SGS is marking World Quality Week in numerous ways, from raising awareness of quality standards to examining our quality management culture.
Defining quality management
Quality management is about making your organization perform for its stakeholders, from improving products, services, systems and processes to ensuring that the business continuously functions and improves.
Simply, quality applies to everything. Every product, service, system, process, task, action or decision can be judged by its quality.
Who defines quality levels?
Ultimately, your stakeholders, all who are interested in or support your organization's success, shape acceptable levels of quality.
Customers are the most important stakeholders for the majority of organizations. Other stakeholders include investors, employees and suppliers.
To deliver acceptable quality levels, you must know your stakeholders and their needs, and you must meet these needs or, even better, exceed their expectations, now and in the future.
Three steps to success
The Chartered Quality Institute (CQI) and SGS believe that achieving this comes down to:
- Strong governance to define your aims and translate them into actions
- Robust assurance systems to ensure that things stay on track
- A culture of improvement to keep getting better
Who is responsible for quality?
Simply, everyone. From C-level to intern, everybody must get involved. People will have different responsibilities over aspects that affect quality, such as specifying or meeting requirements, or determining the quality of something.
However, it is vital to have quality professionals – people who provide the knowledge, tools and guidance to help everyone else play their part.
The benefits of quality management
Effectively managing quality can:
- Enhance your brand and reputation
- Protect you from risks
- Increase efficiency and profits
- Assist your growth
- Make staff and customers happier
The repercussions of poor quality
Quality management is not a box-ticking exercise. Issues caused by poor governance, ineffective assurance and resistance to change often have disastrous consequences for organizations, individuals and society in general.
But quality is not merely about disaster prevention – it is about attaining superb results and seizing opportunities to continuously improve.
Raising awareness of quality
The CQI, the only chartered body for quality professionals, hosts World Quality Week every November to raise awareness of the quality management profession.
This year's campaign, from November 7–11, focuses on Quality Conscience: Doing the Right Thing.
Increasingly, organizations are expected to expand their scope of responsibility and do the right thing for shareholders/taxpayers, customers and staff, as well as the environment and society. However, this demand for organizations to use conscience in decision-making at every level creates greater ethical dilemmas.
We are marking the event in numerous ways, including raising awareness of quality standards and examining our quality management culture.
Supporting your quality management
As the world's leading testing, inspection and certification company, we have many services to support your quality mission.
Our quality certification and training services cover many international standards, including ISO 9001 (quality management systems), ISO 14001 (environmental management systems) and ISO 45001 (occupational health and safety management systems).
We can support your quality journey, whatever your organization's size, complexity and needs.
Discover our Certification and Training services.
For further information, please contact:
Jason Hulbert
Associate Marketing Manager
Knowledge
t: +44 7912 426878
About SGS
We are SGS – the world’s leading testing, inspection and certification company. We are recognized as the global benchmark for quality and integrity. Our 96,000 employees operate a network of 2,700 offices and laboratories, working together to enable a better, safer and more interconnected world.
