Risk assessment of quality management system failure via analytic hierarchy process and the effects on organisational sustainability

Abstract

The current dependency of industries on quality management for economic development shows the need of research into the sustainability of organisations. At present, studies on quality and organisational sustainability do not include quality management risk factors that could affect the sustainability of organisations. This study aims to address this gap by identifying the relevant risk factors, specifically proposing AHP to identify the major risks of non-compliance to ISO 9001-2008 requirements and evaluating the effects on sustainability in the organisational context. The six major risks identified in the application of the method are: management not committed to quality, inexistence of quality policy, no definition of responsibilities, authority and communication not well defined, inexistence of management review, product non-conformity process not effective, and customer related process not effective. The proposed method represents a source of motivation for firms to focus on the quality aspects of the business to improve organisational sustainability.