A TEAM-ORIENTED CYBERNETIC APPROACH FOR VALUE-ADDED QUALITY AUDITING

Abstract

ABSTRACT Successful implementation of TQM (Total Quality Management) in an organization requires “system approach.” ISO 9000 standard provides such a systematic approach. The ISO 9000 certification process is a cybernetic system where the feedback part is “quality auditing.” An effective auditing can therefore improve and accelerate the certification process. Value-added quality auditing is an effective auditing technique in which auditors not only evaluate quality a management system and processes in terms of compliance to a standard, but also they analyze their effectiveness. A value-added quality auditing approach is emerging as one of the most powerful tools for continuous quality improvement, especially after the introduction of the ISO 9001:2000 standard that requires effectiveness, process auditing, proper auditor skills, and team-based audits. In order to meet these requirements, formation of an appropriate quality audit team is essential. This article presents a team-oriented cybernetic model for the value-added quality auditing along with the procedure developed for the “quality-audit team formation.” The proposed model makes use of feedbacks to add value to the audited business where appropriate.