Creating a Solid Quality Foundation
The purpose of alignment is to enable everyone in an organization to behave in a way that furthers the organization's interests and those of its stakeholders. In my March 2005 column ("Many Vehicles, One Direction"), I discussed the notion of aligning the actions of everyone in the organization and explained the importance of properly deployed objectives. For quality management, this notion relates to the requirement in ISO 9001 subclause 5.4.1, which directs top management to "ensure that quality objectives… are established at relevant functions and levels within the organization…." For environmental management, determining environmental objectives and targets is referred to in subclause 4.3.3 of ISO 14001.
It might seem that alignment starts with establishing clear objectives. But this is only a part of the concept, and it might actually be the easy part. My recent experience indicates that a number of tasks must be done before even thinking about objectives. Organizations pursuing registration to a management system standard such as ISO 9001 or ISO 14001 would be well advised to review their mission and vision statements first.
An organization's mission is a declaration of its reason to exist. The mission statement describes in high-level terms what the organization is. Clearly understanding the business of the organization and how it succeeds in that business is crucial. Mission statements may reflect the way in which the organization behaves, its direction in pursuing business opportunities or how it treats its people. Because mission statements express what the organization is, they seldom need to be changed.
An organization's vision statement provides a picture of the organization in the future. Understanding where the organization is going, or needs to go, is often as critical as understanding the current mission. Unlike the organization's mission, its vision may need to change over time. Vision is developed by first gaining a clear picture of the organization's current situation and then picturing what the organization needs to look like in the future. The process starts with top managers, who work out their picture of the organization's future and share it with employees. Their objective should be to get employees to understand the vision so everyone is heading in the same direction and has the same idea of the ultimate destination. An organization might visualize becoming something very different from what's described in its current mission statement. For example, it might have the vision of abandoning its current lines of business in favor of growth in other areas.
These notions are often given little real emphasis, and creating mission and vision statements is sometimes an isolated, idealistic exercise that brings little benefit to most members of an organization. This is often due to a lack of honest dialogue between top managers about the real purpose and vision of the organization. Poor communication leads to problems such as quality policies that aren't linked directly to the organization's real reasons for existing. This is where a formal management system built around ISO 9001 or ISO 14001 comes in. By properly developing quality objectives, a quality professional can help develop such honest dialogue.
When it establishes objectives, an organization must consider both the mission and the vision. If an organization visualizes becoming very different in the future, the long-term objectives will be very different from near-term goals. Both long- and near-term objectives must be met; setting goals with the long term in mind without adequately emphasizing near-term performance is a prescription for failure.
In some cases, mission and vision can be developed independently of one another, but often they're interrelated. They should be reflected in strategies and all the organization's policies, including quality policy and objectives.
Developing and updating the organization's mission, vision and overall business objectives should be an integral part of the organization's strategic planning process. Including the development of aligned quality objectives in the strategic planning process can also be a positive step.
The question, "What are quality objectives?" shouldn't be asked in isolation. Rather, the question should be, "What are the things related to quality that support our organizational mission, vision and overall business objectives, and what's our policy related to those things?"
Objectives are only one piece of the puzzle. Without a clear vision and mission, and a policy statement that's consistent with them, quality objectives won't achieve the results they were intended to produce.
Note: This article is based in part on chapters 4 and 10 of Unlocking the Power of Your Quality Management System: Keys to Performance Improvement by John E. (Jack) West and Charles A. Cianfrani (ASQ Press, 2004).
John E. (Jack) West is a consultant, business advisor and author with more than 30 years of experience in a wide variety of industries. From 1997 through 2005 he was chair of the U.S. TAG to ISO TC 176 and lead delegate for the United States to the International Organization for Standardization committee responsible for the ISO 9000 series of quality management standards. He remains active in TC 176 and is chair of the ASQ Standards Group.
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