Intro -- Elixabete Escalona LO27937

From: Laura Peek (laura_peek@hotmail.com)
Date: 03/05/02


Replying to LO27935 --

elixabete escalona wrote:

...snip...

>For example, in the LO, employees are encouraged
>to identify and solve problems when possible even if these are not
>part of their direct responsibilities. On the other hand, the ISO 9000
>clearly specifies the responsibilities and areas of coverage of > each
>employee. If one employee tackles an issue out of his/her responsibilities,
>this would go against the norm of the ISO. In this sense, while the L-O is
>trying to create a climate in which people can experiment and learn, the
>ISO regulations set up limitations for each individual.

Hi Elixabete,

I'm not one of the L-O experts, but in the company I'm working for I'm
responsible for the ISO-certification of one of the business-units. I find
that, as long as you can defend why you do something with common sense,
there is always enough room for interpretation in the norm. I guess it
does depend on the external auditor though.

I don't think that the ISO norm states that you should NOT do something
which isn't your official responsibility, the idea is more to make sure
you know what you are responsible for, so that you WILL act in that field
of responsibility.

Not that I'm a big ISO-advocate, but in my experience it is not as rigor
mortis as it seems at first sight. However the way it is employed in most
companies it doesn't fit very well with reality. The mistake is that most
of the times the norm is taken as a starting point, thus increasing
fragmentation. While I see it as at most checklist to run at the end.

I don't know if originally it was intended as a guideline to get
organized. Maybe you have found something about what it was intended to
be?

Anyway continuous improvement is a big thing in ISO, isn't it? So, it
would be very wrong if applying the norm impedes learning. I'm very
interested in your findings.

Kind regards and welcome!

Laura.

-- 

"Laura Peek" <laura_peek@hotmail.com>

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