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© 1999 Sandholm Associates

The role of the quality manager

Lennart Sandholm
Professor and President Sandholm Associates AB Sweden

The Quality Manager can have different roles, which may vary from one organisation to another. In general, however, these roles involve, to varying degrees, the following areas of activity.

1. Quality control and verification

There was a time during the development of the quality profession when questions relating to the approval of manufactured products would normally be the responsibility of the control department, which was run by a control or inspection manager. Many companies have abandoned this type of organisation. In some cases, however, it has been retained, albeit with a change of title from control manager to Quality Manager.

This kind of Quality Manager is responsible for activities relating to quality control, such as acceptance inspection, in-process inspection, delivery inspection and inspection planning. The work can also involve tasks relating to the verification and validation of new products (including software).

2. Follow-up

In this area, the role of the Quality Manager is similar to that of a controller in the financial systems department. It is a matter of following up to ensure that the tasks are being performed in the desired manner and that established goals are being reached.

The duties of the Quality Manager include producing information that shows the results of the business in terms of quality, as well as providing management and other parties concerned with the information they require. The work therefore includes developing, introducing and maintaining systems for feeding back information concerning customer satisfaction, the existence of faults and failures, the costs associated with poor quality, process output, the results of quality audits, etc.

Follow-up also includes responsibility for quality auditing. This could include system audits, process audits and product audits. At companies possessing ISO 9000 certification, the Quality Manager also has responsibility for the stipulated internal audits.

3. Running improvement projects

Improvement activities shall be conducted in a structured way and they should include the output of the business (i.e. the products and services provided) as well as information about how the business is being conducted. The object is to satisfy the customers’ requirements more effectively and also to eliminate faults and failures. Special consideration must be paid to chronic problems.

The Quality Manager has an important role to play in the improvement process. Initially, his role includes developing a structure for the improvement activities as well as the necessary procedures and delegation of responsibility. The Quality Manager shall then drive the actual improvement process, which means ensuring that information on the quality status is available, identifying and ranking improvement projects on the basis of analyses, and ensuring that improvement projects are started and completed. The Quality Manager is responsible for ensuring that information on improvements made is brought to the attention of people within the organisation.

4. Influence

Many organisations, if they are to achieve significant improvements in their results, will need to give their internal culture a greater focus on quality. This requires changes in attitudes and the introduction of new skills. Everyone in the organisation must become involved in this process.

Change processes like these have to be initiated and driven by the Quality Manager. This includes, above all, planning and providing training in quality for everyone in the organisation. Naturally, this does not mean that the Quality Manager has to act as instructor himself, but he must see to it that the courses are arranged and carried out in such a way that they have a significant effect on the business. Training in quality must not become an end in itself.

The Quality Manager will also exert influence in various other ways. One such way is to serve as a source of information, inspiration or motivation, not only in the day-to-day work but in many other situations.

5. Strategic business development

Quality is of strategic importance for every organisation. This means that the business is being continuously developed with a focus on quality, for which a strategic plan should exist. This plan should combine different concepts, approaches and methods in such a way that the business achieves excellent results.

The Quality Manager plays an important role in the development of the business by providing the top management of the organisation with ideas and advice on issues for how the business can be developed with a focus on quality. The duties also include preparing the ground for the management to make strategic decisions and supporting the management in the development of the strategic plan. All decisions of a strategic nature are naturally made by top management.

For the business to be developed successfully, it is essential that the Quality Manager is properly qualified in the quality profession. He or she should be able to judge what the organisation should be doing to achieve the excellent results intended.

6. Co-ordination and management

All activities that have an impact on quality must be co-ordinated. It is also important to have quality-oriented leadership practices. Without such co-ordination and leadership, there is a serious risk of the business suffering from sub-optimisation and ill-considered activities.

The Quality Manager supports top management in this area by taking steps to ensure that the business is conducted in a structured and systematic manner. This involves ensuring the business has a process orientation, as well as dealing with matters pertaining to quality policy, quality goals, quality systems and quality organisation.

7. Certification

For organisations hoping to obtain ISO 9000 certification of their quality system, the Quality Manager also has several other responsibilities:

• to explain what the requirements in the standard mean for the organisation;
• to ensure the quality system is structured in a way that suits the organisation;
• to co-ordinate the development of the necessary procedures;
• to ensure that the quality system, and its associated procedures, are documented;
• to ensure that quality documentation is distributed to the parties concerned;
• to manage the implementation of procedures;
• to handle contacts with the certification body before and during the certification process.

Once the organisation has obtained certification, the Quality Manager will have further responsibilities:

to ensure that internal quality audits are carried out in accordance with the requirements in the standard;

to act as management representative in connection with quality as laid down in the standard, which involves having the authority and responsibility to ensure that the requirements in the standard are satisfied;

• to maintain the quality system and its associated procedures;
• to ensure that all documentation is kept up-to-date;
• to ensure that the documentation is distributed to the parties concerned;
• to handle contacts with the certification body.

8. External representation

The organisation has to be represented externally in some contexts. This could involve work on quality committees for trade associations, participation in local SIQ associations, work on standards within SIS, and other such representative activities.

It is often most appropriate for the Quality Manager to represent the organisation externally in connection with quality.