Content by Arun Hariharan
Certifying Body: Partner or Police Force?The benefits of continuous improvement for its own sake
Wed, 10/07/2015 - 15:43
In my previous article, “Is Poor Quality ISO 9001’s Fault?” I shared the example of the chairman of a large company who ridiculed ISO 9001, saying, “Even the municipal office of this city is ISO 9001-certified. And we all know how bad the… Is Poor Quality ISO 9001’s Fault?Or is top management the problem?
Tue, 10/06/2015 - 11:02
The chairman of a large company once ridiculed ISO 9001, saying, “Even the municipal office of this city is ISO 9001-certified, and we all know how bad the municipality is. I don’t believe ISO 9001 can do my business any good.”
The chairman had… Fostering Ideas and InnovationTake a process-based approach to knowledge management
Mon, 09/21/2015 - 00:00
The ideas developed by your employees, partners, and distributors can be an important source of knowledge that, in many cases, proves quite relevant to your business.
However, I must admit that I had no clue as to how enormously important… Creating a Strategic Knowledge Management FrameworkEight steps for building a companywide program
Wed, 08/26/2015 - 13:22
My last article took a look at the new Clause 7.1.6 in ISO 9001:2015, which concerns organizational knowledge and its management. The article also introduced the strategic knowledge management framework. A detailed explanation of each of the… What’s Really New in ISO 9001:2015? Knowledge ManagementHelping an organization implement a strategic knowledge management program
Tue, 08/11/2015 - 11:55
Peter Drucker once said, "The most important, and indeed the truly unique, contribution of management in the 20th century was the fifty-fold increase in the productivity of the manual worker in manufacturing. The most important contribution… The Roots of SuccessTend these leading indicators if you want your business to grow
Tue, 03/17/2015 - 14:13
When I was a child, my grandfather used to take me to a garden. On one such visit, I saw the gardener watering and tending the plants and trees. I noticed that he took care to water them at the roots. Out of childish curiosity, I asked him, “Why do… Give Me Authority, You Take AccountabilityFor this hands-off attitude, I lay much of the blame with quality folks such as myself
Wed, 02/25/2015 - 13:23
Ask employees what is most important to their company and its CEO and they’ll commonly claim it’s the functions that are reported directly to the CEO. However, from my interactions, it seems undeniable that the organization chart plays a… When Controls Go Out of ControlImplement <em>poka-yoke</em> and save customers from dealing with your mistakes
Wed, 02/04/2015 - 10:33
Recently, I paid for a magazine subscription with a check. A few days later, a person from the magazine’s office phoned me to say that my check had been returned unpaid by my bank. I wondered what the reason could be, as I had enough money in my… Please Ignore If Already DoneHassling your customers unnecessarily is never a good idea
Mon, 01/26/2015 - 10:41
Irecently received a letter from my bank asking me to submit certain documents, apparently required by “know your customer” (KYC) regulations. I was a little surprised to receive this letter, for just a few months earlier, I had already submitted… The Quality ParadoxPrevent the fire, or fight it?
Tue, 01/20/2015 - 16:29
Have you encountered the following situation? A company has no time for quality, and therefore has more and more business problems. So they spend even more time fire-fighting, and as a result has even less time for quality, and so on.
I call this…
