Clause 5.1.1 b of the ISO 9001:2015 standard focuses on the role of top management in ensuring that the quality policy and quality objectives are established and aligned with the organization's context and strategic direction.
In the early versions of the standard, top management was required to define and document the quality policy and objectives, as well as their commitment to quality in daily operations. In the 2000 revision, the requirement was to establish the organization's quality policy and objectives. However, in the latest 2015 revision, it is explicitly required that the quality policy and objectives be established concerning the quality management system.
There is a significant difference between the requirement to establish the organization's policy and objectives versus those specifically for the quality system. This latest change seems to limit the scope of the quality policy and objectives to serving the purpose of those parts of the organization that contribute to delivering products and services to customers. In organizations with an implemented quality management system, it is not uncommon to find that the quality policy and objectives are often defined by consultants or copied from reference texts, merely presented to top management for signature as a form of approval.
This should be the first area of change for a leadership team that genuinely wants to manage an organization through its quality system: defining the policy and objectives firsthand, as these are the primary tools for effectively guiding a company using quality as a strategic instrument. When top management itself defines the fundamental principles on which the company's quality management system should be based, the natural consequence is full support for their implementation—something that is highly valuable for employees.
Companies that lack a quality policy often experience mediocre performance, frequent errors, inefficiencies, low standards, and inconsistent results. This occurs simply because there is no unified commitment to quality compared to other factors such as costs and deadlines. The first step in such contexts is to make top management recognize the importance of focusing on quality and its approach to it. From there, the next step is determining what role the quality policy should play within the organization. As for objectives, it is essential to remember that a quality objective is one that, when achieved, provides an immediate benefit to the customer.
It is therefore evident that quality objectives should be established when planning the system designed to attract and retain customers over time. To ensure that quality objectives are set and remain consistent with the organization's purpose and strategy, top management must verify that they result from the strategic planning process, following an analysis of key quality system elements. To demonstrate that top management has exercised its leadership and commitment in establishing the quality policy and objectives, it is necessary to:
- Provide evidence of a structured process for defining the quality policy and objectives;
- Show where and how top management is directly involved in this process;
- Demonstrate that, before approval, the quality policy and objectives undergo a review by top management to ensure their alignment with the organization's context and strategic direction.