Barry Mallis asked:
> I'm not sure what you mean by QMS. For us it refers to our ISO
> 9001 system. Is that what you mean? Or do you refer to a system
> which uses quality principles to inform all its processes? ISO is
> NOT a quality system in the sense that it doesn't guarantee or
> elaborate upon the concept we generally refer to as quality.
Barry:
A bit of explanation. My company has been ISO certified for almost
four years. Because we are relative "old timers" to ISO, we're now
identifying shortcomings to the standard and registration system.
Like most registered companies, we identified 20 major elements and
assumed that if we implemented these elements that we would have a
good quality system. Wrong. The 20 elements were implemented without
the benefit of systems thinking. So, we now have 20+ sub-programs
that don't necessarily advance the needs of the organization.
Our quality department is coming to an understanding of systems
thinking, and is trying to view a fix of the entire system rather than
fix our part of the system and push our problem into someone else's
department.
We are working under these premises:
1) the system needs improvement
2) ISO 9001 is not a complete system, but provides an infrastructure
for which a great quality management system can be built
3) our new quality management system will be built using Juran's
model for "Strategic Quality Management" (see "Quality Planning and
Analysis" by Juran & Gryna, 3rd edition, ch. 6)
4) our quality assurance team must use the five disciplines of
Learning Organizations.
I believe that we're headed for a QMS that most quality practitioners
would call "Total Quality Management" (TQM), but we will need time to
evolve into that. Because our team is still in early formation, I'm
looking for exercises that will help team members understand each
others values. After values are established, then the formation of
vision becomes much easier.
Bill Hendry gave me a big tip when he recommended "Value Cards" from
Pfeiffer & Company (LO11421). This morning I searched for Pfeiffer's
home page and found it at www.pfeiffer.com. Pfeiffer's on-line
catalog offers resources to LO's that I didn't know exist. I may not
use the "Value Cards" but I'll definitely use some game from them.
Thanks Bill!
--
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Brad Myers, CQA
bmyers@gelman.com
Gelman Sciences
Ann Arbor, Michigan
--Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>