The Usefulness (Uselessness) of Standards

Posted by admin on August 17, 2009 under Process Improvement |

I was having lunch with a couple of colleagues recently, when we happened onto the topic of standards. You see, one of my colleagues works with organizations to prepare them for certification to a specific standard in their field - usually ISO. He audits their current practices, reviews their procedures and documentation, and makes recommendations to management about adjustments that need to be made in order to meet the standard and receive certification. He also performs periodic follow-up audits.

My friend was carrying around his set of standards books for everything from quality management systems to corporate responsibility in foreign lands. To him, these were the “bibles” of corporate excellence; the measures to which all organizations should aspire. (Did you know that the International Organization for Standardization - ISO - has developed over 17,500 standards? 1,100 new ones every year… http://www.iso.org/iso/iso_catalogue.htm)

Now, granted, I think there is definitely a place for standards. I wouldn’t be happy about flying on an airplane that was built from manufactured parts that did not meet certain, minimum standards. This need is inherent in any industry - from baking to software development to medicine. Customers have the right to expect a minimum level of quality from any product or service they purchase.

Unfortunately, few organizations even operate according to their own procedures, let alone incorporate learning into constantly improving their operations. Working toward certification does encourage consistency and predictability, and results in improved operations. The question, however, is whether these published standards are enough to create an organization which strives to constantly improve. Do we get improvement after the auditor leaves and leaves his stamp of approval?

The challenge with improvement post-certification is that an organization must continually update all the documentation that substantiates their certification. Not necessarily an easy task - especially for smaller organizations. It takes a little discipline.

But, by certifying organizations to any specific standard we seem to be sending a message that no additional improvement is needed. Is this really the right message to send?

It seems to me the culture around standards certification needs to be changed to reflect the acceptable minimum performance expected from an organization, rather than the accomplishment of some lofty perfectionism. What do you think?