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[QualitiAmo - Stefania]

Su QualityGurus potete leggere un articolo dal titolo: "ISO 9000 AND TQM: THE PLACE OF HUMAN RESOURCES".

Questa è la versione tradotta in italiano con il traduttore automatico di Google

One problem I believe that is faced by so many businesses is with regards to quality definition and how to implement it in their organization. Most of these companies tend to achieve quality through so many means. Most importantly is the application of ISO 9000:2000. This certification is seen as the bases for total quality management (TQM) to be implemented within the business so that the business competitive edge and performance can be improved. Thus for TQM to be effective within this standard, there should be a cultural shift that implies self control within the business which directly affects the way the personnel’s are managed. In line with this, and for the achievement of total quality as stated in ISO 9000:2000, there must be an effective and efficient use of the human resources (HR) of the organization. Therefore for this three ( ISO certification, TQM and HR) to work effectively within the organization I believe that there need to be changes in the way businesses see their HR and the way the HR operates their functions. It is really funny that within the concept of quality attainment, most organizations forget the significance of the human element to their businesses. Maybe the reason is that most businesses are often involved in production and as such believe that more attention should be focused on the technology involved. In line with ISO 9000:2000 certifications, TQM cannot work is isolation because it is a philosophy that needs all members of the organization to be involved since its impact on the HR content is very big.

It is now 17 years since ISO 9000 was introduced and there have been argument if it can really function as a standard for product improvement and quality service so that in the end customer satisfaction is achieved. Funny enough most people including some specialize businesses see it as a multi-million dollar industry and depend on it for their livelihood but despite this, the purpose of the certification is that the mistakes of the organizations can be identified so that their operations can be streamlined in order for consistent level of quality to be guaranteed. Consider ISO 9000:1994, this standard lacked efficiency with respect to strategic quality planning, systematic training in quality, focus on customer satisfaction and commitment by management. To me this standard was just a face lift because HR content was lacking in it, and it does not relate to TQM and most importantly which to me was not good is that it depended mainly on external auditors. But with ISO 900:2000, performance rather than conformance was the underlying context and as such it focused on making sure that the manufacturing bias in the previous ISO standards were removed so that an attempt to harmonize all the standards can be possible. In the new ISO 9001:2000, the standards are generally positive but to me I believe that within the new ISO 9001:2000 standard, there is a perceived usefulness erosion of its importance in the future mainly with regards to the benefits in the short term. But then also this is just a part of it since there is a large amount of TQM requirements that ISO 9000 does not satisfy. Some days ago I read a book titled Quality and Management by Karl Manning and he said that “the process used in assessing quality is basically the only available means through which the initiatives of TQM can be assessed and monitored because it provides organizations with an internal mechanism that is competitive enough to brace future imposition resulting from trade barriers in terms of quality requirements”.

Therefore the issue of HR need be at the centre of the philosophy of quality because the involvement of the organization’s personnel is crucial for the introduction and implementation of those elements leading to improved quality to be a success. There is no doubt that TQM has a big HR context no wonder quality movement recognized the HR utilization importance. Thus it can be concluded that HR is a prerequisite for all quality movement efforts to be effective since improvement in TQM brings about a corporate culture change that brings about the development of an established work climate where trust and achievement for goal by the personnel takes place.

With regards to ISO 9000 series, the place of quality improvement and the utilization of HR is a little limited mainly when it concerns the implementation of the ISO 9000 standards. There is no doubt about it that some organizations often are confused with short term projects, quality initiatives and the certification of ISO 9000. Therefore ISO 9000:2000 implementations help to increase an organization’s expectations that the new system in place will bring them closer to TQM such as the process based approach and the five building blocks that are meant to help reduce the documentation amount required for any task. It also has a great impact on the strategic human resources management (SHRM) of an organization. ISO 9000 and SHRM relationship is part of the function of the HR department that helps to design, introduce and implement a quality assurance system (QAS) that is certified by external evaluators. Thus the functions of the HR play an important role with regards to the QAS design and implementation and also there exists situations where the QAS was implemented with the functions of the HR department. No wonder most of the players within the HR profession wants the fundamental principles and practices of quality into their HRM practices needs be implemented because quality improvement and ISO certification is a major challenge within the system. Therefore the emergence of quality management from quality assurance basically tends to focus on the technical aspect rather on the human aspect of quality and as such those businesses that are involved with the approach of quality assurance for the improvement of quality do not allow staff to contribute and also focus their training mainly towards those employees within the production process and so most of those that believe in the technical part of quality exclude their HR department in designing and implementing the QAS like the ISO 9000. To overcome this technical approach, I strongly think it is important for the HR department to be involved in the standard implementation of ISO 9000 within their organizations and this can be achieved in the following ways

The HR department needs to be involved in designing, introducing and maintain the various initiative put in place

Establishing a quality orientation within the HR function

The traditional personnel practices needs to be changed so as to bring about the support for total quality

But achieving the above and making the HR contribute to the organization’s development is influenced by the quality stage that an organization is in since this can impact on the changes likely to take place which in turn also affect s how the HR department is formed in relation to the quality strategic objectives. Therefore to implement total quality, there must be adjustments within the organization on a continuous basis for the entire category of work within the organization and most importantly the utilization of the HR of the organization since this have a big role in the assessing, planning and implementation process of TQM. Also meeting customer needs and improving the quality of product or service rendered is seen as everybody’s task and because of that, all employee need to be made responsible and as such needs be carried along the way for total success to be achieved. Of course the objective of achieving totally quality is a long term objective rather than a short one and as such is part of the organization’s business strategy and so must take seriously the education and training of personnel. By getting everybody involved in the implementation of its TQM, an organization’s dominant values, structures and hoe employees relate with each other are changed.

In conclusion, ISO 9000:2000 is mainly an audit of procedures where the HR impact is minimal. Therefore for most of those organizations where ISO implementation for the achievement of TQM failed, it is obvious that human resources issues were not at the center of the quality strategy formulation and implementation they need to understand that TQM is about people and respect for people. In some of these organizations the strategic role of people is still not dynamic and is considered to be very costly and complex. The organization must not see its people as part of the problem but rather as the solution. Thus I believe that for these businesses to excel the management and utilization of personnel must be at the core of their business and as such they need to strive and focus on specific issues and measures, which cover all HR related activities.
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Stefania - Staff di QualitiAmo

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