7 Reasons Why QMS Projects Fail – Part 1
| by Steve Flick | ||||
When was the last time you had to manage a “critical” project without the support of top management in word and deed? If it’s happened once, it’s happened too often.
Yet, this happens all the time with quality management systems. Quality management systems are commonly — and wrongly — viewed as a “necessary evil”. That is, your company’s top management feels a QMS project won’t have an immediate and positive effect on the bottom line but they’re going ahead with the project because “they’re making us do it!”
A customer may require its vendors (and maybe you’re one of them) to have an ISO-9001-certified QMS in place. Or, maybe you deal in a product or service that’s highly regulated, so you’re implementing a QMS only “because it’s the law.”
ATTITUDE
If your attitude is “we have to” instead of “we want to”, you may be setting up your QMS to fail before you’ve begun.
Think about it. You always perform a task better when your heart and mind are in it, right?Isn’t the same true of your employees? If you’re not sold on the QMS as a win-win, your employees won’t be, either. And neither will the certification auditor.
Besides management having a poor attitude, there are other ways to sink your QMS project. Here are just a few:
- No development plan or one that’s insufficient
- Unrealistic expectations
- Lack of management support
- Poor communication
- Not enough resources
- Lack of user involvement
NO DEVELOPMENT PLAN
Just as with any other project, a QMS is more likely to yield desired results when a realistic plan is drawn up in advance. It’s just that simple: thorough project planning leads to a greater likelihood of success than relying on chance.
When you started your company, you drew up a detailed business plan before you went to borrow seed capital. True, the bank required you to have a business plan, but not because they just “felt like it”. They wanted you to succeed so they’d get their money back and so you’d become a regular customer.
The same is true of your QMS project — plan now for success, or pay dearly later.
UNREALISTIC EXPECTATIONS
Without bothering to put a plan together, top management will say, “We need a functional QMS in three months and we can spare one person from the staff to work on it.” It’s just a QMS, right? You only need a half-dozen procedures and a quality manual and you’re done, right?
WRONG! If you don’t do the research, you ensure that your expectations will NEVER be met. Realistic, achievable objectives come only from careful research and planning. If you don’t have a history of QMS projects, look at other projects.
Look at what other companies have done with their quality management systems. Ask around — maybe you know someone who’s been through the experience. The point is to have a clear idea of what you’re getting into and what to expect.
Next, we’ll look at four more reasons why QMS projects fail. In the meantime, I’d like your comments. Why do QMS projects fail? Why does any kind of project fail?
Thanks for your time.
Categories:
ISO Quality Standards • Top Ten
Tags:
customer requirements • ISO 9001 QMS • ISO Project Plan • project planning • QMS projects • quality management system • regulatory compliance
Bizmanualz has been at the forefront of deploying business best practices since 1995 delivering Policies, Procedures and Forms; quality systems implementation; and strategic business process improvement to help business owners achieve the growth and expansion they envision.
Learn more about Bizmanualz solutions:
Originally published in 2010 by Bizmanualz, Inc. under the title 7 Reasons Why QMS Projects Fail – Part 1. All rights reserved. Reproduction permitted with attribution only. www.bizmanualz.com
15 Responses to “7 Reasons Why QMS Projects Fail – Part 1”
Leave Your Comment
April 12th, 2010 at 8:52 pm
QMS fail depends greatly on the culture of employees.
April 13th, 2010 at 12:54 am
THIS IS VERY GOOD ARTICLE FOR TOP MANAGEMENT , WHO WANTS CERTIFICATE FOR EXPORT ORDERS ONLY.
April 13th, 2010 at 2:15 am
I have been involved in the implementation of two QMS projects. The first was a total failure due to lack of mgt support the ‘talk’ was in abundance but sadly not enough ‘walk’.
The second project was a failure in my view because, although we got the required certification, subsequent recertifications were doubtful due to the integrity of the certifying body. The QMS manual would be ‘dusted off’ once a year for the recertification ritual.
April 13th, 2010 at 8:43 am
Teresita, does the “culture of employees” differ much from the “company culture” in your experience? If so, why do you believe that’s the case?
April 13th, 2010 at 10:52 pm
I think the QMS fail becuase lacking of managerment’s support and poor communication of employees. Furthermore, the way of thinking of employees is reason make the QMS fail.
April 14th, 2010 at 1:09 am
Employee thinking is a key cause. Management are employees too. Everyone has to get on board. What management often times forgets is that the ISO certification is for them. Sure the customers may ask for a certificate but an ISO quality management system is designed to assure management that quality exists. An ISO system is driven by the quality policy, quality objectives, and the management review process. An ISO system is not for the quality manager. It’s for top management!
April 14th, 2010 at 9:52 am
Both QMS projects and regulatory requirement projects are negatively perceived by the workforce – in their view, it will require more work, more focus, more control. Every organization must invest in focussed people change enablement sessions and programs to ensure that the workforce and management understands the reasons, the impact, the value etc., of every project or program. Every member of the staff needs to understand their responsibilities, their departments’ responsibilities, and the organization’s responsibilities.
April 15th, 2010 at 4:23 am
I have been involved the implementation of a QMS and for the past four years now we have still not attain certification. This because of “inappropraite documentation”. End-users of SOPs and work instructions are not effectively involved in the documentation, so the although the SOPs would be meeting the requirements of the standard, they are not practicable. We tend to forget that the objective of documentation is make the SOPs as practicable as possible whilst still meeting requirements of the standard.
April 15th, 2010 at 10:30 am
Thank you, George! You’ve identified a major problem for most QMS development & implementation projects!
Look at what marketing’s doing with Voice of the Customer. Make your customers feel like they’re valuable partners in your business (which they ARE!) and you increase the likelihood of success.
The people who will be responsible for various quality procedures are internal customers. They won’t perform their procedures nearly as well if they’re left out of the development loop.
They, like your external customers, need to feel involved…need to feel part of the process…need to believe management is taking their needs into account. As you undoubtedly have found, George, the “end users” have gotten conflicting messages from management (i.e., this procedure is important, but you’re not).
Ignore the end user and you invite trouble.
April 20th, 2010 at 12:08 am
I think the first major problem why implementation of QMS fails is there is no commitment of top management. They are in favor of QMS,
but don’t lead from the front,
They leave the hard work to their subordinates ….so there is no quality leadership
April 20th, 2010 at 10:17 am
Very true, Erfi! There’s a big difference between delegating and abdicating authority. When management delegates authority, they retain ultimate responsibility for the failure or success of a project.
When management abdicates authority, they attempt to avoid any responsibility for the project’s eventual failure. I’d like to see boards of directors asking tougher questions of their top management; for instance, “Why did you undertake ‘Project QMS’ if you didn’t intend to fully support it?”
It could happen, couldn’t it?
April 20th, 2010 at 8:57 pm
As has been said, “intent” is everything. If management intends that a QMS will be successful, it likely will be. If other employees intend to help make it happen, it likely will.
“Wanting” something to happen, without intent, is not enough. Intent is everything.
April 21st, 2010 at 10:10 am
Fred, it’s been said countless times that “the road to Hades is paved with good intentions.” Without declaring our intent and acting on it — i.e., proving our commitment to the cause, whether that be a QMS or something else — the intent lacks significance.
For more, see part 2 of this article at http://www.bizmanualz.com/information/2010/04/19/7-reasons-why-qms-projects-fail-part-2.html.
April 22nd, 2010 at 7:31 am
Having worked in Production and Quality Assurance for some years now, I have realised that QMS is best planned and implemented using the process approach to achieve set objectives. This first and foremost requires total commitement from Top management and involvement of final users.
November 5th, 2010 at 6:31 am
Your articles are direct replicas of what happens in all organization including the ones I work with. Keep it up Mr. Anderson