Systems Thinking in a Quality Management System
This newsletter will be about the importance of seeing the system as a real system, having systemic thinking, “a set of elements, concrete or abstract, intellectually organized.”
If I asked you, “How do you relate risk management to non-conformities? or procedures to performance indicators?” what would your answer be?
To understand Systems Thinking, we need to pay attention to 5 points described by Nikhil Gurjar in the book “A forward looking approach to project management”, by Springerlink:
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Interdependence of objects: independent elements can never constitute a system
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Hierarchy: complex systems are made up of smaller subsystems
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Pursuit of a goal: the systemic interaction must result in some goal or end state
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Transforming inputs into outputs: This is the process by which goals are obtained
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Regulation: a feedback method is required for the system to operate predictably
As such, all subjects and themes related to Quality Management either interface, interact or feed back into each other.
Example 1:
Strategic planning, which is based on the organization's scope, is the input for policy, which consequently generates the Quality objectives.
The processes needed to deliver the product/service to the end customer are translated into procedures and measured by performance indicators.
In other words, strategic planning, policy, quality objectives, processes, procedures and performance indicators must all be customer-focused.
And customer focus is one of the seven Quality principles
Example 2:
One non-compliance must be dealt with, a root cause analysis carried out and an action plan drawn up.
This action plan must include corrective, corrective and preventive actions. These preventive actions are directly related to the activities of Risk Management. This is why, when drawing up an action plan to deal with an NC, one must also look at the risks of the process or the organization.
And if this same action plan generates new, innovative actions that were not foreseen in the processes and procedures, then it's time to talk to Knowledge management, lessons learned.
Example 3:
One improvement group is a periodic activity focused on increasing process performance.
There are currently several models for developing improvement groups: MASP, A3, DMAIC, 8D.
However, they are all based on PDCA and have a very similar approach to dealing with non-conformities. -
The role of the Quality professional is to see a Management System as a whole, and not just one process in isolation from another. All of an organization's processes must focus on delivering the product/service to the customer with Quality, i.e. in accordance with the requirements stipulated by the organization itself (which are verified by internal audits and critical analysis by management).
Finally, from 0 to 10, how would you rate your knowledge of Systems Thinking and that of your team?
If the score is low, the solution is effective and timely training to deal with each case. The result can be very positive!
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