
management system – General requirements, which ! society.

ISO Management Systems – March-April 2003 37

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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.

People are the essence of any organization.
Without them, the organization would not exist,
yet their treatment at times leaves a lot to be
desired. The requirements of the ISO 9000:2000
series have now addressed this potentially dam-
aging area by making sure that the people with-
in an organization are communicated to, know
and understand the relevance and importance of
their activities, and how these contribute to their
own and the organization’s objectives.
People who know and understand their role
have increased morale and feel more motivated
and, it is hoped, “ want ” to come to work as
opposed to “ having to ”. ISO 9001:2000 now asks
that the competencies of all staff are known and
evaluated with a view to making sure that they
have the right skills to do their job effectively.
How these skills are acquired is not important –
it is the fact that they have them in order to do
their job which counts.

Process approach
A desired result is achieved more efficiently when activities and related resources
are managed as a process.

The process approach is one of the corner-
stones of the standard. Processes should be
looked at as to “ what happens ” to produce a
product or deliver a service from an organiza-
tion, i.e. what do you do to deliver the product
or service to your customer ?
For any organization to provide its cus-
tomers with what has been agreed, the organi-
zation should work as one team with a common
goal – not, as is often the case, where the struc-
ture of the organization makes its operate as a
series of independent functions. All organiza-
tions should see themselves as providing servic-
es, whether they produce products or deliver
services – the only difference is the end product.
Therefore, the processes should be “ through-
out ” the organization and not just in the area
that directly provides the products and services.
It is important to determine the interaction of
each process with other processes that will have
an effect on or input to that process. The whole
system should be seen as one homogenous sys-
tem with no part being in isolation.
The organization should then look at each
activity of the process and determine the threats
and risks to that activity. From this analysis, the
right level of documentation/instructions can be
made available in balance with the competen-
cies of those who operate the processes.

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System approach to management
Identifying, understanding and managing interrelated processes as a system contributes
to the organization's effectiveness and efficiency in achieving its objectives.
Having processes is one thing – they also
need to be managed. The organization should
look at the interdependences of the processes
and how these can be integrated into one sys-
tem. For the processes to work effectively, how-
ever, the organization should be asking itself the
following questions :
! Who is responsible for the process – or – who
owns the process ?
! Does that person make sure that the
sequence of the process is correct and, where
other processes interact, that these do so in
an effective way ?
! Who is responsible for ensuring that there
are adequate resources – people and equip-
ment – for the process to be effective ?
Continual improvement
Continual improvement of the organization's overall performance should be
a permanent objective of the organization.
For any organization, continual improvement
should not be seen as a daunting task. It should,
however, be seen as a permanent objective of
the organization. There are always areas of the
business where improvements can be made. The
sources of information for achieving this are
multiple, such as the following :
! Look at the customer feedback information
and see what it is telling you about your
organization and its products and services.
! Look at the various threats and risks to the
business and where improvements can be
made to mitigate those risks.
! What feedback are you receiving from the
staff within the business that may be suggest-
ing where improvements can be made to
improve morale and motivation ?
© ISO Management Systems, www.iso.org/ims
! Who is responsible for the measurement and
monitoring of the process ?
! Who is responsible for ensuring that the
process is being improved where this is nec-
essary ?
By reviewing the above points periodically,
management should be able to ensure processes
that operate in accordance with management
policy achieve business objectives. To aid this,
knowing clearly how the processes should be
managed also helps when deciding and defining
the roles, responsibilities and authorities
required within the organization to ensure that
the processes are as efficient and effective as
possible.
! Where might you be able to make improve-
ments with your products/services by dis-
cussing various aspects with your suppliers ?
! What information can you glean from inter-
nal reviews/audits to indicate opportunities
and areas for improvement ?
Before you embark upon the improvement
cycle, you must decide what the situation is in
the area where the improvements are to be
made, i.e. measure the situation now, otherwise,
when you come to see if an improvement has
been made you will have nothing to compare the
new situation with.
Only carry out improvements that are going to
help your organization. If a suggested improve-
ment is not ultimately going to produce dividends,
then the chances are you should not be doing it.
ISO Management Systems – March-April 2003 39
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Factual approach to decision making

Effective decisions are based on the analysis of data and information.

Making decisions on facts that have been – improving staff morale and motivation, and
clearly analysed and presented should be the
– for the top management of the organization
goal of any business. If ISO 9001:2000 is used in
to make the right decisions taking into
the spirit of the standard, then there will be fac-
account the needs and views of all interested
tual evidence produced that, once analysed, can
parties.
be used to make decisions throughout the busi-
ness on a range of subjects such as : Making the right decisions for the organiza-
– continual improvement ; tion is never easy, but using the factual informa-
tion with experience and intuition can only help.
– the enhancement of processes ;
– improving customer satisfaction ;

Mutually beneficial supplier relationships

An organization and its suppliers are interdependent and a mutually beneficial relationship
enhances the ability of both to create value.
Suppliers should be seen by any business as current and future needs of your customers so
being as important as customers are. Think what that between you, you can put in place plans for
would happen if there were no suppliers? You future products and services? It is also probable
would probably not be in business. Where would that there may be a chance to optimize resources
you buy your materials and services? to the benefit of both you and your suppliers.
It is important to have good relations with Communications will also be enhanced and
your suppliers as it is in their interest as much as improved by having good relationships with
it is yours. Remember, you are their customers your suppliers who will help resolve problems
and they want in general to do the best for you, when these arise.
but probably cannot if they are not fully aware By having these relationships with your sup-
of all your requirements. This is certainly the pliers, there is value for both the organization
case for many smaller businesses that rely heav- and the suppliers. It is also probable that, when
ily on their suppliers. required, both parties can act together quickly
Do you as an organization let your suppliers to take advantage of different opportunities.
know of not only your requirements, but also the

Conclusion be driven, controlled and reviewed

In conclusion, the QMP’s are the
bedrock (together with considering
the requirements of interested par-
ties) of the ISO 9000:2000 series. The
standards are now true management
system standards and as such should
by the most senior management with-
in the organization, taking into
account the concepts and philoso-
phies behind the principles, when
introducing or updating their man-
agement systems.

40 ISO Management Systems – March-April 2003