Leading quality in the 21st Century: profiles of quality and organizational excellence managers

Abstract

To ensure ISO 9001 remains up to date, ISO has revised the International Standard, issuing the ISO 9001: 2015 edition. Research suggests that, on one hand, it promotes, facilitates, and emphasizes an improved alignment between quality and business best practices, thereby adding value to certified organizations and, on the other hand, it will require new approaches and competencies for Quality and Organizational Excellence Managers. To ascertain the competencies demanded for today Quality and Organizational Excellence Managers, a survey was held amidst ISO 9001 certified organizations, from different sizes, and across all activity sectors, in Portugal. The results highlight that "the knowledge of culture and the organizational process" is the most highly required competency and skill for today's Quality and Organizational Excellence Managers. The master of the quality systems (Quality management soft factors: e.g. ISO 9001) and the quality tools & techniques (Quality engineering hard factors: basic and advance quality tools, improvement methodologies such as Lean, Six Sigma and Kaizen) are also of critical importance. The statistical tests performed to ascertain the statistical significance of the differences between the two groups of respondents (Quality and Organizational Excellence Managers and CEOs) shows no evidence of statistical differences between the perceptions of the two groups concerning the most desirable skills and competencies that a Quality and Organizational Excellence Manager should reveal. This research should be replicated in other countries and cultures contributing, hopefully, to better Quality and Organizational Managers that can successfully lead the 21st-century organizations.