Quality Management is a management system which seeks to deliver total customer satisfaction through fulfilling the customer’s quality requirements while continually achieving improvement in business performance.
It is a whole of company approach for delivering customer satisfaction and involves all areas of the organisation. It is not so much a system, but a philosophy and way of working which is culturally embedded in the organisation and upheld by all key stakeholders.
According to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) (www.iso.org), quality management is defined by 8 key principles:
- Principle 1: Customer focus
- Principle 2: Leadership
- Principle 3: Involvement of people
- Principle 4: Process improvement
- Principle 5: Systems approach to management
- Principle 6: Continual improvement
- Principle 7: Factual approach to decision making
- Principle 8: Mutually beneficial supply relationship
The best known standard for quality management is the ISO 9000 series.
Companies committed to Quality Management must have a sound quality policy, which includes quality assurance.
There are a number of consultants and organisations in Australia which can assist with Quality Management. Your local Business Advisory Service can also assist.