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ISO 9001:2008 section 5
5. Management Responsibility - ISO 9001:2008 section 5.3d
ISO 9001: 2008 5.3 Quality Policy
ISO 9001: 2008 clause 5.3 d requires the quality policy is communicated and understood within the organization.
For a quality policy to be understood it must be communicated. Searching no further than the main office notice board, will no doubt lead you to many organizations quality policy statements. Some will be proudly displayed in prominent positions where visitors and others wait before being escorted to their hosts etc.
However, in reality for the quality policy to be clearly communicated you need to have the attention of those being briefed, they need to understand the policy at their level within the organization, this before they can start to accept its purpose and finally they will need to act in a manner that is conducive to the quality policy intentions. This will not be achieved by pinning the quality policy on notice boards in a few key areas.
The real key to effective communications of the quality policy is to ensure that it is understood at all levels throughout the organization and therefore one style of presentation, lets say to middle management, may well not necessarily 'switch the light on' for a group of engineers or production staff. It really is a case of horses for courses and management need to ensure they know their target audience for communication efforts to be effective, this is fundamentally the same in any subject being briefed...
A typical plan-do-check-act cycle can supply the principles for effective communications of the quality policy.
Plan
Debate and agree quality policy content. Develop a strategy to effectively communicate the quality policy. Decide on different strategies for different levels of staff. Agree on a timescale of implementation and stick to it.
Publish the quality policy in-accordance to pre agreed time-scales ensuring that planned training and briefing commitments are not cancelled. Cancellation of quality policy training and briefing would simply undermine the whole QMS from the very beginning.
Do
The understanding of the quality policy. This can be achieved during meetings, staff / management 1 to 1's, Personal Development Reviews and similar processes that check staff development and or set staff objectives;
Organizations should include quality policy reviews as part of their management review meetings, these are normally annually, however the frequency should be agreed not just accepted. Audits are another area that should be used to check the quality policy is understood.
Both these methods should check the effectiveness of the quality policy at achieving its objectives.
Check
Organizations need to feedback findings and suggestions to allow changes and fixes to be planned and implemented.
Changes to the quality policy will also require to follow the PDCA cycle, although this maybe on a smaller scale.
Act
An auditor can be a very useful resource in measuring the effectiveness of your organizations quality policy.
Audit questions structured to extract an individuals understanding need to be pitched in a user friendly straightforward fashion.
Examples questions;
Where would I be able to find a copy of the company's quality policy?
What do you understand from the training and or briefings you were given on the quality policy?
How do you think your function relates to the quality policy intentions?
How do you believe you are effected by the quality policy?
What are your objectives and how do they relate to the quality policy?
How would you deal with a customer (internal or external) who was not happy with the product or service you provide?
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