Quality

‘Quality’ is a difficult term to define. In everyday use it refers to something that sets a high standard or something that has a high status. We are all familiar with phrases like ‘quality product’, ‘quality player’, and ‘quality time’. This means ‘quality’ is sometimes used as an expression of measurement for example ‘low quality’ or ‘superior quality’ and can be associated with evaluation such as ‘quality assessment’ or ‘quality assurance’.
Categories of quality'Quality’ therefore means different things to different people depending upon the context; this is particularly the case when it is applied to organisations. In manufacturing and production quality is often defined in relation to the number of defects or levels of non-compliance against standards. For service organisation quality is more likely to mean service excellence and customer care, which is measured in terms of meeting customer expectations and customer satisfaction.
Harvey and Green (1993) explored the nature and usage of ‘quality’ in relation to higher education and identified five categories summarised in our diagram:

In providing an internal audit service to your organisations all five of these categories may apply, although some may be assigned more importance than others. This begs the question - who defines quality for you and how is it expressed and measured? 

Quality principles

The categories show the range of interpretation that exists around ‘quality’. This has created diversity for the management of quality. Emphasis can be on ‘product’, ‘process’ and ‘people’ forms of quality management or a combination of these depending upon the nature of the organisation. The Chartered Quality Institute (CQI), the professional body dedicated to quality, believes that all forms of quality management can “not only create value for an organisation and its stakeholders but also manage its exposure to risk and can make the difference between success and failure”.

Based on the historical development of quality management the CQI has expressed what it considers to be ‘the fundamental principles of quality’ which incorporate the diversity of views around quality:
  • Leadership – provide vision and direction to achieve results
  • Fact based decision making – make decisions using accurate data and facts
  • People – deliver value through the development of individuals
  • Suppliers and partners - maintain mutually beneficial relationships
  • Systems thinking – manage processes through an integrated approach
  • Business process management – increase efficiency
  • Customer focus – anticipate future needs
  • Continual improvement – make performance improvement a perpetual objective

Quality management systems (QMS) - standards, models and tools

Quality is not something that just happens. The management of quality is a management discipline, which seeks to ensure that organisations are as successful as possible. This requires a framework, described as a quality management system (QMS) that contains policies, objectives, structures, resources and procedures. The QMS translates good intentions to working practice and the achievement of quality principles and goals. The Business Links website provides a case study of how a QMS can be established.

Quality models

The case study shows how some organisations use established standards, models and tools within their QMS.

The diagram and the table below provide a brief introduction to a small selection of the better known standards, models and tools. Others, with more case studies, can be found on the businessballs website.

The International Standards Organisation (ISO) 9000 series provides a framework for organisations to manage key processes, ensuring consistency and minimisation of defects. Organisations or parts of organisations can be certified against this standard when they meet its requirements, which may help to win or retain business. Some internal audit functions have attained ISO9000 accreditation to demonstrate ‘quality’ to their stakeholders and in some case it is regarded as a prerequisite for tender submissions. You can read about the ISO 9000 quality standards on the British Standards Institution website.
The European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) excellence model is used by organisations to identify current strengths and areas for improvement against strategic goals. It contains nine criteria that enable organisations to conduct a self-assessment exercise. The identification of gaps facilitates prioritisation of improvement plans to achieve enhanced performance. The EFQM organisation is the custodian of the model and its website provides more detail of how the process works.
The UK Commission for Employment and Skills has responsibility for Investors in People (IiP) a business improvement tool designed to help all kinds of organisations develop performance through their people. It provides tailored assessments designed to support organisations in planning, implementing and evaluating effective strategies.
The UK government has developed a Customer Service Excellence standard that provides a practical tool to service organisations who want to drive customer-focused change. The standard facilitates testing of priorities in customer service such as delivery, timeliness, information, professionalism and staff attitude.

Quality assurance and control

The terms ‘quality assurance’ and ‘quality control’ are often used interchangeably to refer to ways of ensuring the quality of a service or product. However, the terms have different meanings. Quality assurance is about the ‘prevention’ of defects. It involves planned and systematic activities within the QMS designed to build an awareness of quality. Quality control is about the ‘detection’ of defects and most commonly associated with testing which takes place within the QMS. In practice quality control will form part of quality assurance.

Quality and internal audit

Like other professions internal audit should strive to deliver the best service it can. If we recognise the categories and principles of quality we need to achieve recognised standards, satisfy customer and stakeholder requirements, perform in a reliable and consistent way and be cost effective and efficient. The question is how do you do that?

The head of internal audit should identify the objectives of internal audit then establish processes and systems to achieve them and to report the results. The Definition of Internal Auditing is a good place to start as it sets out the fundamental purpose, nature and scope to aim at while the Code of Ethics explains how we should behave. But it is also important to match this up with customers and stakeholders’ expectations. It is important to remember that the International Standards are principle-based so organisations can tailor internal audit to their specific circumstances, particularly in relation to legal and regulatory requirements. This means internal auditors need to understand what’s best for their organisation.

In effect, by following the guidance in the International Professional Practice Framework (IPPF) and listening to their stakeholders, internal auditors can lay the foundations for delivering a high quality service.  Our 2007 guidance entitled Quality Assurance and Improvement Programme provides more detail on how to approach quality and quality assurance.

The International Standards also set out what internal audit can do to perform quality assurance and how to establish a comprehensive programme to underpin day-to-day delivery of a reliable assurance and consulting service. We have prepared a short document that explains the quality assurance requirements of the standards, which includes a Q&A section. In addition there is a self-assessment checklist to help internal audit perform internal assessments, which can be validated externally.

Mark Stock, independent consultant, Integrity2insight Ltd who is involved in delivering external quality assessments (EQA) sets out 10 lessons learnt that may help you prepare for such a review:  

1.       Conformance with the International Standards is the starting point or foundation for better performance. It is the beginning not the end of the journey.
2.       Ensure you are fully aware of your stakeholders’ expectations and be prepared to explain how you meet these requirements.
3.       Know where and how you have provided value to the organisation and that your stakeholders will be able to cite these examples when asked.
4.       Avoid or remove encroachment on your responsibility to provide independent and objective assurance. Accepting management tasks may be difficult to resist and while you may gain some recognition and a feel good factor ensure there is an exit route.
5.       Explain how you coordinate and work with other assurance providers in the organisation.
6.       Nurture and develop your team, particularly their leadership qualities so there is a succession plan.
7.       Review and refine the way you manage performance on a daily basis; supervision, mentoring, performance monitoring etc. 
8.       Keep your team and your stakeholders informed about the EQA process; what will be involved, how they will participate and when it will be happening.
9.       Manage you external review team; ensure they keep to the agreed scope, help them understand the culture of the organisation, obtain feedback at key points and make sure their recommendations are practical.
10.    It’s personal – prepare in the same way as your annual appraisal.

 

Finally BT has given us permission to publish their quality manual. You can listen to how this is applied in BT by listening to a short interview with Richard Tocknell on our podcast page

 

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