ISO 9001 Implementation Guide

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5.5.1 Responsibility and Authority

Top management shall ensure that responsibilities and authorities are defined and communicated within the organization.
(From BS EN ISO 9001:2000)

This clause is a great example of how the ISO 9001:2000 standard has been simplified from the 1994 version. The old language was cumbersome and long, resulting in 93 words and five sub-clauses. The new language is clearer, resulting in one sentence and 15 words.

As easy as that may seem, however, most companies have a problem linking the concepts of responsibility and authority. In fact, you have probably experienced this in your own job. For example, let's say your boss just reviewed the first-quarter revenues for a certain product line in your company and he is extremely disappointed in the results. To fix the problem, he has given you the ultimate responsibility to increase the profitability for it in the next quarter-in fact, it's now your No. 1 priority.

How are you supposed to go about achieving this monumental task? Chances are, your boss doesn't care about the details. He just wants results-and fast. But nine times out of 10, your boss won't give you the authority to head over to the marketing department and start spouting off orders for new advertising slogans, followed by a visit to the operations area to lay off 12 workers to cut costs.

This is why top management needs to have ownership in defining and linking these concepts in an organization, and it is often done simply with an organizational chart and detailed job descriptions of personnel. Nothing says you need a chart and job descriptions to accomplish this, but documenting these items clarifies exactly what everyone is-or should be-doing.

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