A Study of Quality Management System Implementation Contexts with reference to ISO 9001 Standard

Abstract

Research in the field of operations and production management are increasing recently, considering the attention from the academicians. The reason for the increase in academic contribution goes to the considerable gap between what has been practiced and the looming problems in industries. However, it should be noted that there are plenty of researches done on this subject. Compared to current researches, this research has studied the context analysis of the implementation of QMS (Quality Management System), not only its implementation at the organization’s end but also from the suppliers’ perspective as well. Here the term context is defined as external & internal, positive & negative issues. Hence giving a bird eyes view from one single study, Contexts of Implementation of QMS as per ISO 9001 Standard would be, documentation, consultants roles & accountabilities, satisfaction from consultants’ services, certification & accreditation processes, and QMS practices at the suppliers’ organizations, are crucial points which this study aimed to address. A descriptive framework of a study has conducted by creating a structured questionnaire to study the QMS practices and collected responses from the target sample group. This targeted group included respondents who possessed considerable experience in the implementation of QMS related practices. The first part of the questionnaire dealt with the QMS implementation practices within the Organization level. The second part attempted to get an understanding of the suppliers’ QMS implementation. The third and last part captured the demographic information of the respondents for further analysis. Based on the responses collected from the respondents, the items of the questionnaire were subjected to factor analysis, which resulted in three components of QMS practices namely, QAS (Quality Assurance System), QCP (QMS Controlling Process), and MNT (Maintenance). Confirmatory factor analysis had validated the scale for the measurement of all factors. The study concluded that the QMS implementation is inspired by the feedback and suggestions of the customers. Additionally, in turn, manufacturers also insist on their suppliers for the implementation of the QMS. Moreover, the consultants’ role is important for the level of implementation of QMS and understanding of the entire ISO system. Also having exports business & satisfaction of housekeeping practices don’t affect the decision of acquiring any outside consulting agency for the QMS implementation purposes. We believe that these findings will certainly enrich the existing knowledge which is a contribution of this study. As stated earlier, this study considers the suppliers' and organization’s perspectives on QMS Implementation as per the ISO 9001 Standard. Hence, the solutions derived from this study are practical and ready to be implemented in the organization. On the limitation note, this study cautions the readers and beneficiaries from the generalization of results as there are chances that few other factors may emerge apart from the one addressed in this study due to the time, industry type, size, etc. issues.