Writing a Quality Policy: Rationale format

Since most Quality Policy Manuals follow the numbering format from the ISO 9000 standard they are using, the meat of the policies consist of the 20 subsections of section 4.0. Each of those subsections includes one or more policy statements. A possible format for including the rationale with the policy statement consists of stating the: 1. Specific activity 2. Rationale, consisting of o Belief concerning solution to potential problems o Benefits to company 3. Policy

State specific activity

State rationale
For every given activity, there are potential problem areas. The obvious ones should be stated, along with a possible way to solve those problems. Sometimes these are simply beliefs of the upper management as ways to solve problems. For example, if you have a company that designs products to customer specifications, there might be the potential for unauthorized design changes. In such a case, it is important to monitor all design changes. In order to put a positive spin on the problem-solution statement, I have tried to start with a statement of a good practice, followed by the reasonwhich is an effort to avoid a potential problem. An example of this is: "We believe it is important to monitor all design changes. This is done to avoid any unauthorized changes." We believe it is important to make the plants available in order to produce water and electricity as required.

This statement can then be followed by who you feel such an action will benefit the company and its business.

State policy
Finally, you can state the company policy or course of action on this activity. In a Quality Policy Manual, it often includes fulfilling a specific ISO 9000 standard section or paragraph. Policy statements often state that you "always" do something, such as, "It is our policy to always document our tests." That sort of fits the definition of a policy, although it is possible for one to apply only in special cases. This should be spelled out to avoid confusion.

Summary
Including the rationale for your policies increases understanding and allows for future changes and improvements. It is not normally done, but I feel it improves the understanding and effectiveness of a policy manual.

When embarking on a new quality management system and writing a new quality manual for your organization, one of the most important decisions to make is how your quality policy statement should read. A quality policy statement is a requirement of an ISO9001:2000 quality management system, and can be regarded as the general guiding philosophy of your company or organization. If you compare guiding a company to steering a ship, the nautical equivalent of a quality policy statement might be something like "We are going to sail to New York". This is a general statement of the overall goal. In your company's quality manual, you might say something like "Our goals are to achieve 100 percent customer satisfaction, constantly innovate in our products, and continually improve in all our activities". How can you steer the ship if you don't know where you want to go? The quality objectives you choose to include in your quality manual, on the other hand, are the nuts-and-bolts, day-to-day objectives that will show how you are doing in regards to your overall goal. Quality objectives are also a requirement of an ISO9001:2000 quality management system, and must be included in your quality manual. Depending on the size and complexity of your organization, I recommend that you have from 3 to 7 quality objectives in your quality manual. Any less than three is probably inadequate to accurately measure the improvement in your quality. Any more than 7 is probably too difficult to keep track of, and may start to become redundant. Quality objectives must be measurable based on objective, numerical data. A vague statement in your quality manual such as "create the best product" is not measurable. The word "best" is a subjective evaluation, and can not be measured accurately. Your quality objectives should most likely contain some sort of numerical reference. Here are some examples:

Customer Satisfaction Rating -- 97 percent or better.

Customer Returns -- less than 10 per month Customer Returns -- less than .5 percent of sales. Final Inspection Rejection Rate -- less than .5 percent of units produced.

You must keep records of your organization's performance. You must keep track of how you do with respect to each of your quality objectives. These records will be reviewed by your third party auditor in the event you are audited to the ISO9001:2000 standard. Whether or not you are ISO certified, it is definitely in your best interest to keep track of where you are in relation to where you want to be. In order to steer the ship accurately, not only do you need to know where you want to go, but you also need to know where you are currently. I recommend that you compile statistics on your quality objective performance at least twice a year. Your performance measurements should be one of the inputs for your management review meeting, but you are free to compile and examine the statistics as often as you feel would be helpful. Whether it be during the course of your management review, or at any other time, an analysis of your quality objective performance can be quite revealing. It can validate that you are on the right track, or can point out deficiencies. Hopefully a regular analysis of your quality objectives will keep you on track, and keep pointing you in right direction, in your quest for continually improving your quality system and your whole organization. I always recommend that people keep their ISO quality manual as simple as possible, while covering the necessary requirements of ISO9001:2000. Keep your quality policy statement simple, but meaningful. Keep your quality objectives simple, meaningful, and measurable. Timothy Macenroe ISO Consultant and Quality Manager My Blog about ISO Certification and Quality Manuals - QualityManualChat.com ISO Quality Manual Sample and Templates - ISO-Quality-Manual.com Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Timothy_Macenroe

We operate and maintain the power and desalination plants according to the requirements of our customers. We deliver quality water and power to our customers according to the specifications. We are committed to make the plants available in order to produce water and electricity as required by our customers.

NOMAC is committed to achieving total customer satisfaction by meeting their requirements and constant improvement in the business processes. The mission of NOMAC is to maximize the satisfaction of our customer, maintain the leading position as a world-class service company through partnership, teamwork and prompt response to the customer need. To fulfill the mission, the policy is to maintain a practical but comprehensive Quality System based on its stated commitment to customer satisfaction and continuous improvement. The policy embraces the following key principles: The satisfaction of customers, both external and internal, shall be the primary focus of the quality management activities. Suppliers are integral to the quality process and company staff shall work closely with them to meet customers needs Staff shall be encouraged and empowered to participate in quality improvement activities through teamwork and focused task groups All staff shall have individual responsibility for understanding and applying this Quality policy in the performance of their tasks NOMAC management is fully committed to its Quality Policy through active participation in quality improvement activities and leadership by example

Quality Policy
The success of our company depends directly on the satisfaction of our customers, through preparedness and the ability of our staff to perform, as well as the quality of our processes. Customer orientation The company orients itself to the requirements and expectations of our customers with the goal of continually improving customer satisfaction. Staff orientation The success of our company depends exclusively on the expertise and motivation of our staff on all levels and in all processes. For this reason it is necessary to assess employee satisfaction and to continually improve the expertise and motivation of our employees. Process orientation Our process oriented organization reduces interfaces, resulting in low profile, transparent and team oriented structures. Here we are following the principle of: THE STRUCTURE FOLLOWS THE PROCESS. Our processes are designed to be aimed at attaining targets and results, and are constantly improved or renewed. This process management will direct the resources of the company to better serve the customer requirements that result in increased customer satisfaction.

Policy Statement
Company Name is committed to enhancing customer satisfaction through the provision of services and information that consistently conform to and where possible exceed expectations. We will maintain and improve our quality system controls to ensure the provision of high quality services to our customers while contributing both to Company Name objectives and key corporate business performance targets.

We will continuously improve the performance, quality, and value of our products and services through innovation and the promotion of good practice by others involved in the procurement and delivery chain.

Company Name will ensure quality is embedded throughout our business and improvement planning processes. We will encourage continuous improvement and the delivery of business efficiencies through forward planning in the development and delivery of our Strategies. Regular review of the effectiveness of our performance management arrangements and the yearly strategy review process will also seek to embed a qualitative process of continual development and improvement across Company Name.

Background
Over recent years there has also been an increasing emphasis on the use of British Standards and those of the International Standards Organisation across the private and public sectors alike. This has helped public bodies like Company Name to become more accountable for the quality of their performance to a wide range of stakeholders including local people, the government and regulators.

For quality to be effective, it is vital that a consistent and structured approach is applied to the data we handle, the information we produce and the services we provide. This assurance of quality is key to the delivery of the Corporate Business Plan theme Become a Smarter Organisation.

Scope
To deliver this Quality Policy we will: maintain a corporate quality management system that meets the requirements of the ISO 9001:2008 Standard; develop as appropriate standards, guides, processes and protocols which will add value to the services and information we provide continuously improve the effectiveness of our quality management system through monitoring and reviewing its performance;

 ensure the Quality Policy and associated requirements and instructions are communicated within the organisation through electronic and other media; ensure our employees understand our Quality Policy through appropriate training and assessment; become a smarter organisation, though the implementation of business improvement techniques and the embedment of quality ethos across all departments develop a systematic approach to the development and implementation of this and other ISO standards across Company Name

References
To achieve our objectives we are committed to continuous improvement based upon the model used within the International Standard for Quality Management: BS EN ISO 9001:2008.

Responsibilities
Improving quality is everyones responsibility. Embedding this principle is important if we are to manage our own functions and activities as efficiently and effectively as possible, adequately inform service users, stakeholders and regulators about our performance and account for our use of resources.