Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs – May 2016

Welcome to May, 2016 edition of Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs.

We have taken up familiarization of different elements of new ISO 9001-

December, 2015: the changes in the Revision of ISO 9001 (:2015)

January, 2016: Process Approach in 9001:2015

February, 2016: Risk-Based Thinking in 9001:2015

March, 2016: Risk-Based Thinking – a general perspective

April, 2016: Context of the Organization in ISO 9001: 2015

In the present episode, we will take up an important element of the Context of the organization – The Relevant Interested Parties.

The Cambridge Business English dictionary defines Interested Parties  as ‘any of the people or organizations who may be affected by a situation or who are hoping to make money out of a situation’.

For the purpose of the ISO Management System standards, an interested party is anyone who can affect, be affected by, or believe that they are affected by a decision or activity.

any of the people or organizations who may be affected by a situation, or who are hoping to make money out of a situation any of the people or organizations who may be affected by a situation, or who are hoping to make money out of a situation.

ISO 9001:2015 – Interested Parties – Sara Gulo – So far in the evolution of this standard through the years and through the different stages of development, the customer has been almost the sole focus, mentioning suppliers, employees and regulators as carriers of key requirements but not specifically involving any other entity that could have had an impact on the actual results achieved. Not even owners of the organization….the new standard drills deeper in the risk based thinking, widening the view for all probable actors that could pose any risk to the customer. That is why interested parties were included in the new standard: they are probable sources for risks for customers. Consequently they matter and their requirements shall be considered.

Interested parties could be split into three different groups:

– Usually enforced interested parties: this group includes those stakeholders that could seldom be disregarded because of their usual impact on outcome and customer satisfaction such as customers (obvious), employees, suppliers, owners, and regulators, all them in different shapes and modalities.

– Possible interested parties: this group includes those stakeholders that could or could not affect the outcome and customer satisfaction such as unions, banks, neighbours, etc. but it could be valid to analyse their eventual impact.

– Openly interested parties: this group includes those stakeholders that for some reason the organization believes they are important to assure the outcome and customer satisfaction, even though its relationship is not that obvious.

How to determine interested parties and their requirements according to ISO 9001:2015 – Mark Hammar – The ISO 9001:2015 standard has several requirements that involve the knowledge you have acquired when determining the relevant interested parties and their requirements

• The QMS scope needs to include the requirements of relevant interested parties (Section 4.3).
• The Quality Policy is to be made available to relevant interested parties when appropriate (Section 5.2.2).
• Measurement traceability needs to be maintained when this is an expectation of relevant interested parties (Section 7.1.6).
• Requirements for products and services may need to include those from relevant interested parties (Section 8.2.3).
• Design and development activities need to take into account requirements of relevant interested parties, including how much control is expected in the design and development process (Section 8.3).
• Management review needs to include issues that concern relevant interested parties (Section 9.3).

Are all interested parties equally interested in the organization?  – Once you have identified the interested parties the next step you can take is to analyze these interested parties on two parameters (the standard does not require this but this might help you in understanding your interested parties better).

• Power
• Interest

Depending upon these two factors you can choose the appropriate approach. Stakeholder analysis is typically used in the project management.

We have also picked up some video clips on the subject:

Understanding ISO 9001:2015: Interested parties –

How you can decide and demonstrate which interested parties are relevant to your Quality Management System and / or your Environmental Management System?

– Dixon Brian

Alar Sistok

How to make an analysis of interested parties?

The new version of the management system standards now requires the organization’s top management to be far more proactive and involved. We will take up, the Leadership in the ISO Management Standards in our June, 2016 episode.

We will now turn to our regular sections:

ASQ CEO, Bill Troy in his ASQ’s Influential Voice talks about ASQ’s World Conference on Quality and Improvement, held May 16-18 in Milwaukee. We will have an update on the event in our June 2016 issue.

We now watch the latest ASQ TV  episodes:

• The Voice of the Customer – This episode discusses converting the voice of the customer (VOC) into critical-to-quality-characteristics by looking at how to make the perfect cup of coffee. You’ll also learn how social media has amplified today’s VOC, and how organizations are responding to and leveraging online customer information with big-data analysis.

In Jim L. Smith’s Jim’s Gems for the month of April, 2016, we have –

• Quality Professionals Should Lead the Parade – It is not uncommon to blame senior management for most of what ails an organization. However, it is past time to rethink this attitude! The ultimate question is: “Are you prepared and willing to put in the time and effort to demonstrate the power of the basic quality techniques?” Are you ready to lead the parade or do you find it easier to complain?
• Remain Determined – If you’ve ever been disappointed by the results of your first effort to “take something on,” that’s no reason to quit. As James Whitcomb Riley says, “The most essential factor is persistence—the determination never to allow your energy or enthusiasm to be dampened by the discouragement that must inevitably come.”
• Give Your Best – When there’s a job to be done, do more than just getting it done. Do remember what John Wooden, the great basketball coach, said, “Just do the best you can. No one can do more than that.”[i]

I look forward to your active participation in enriching the blog carnival as we pursue our journey in exploring the happenings across quality management blogs…………

Note: The images depicted here above are through courtesy of respective websites who have the copyrights for the respective images.

[i] The Difference Between winning and Succeeding