What are the seven principles of Quality Management?

In today’s competitive business landscape, maintaining high standards of quality is essential for success. The ISO 9001:2015 standard provides a globally recognised framework for implementing a robust Quality Management System (QMS) that ensures consistent quality, customer satisfaction, and operational excellence.

At the heart of this standard are the seven quality management principles, which serve as the foundation for achieving sustainable growth and meeting the unique needs of businesses across various industries. This article explores these seven ISO QMS core principles, and the role each one plays in shaping a QMS. We’ll also discuss why these principles are important, how they contribute to building a process-driven culture, and how businesses can tailor their QMS to meet their specific needs.

What are the 7 principles of ISO 9001?

According to the ISO 9001:2015 standard, there are seven principles of quality management. Our teams of specialists can assist you in obtaining this certification. These principles are:

• Customer focus.
• Leadership.
• Engagement of people.
• Process approach.
• Improvement.
• Evidence-based decision making.
• Relationship management.

We haven’t numbered these management principles. Each will have a different priority according to an individual business’ nature and focus. Still, using these seven principles is the basis of a sound Quality Management System (QMS). Also, an ISO 9001:2015 certification lets customers know that you’re committed to quality. Effective quality management leads to customer satisfaction. We have put together a brief summary of these principles for you.

Customer focus

As the title suggests, this aim is to focus on both direct and indirect customers. Your goal is to meet customer requirements and exceed them. The focus is on netting sustained success by focusing on customers’ needs. Providing value-added services at every stage is vital. Customer focus means you need to manage customer relationships and watch customer satisfaction. Encourage your staff to talk to customers and find out what their needs are. You can then tailor your objectives to meet their needs.

Leadership

The aim of leadership should be to establish unity of purpose. By doing this, your leaders improve effectiveness and efficiency within your company. Leadership comes down to communicating your business’ quality objectives. Effective communication from leadership is vital. It aligns your company’s vision, direction, and policies to achieve its aims. Share your commitment to quality with your people to inspire and encourage them. They’ll then contribute to your ethos of quality.

Engagement of people

The ISO 9001:2015 statement reads:

Competent, empowered, and engaged people at all levels throughout the organisation are essential to enhance its capability to create and deliver value.

 

By engaging and empowering people at all levels, you encourage them to thrive. A thriving workforce adds value to their organisation’s quality management. You can meet this goal by talking to your staff and affirming employees’ contributions to your business.

Process approach

Quality management systems consist of several different processes working together. Appoint people to develop and oversee these processes to be effective. Ensure that everybody understands the objectives and knows what the end result should be. Share information to help the continual improvement of your quality management. The process approach aims to provide consistent and predictable results. Consistency enhances customer confidence in your ability to deliver.

Continual Improvement

Focus on constant improvement by responding to market changes and customers’ changing needs. Gear all your quality systems toward finding new ways to do things and make the services or goods you provide better. An organisation that loses the ability of continual improvement loses business. Avoid resistance to change. Something that worked 10 years ago may not be relevant today. Your organisation needs to evolve and improve to remain competitive.

Evidence-based decision-making

Ensure that your people base their choices on the gauging of on-hand data and information. Make relevant data available to the decision-makers in your organisation, encouraging objectivity. Having access to reliable data allows for an improved decision-making process. Also, it helps with your company’s capability to review and change decisions or opinions. It also allows you to determine past decisions’ effectiveness. To make this possible, you need to train staff to study and test data and information that passes through their hands.

Relationship management

ISO 9001:2015 focuses on relationship management with suppliers and partners. Expand this to include clients. The idea works on the theory that you need to have a good relationship with all interested parties. You need a good rapport with partners for them to supply you efficiently when activities overlap. By pooling information, expertise, and resources, you benefit all parties involved. A good relationship with suppliers results in an effective and efficient supply chain.

Why are quality management principles important?

Quality management principles are essential because they provide a robust framework for organisations to achieve consistent quality, meet key requirements, and drive overall performance. These principles form the foundation of a quality management system (QMS), helping businesses align their quality objectives with customer and stakeholder needs while fostering sustainable growth and a competitive advantage.

A strong customer focus is central to these principles, enabling businesses to understand customer expectations, gather customer feedback, and ultimately exceed customer expectations. This approach not only improves customer satisfaction but also builds mutually beneficial relationships with other stakeholders and other interested parties, such as suppliers and partners.

Additionally, the principles encourage employee engagement and employee motivation, ensuring that teams are aligned with the organisation’s quality goals. Through effective resource allocation, data analysis, and communication channels, businesses can achieve operational excellence and maintain a competitive edge in their industry.

Overall, the seven quality management principles provide a robust framework for organisations to define and achieve their quality initiatives, boost performance improvement efforts, and support sustainable growth.

Each business will need to alter the QMS to address their industry and needs

Keep in mind that different activities, industries, and organisations – such as those involved in developing medical devices or manufacturing – have unique key requirements and challenges. It’s crucial to define your company’s core business needs, align them with your quality goals, and tailor the QMS to suit your specific circumstances. A process-driven culture that emphasises risk-based thinking, resource allocation, and evidence-based decision making will help you address potential unintended consequences and avoid costly mistakes.

Testing and analysing salient data and objective data is important to shaping your quality management strategy. This ensures that your decisions are based on reliable information, enabling you to optimise process performance, improve customer satisfaction, and maintain a competitive edge. Additionally, fostering employee engagement and employee motivation will ensure that your team is aligned with the organisation’s quality objectives and committed to achieving operational excellence.

Final thoughts

These seven principles constitute the baseline for QMS in any organisation. By understanding and applying these quality principles, you can build a QMS that not only meets your organisation’s needs but also strengthens mutually beneficial relationships with other stakeholders and other interested parties. This approach will help you exceed customer expectations, optimise performance improvement efforts, and support your organisation’s journey toward sustainable growth and long-term success.

How can Citation Certification help?

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Partner with us to get your business to higher standards: with 30 years of experience, Citation Certification has worked with thousands of organisations on their certification journey.

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