Seven Quality Management Principles in a Nutshell

Let's start with the definition of Quality Management.

What is Quality Management?

ISO 9000:2015 defines Quality Management as "management with regard to quality". This includes establishing quality policies, quality objectives, and processes to achieve these quality objectives.

This then leads us to the next definition, that is the definition of "Quality Management System."

What is Quality Management System (QMS)?

ISO 9000:2015 defines the Quality Management System (QMS) as "part of a management system with regard to quality."

In simple words, the Quality Management System (QMS) is a collection of various business processes focused on meeting customer requirements and enhancing their satisfaction. This includes processes such as: Understanding the context of the organization, the role of leadership in establishing quality policy and creating a culture of customer focus, planning, evaluating and providing resources, managing communication and documentation, designing, supply chain, producing, delivering, managing non-conforming product or service, process improvement, performance evaluation,  internal audits and management reviews.

Seven Quality Management Principles (QMPs)

ISO 9001:2015 is the most common and generic international standard to establish a Quality Management System (QMS) in an organization. This standard can be implemented in any type of organization. This standard is based on seven quality management principles, which are the basis of the standard. These seven quality management principles are listed below:

The first principle states that organizations must have customers at heart when they design products and services.  It also requires companies to ensure that all employees work together towards achieving this goal. 

QMP 2 – Leadership
This second principle states that leadership must be provided throughout all levels of an organization. It means that everyone involved with running or managing a company needs to have clear goals and objectives, and be able to communicate effectively with others.

QMP 3 – Engagement of People
Another key management principle is people involvement, or more specifically employee empowerment. This means giving employees ownership over how things run within their own departments, rather than leaving everything up to managers. It can be difficult to implement, but if done correctly, it leads to happier workers and higher productivity levels overall.

QMP 4 – Process Approach
This principle encourages businesses to adopt a systematic way of working through tasks and projects, rather than relying solely on individual initiative or intuition.

QMP 5 – Improvement
Continuous improvement means improving on what has been done before. It requires constant learning from mistakes made previously. In addition every employee must continuously seek ways to make improvements. Employees need to know how to take initiative and find solutions to problems. They have to develop innovative ideas and implement these ideas into action.

QMP 6 – Evidence-based Decision Making
Evidence-based decision making (EBDM) is one of the most significant principles of business today. EBDM focuses on using evidence from research studies to make decisions about how to run businesses effectively. It helps managers identify what works and what doesn't by analyzing data and information collected through surveys, experiments, observations, etc. In addition, EBDM enables companies to develop strategies based on facts rather than assumptions.

QMP 7 – Relationship Management
Relationship management refers to how businesses interact with customers, suppliers, partners, and other stakeholders. It includes managing customer expectations, maintaining positive working relations, and developing long term partnerships. A business must develop strong relationships with its key players such as vendors, distributors, investors, and others. These relationships will enable organizations to achieve success by providing access to resources, information, and knowledge.