The murder of ISO: 9001 in India
ISO 9001 series of standards are developed by International Organization for Standardization (ISO) to facilitate the organizations to become more efficient and to improve customer satisfaction. The ISO 9001 standard was first introduced in 1987 and subsequently revised several times over a period of time (revised in 1994, 2000, 2008 and 2015).
If an organization is certified to ISO: 9001, then it means that it has met the requirements specified in the ISO 9001 standard. This means that the organization has implemented and is following a quality management system that is appropriate and effective. The organization is expected to identify improvement areas continually and take necessary actions to achieve them. When an organization claims itself as an ISO 9001 certified company, it is expected that its products and services are of good and consistent quality.
As per the National Accreditation Board for Certification Bodies (NABCB), in India there are 38 certification bodies. World over more than 1.3 million companies are certified to ISO 9001 standard. The data on the number of companies that are certified in India is not available, but the number is expected to be quite large. A large number of consultants (mostly retired from service) provide consultancy services to the companies for acquiring the certification.
It is an undeniable fact that if the companies follow the ISO 9001 guidelines in letter and spirit, there can be substantial improvement in the overall performance. But unfortunately, many of the companies in India have acquired the certification only to meet certain eligibility criteria which become necessary in the course of doing business. The companies need the certification and the certification bodies make money by issuing the certificates.
The ISO certification comes with considerable cost (fees of the certification body and fees to the consultant). The certified companies in India feel that compared to the money invested in the certification process, the benefits are far too negligible. There is a general feeling among the certified companies that the certification process has become a ritual on predictable lines. The majority of the so called expert lead auditors and the auditors who come to audit the compliance of the established systems by the companies are often incompetent, inexperienced and don’t have any clue on the working of the organization.
There is hardly any instance of a certification body, including the much hyped international ones, has ever withdrawn the certificate issued to the company for any serious quality lapses or violation.
In the end, it is a win-win opportunity for the companies, certification bodies and the consultants. While the vested interests exploit the certification for the individual gains, the spirit and the intent of the international standard is killed in the process.
I am making this observation based on my own experience. I have worked both as a consultant and as an auditor on behalf of one of the reputed and leading international certification bodies. I have extended consultancy services to more than 100 companies covering a range of industries from proprietorship, partnership, private, public limited and public sector companies. I have also carried out system audits in more than 250 companies from a wide spectrum of industries in a span of 10 years.
Dr. C K Sreedharan,
Author, Writer, Trainer and Cancer Counselor.
Website- www.sreedharanck.com
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