In the movie ‘Sincerely Yours,’ Liberace is playing a live show when he solicits the audience for a request.  Arguably the greatest pianist on Earth, supremely capable of dazzling the crowd with a jaw-dropping rendition of even the most intricate, demanding piano arrangement, he asks the audience for a request with the confidence of a magician saying, “Pick a card, any card.”

A freckled face girl got his attention. Her request: ‘Chopsticks.’

Uhh. Chopsticks?  Any song, and this girl asks for Chopsticks—one of the most basic, simple songs, requiring merely the skill of a novice pianist?

Honoring his word, Liberace played Chopsticks. Of course, the rendition delivered left nobody disappointed.  Liberace shows us how a master musician can musically elaborate upon even the simplest of tunes, ever staying faithful to the tune itself.  To give you an idea, here’s a link to a YouTube video of Liberace performing Chopsticks at Carnegie Hall: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jruN-ZTIdak .

In all moments of Liberace’s rendition, the song is true to the basic form of Chopsticks. Liberace shows us very skillfully several creative ways this basic form can be played out (pun intended).  At times it sounds like carnival music.  Other times it’s classical.  It’s jazz.  It’s a dark-sounding dirge.  It’s happy show-tune music.  Yet each interpretation or instantiation of this tune is still quite clearly chopsticks.

THE NOTES OF ISO 9001
The ‘principle’ of chopsticks remains the same despite its particular application different musical contexts or genres. It’s not supposed to sound exactly the same in each context.  But within the context, the sequence and interaction of the notes are appropriately and consistently enough arranged to allow the tune to be identified as chopsticks.  So there are many ways to play the tune, but each is a variation or interpretation of the same tune, theme, form, or principle.

Can we do the same in quality?

So it is with the process approach of the ISO 9000 series of standards.  Organizations are supposed to apply a process approach, which is a principle that would be voiced differently in each organization.  Because each organization differs from the next, each organization’s quality management system (QMS) differs from one to the next. Management systems complying with ISO 9001 are not supposed to be the same in every organization, structured according to the requirements of ISO 9001.  The idea of ISO 9001 is not to standardize the structure of QMSs and QMS documentation, instead, it provides a standard set of criteria against which any (unique) QMS can be assessed.

Notice if a version of Chopsticks so stretches the principle of Chopsticks to a point where the tune is no longer recognizable, it would be a stretch too far.  It would be a nonconforming rendition of Chopsticks.  Upon assessment, it doesn’t sound right.

Likewise, if a QMS cannot be said to embody the principles of ISO 9000 (including the process approach), application of ISO 9001 should reveal that the system doesn’t pass muster.  The defined system doesn’t sound right.

SING YOUR SONG, NOT THE ISO ANTHEM
Switching gears here: while ISO 9001 in a sense tells us what notes a QMS must hit, it doesn’t call the tune.  Organizational management properly calls the tune with the principles of ISO 9000 in mind.  The principles laid out in ISO 9000 should help to arrange the song, but the basic flow of the tune—the backbone of a QMS—is provided by the very operations at the heart of the organization.

Unfortunately ISO 9001 itself was often viewed as being pre-arranged sheet music for organizations to sit down and sight-read.  As if with ISO 9001, the authors of the standard arranged everyone’s their QMSs for them.  When ISO 9001 is viewed to be calling the tune, organizations respond singing the same sad dirge.  When ISO 9001 calls the tune for any organization’s QMS, it’s music only to the ears of consultants and auditors primarily concerned with proving conformity to ISO 9001—as if ISO 9001 represents the composition that the organization is expected to play during audits.  Of course the tune is not so sweet to those expected to play it day in and day out.  And it’s hard to carry two tunes in your head at once, isn’t it?

When organizational management calls the tune, on the other hand, the tune is arranged to hit all the notes from an operational, business perspective, a perspective concerned with assuring proper processing.  Real processes are orchestrated to play as an ensemble outputting good product to customers.  The resulting tune is unique to the organization—the organization’s theme song.  Coherent and consistent with operations, the tune is called by, and arranged by management with the intension of harmonizing the system and its processes to optimize performance.

A QMS IS OFF-KEY WITHOUT THE PROCESS APPROACH
Using a process approach, internal processing requirements meeting the applicable requirements are naturally woven into the processes where they belong. Internal processing requirements (or management’s planned arrangements) serving to control the process already provide for how to identify product, how to treat customer property, and how to preserve product during processing.  These are notes already part of the organization’s theme song, a tune that starts playing as soon as work begins in the morning and plays until the work day’s end.  The tune harmonizes with, and helps to optimize everyday operations.

Using a standard-based approach, on the other hand, one of two tunes is played—neither of which is recognizable as any organization’s theme song.  One rendition of the standard-based approach results in a clause-by-clause (or note-by-note) definition of a QMS. Procedures are written with a one-to-one correspondence with the requirements themselves, instead of being written to describe processing as it occurs every day. Standard-based procedures harmonize with the requirements of ISO 9001, but they’re off-key with the underlying organizational theme song.  Those using a clause-by-clause approach to develop their organizational theme songs are merely playing scales, they aren’t making music.

The second tune consists of the same six notes derived from the standard, six procedures raised in response to the six clauses of ISO 9001:2008 explicitly calling for documented procedures.  These procedures correspond only to support processes of an organization and represent the minimum requirements for QMS documentation.  They can’t possibly carry the organization’s theme song—the major movements of which result in the output of quality product.  With only six procedures, the companies core processes—the most important part of any organization’s theme song—go unvoiced in the system’s definition.

BE YOUR OWN MAESTRO
Each organization will have its own unique arrangements to accomplish processing and meets its objectives of satisfying customers.  Should ISO 9001 certification become an objective, planned arrangements are documented first to effectively describe operations—the organization’s theme song.  Auditors will listen to the song to ensure it demonstrates conformity to the requirements of ISO 9001.  Auditors should listen to organizations’ unique theme songs for conformity instead of expecting to hear the same sad dirge from each in order to ensure all of the notes are belted out.

An organizational theme song sounds much better to management and personnel than does a confusing, off-key old dirge nobody liked in the first place.  Each QMS should be management’s own unique masterpiece, sounding out the principles of quality management from the unique context of each organization.  Don’t let ISO 9001 arrange your organization’s theme song.  The standard demands management of each organization to be its own maestro.

Bio:

T. D. (“Dan”) Nelson has been closely involved with ISO 9000 since 1994 as a technical writer, quality manager, management representative, consultant, author, and CB auditor. Holding an MA in Business Administration from the University of Iowa, Dan also has 12 years of experience as an IRCA-certified QMS Lead or Principal Auditor, conducting registration audits and surveillance audits, and training Lead Auditor candidates in accredited courses.

Using a process approach, Dan has taken several scores of clients of various shapes and sizes through registration to ISO 9001:1994/2000/2008 and related sector schemes (e.g. QS 9000, AS9100, ISO 13485, and ISO 17025). Dan’s numerous articles about the process approach have also been published by Quality Digest, Inside Quality, ASQ’s Quality Management Division, the Society for Manufacturing Engineers (SME), and the South African Quality Institute (SAQI); Dan has been featured as a guest blogger by RABQSA, and has been featured on Quality Digest Live.

Dan is available for management consulting, training, and coaching, as well as auditor training and coaching. Contact:  dan@tdnelson.com 319.210.2642