Quality management System adaptation process in a crisis situation: An assessment from a Change Management perspective

Abstract

The upholding of a Quality Management System (QMS) during situations requiring emergency changes is challenging for organizations. Change management may help ensure these changes are carried out in ways that, while achieving their objectives, promote the appropriate improvements in each context. In a QMS, according to ISO IEC 17025:2017, the change and improvement promoting sources are well-established and their actions occur in a planned manner. But what happens when the working conditions change abruptly, putting at risk the quality of the organization’s core activity? In order to answer this question the internal audit process was chosen as a example for the changes induced by the COVID-19 health emergency. The process of turning the annual internal audit from an in-person activity into the remote modality was evaluated. The ADKAR change management model was applied to assess motivational and perceptual aspects among participants of the 2020 and the 2021 remote audits. The conclusion was that Change Management adoption may assist processes improvement when risk assessment does not have enough data to conduct an accurate analysis.