Page 20 - Enterprise Engagement and ISO Standards eBook

Enterprise Engagement and ISO Standards

requirements for team-based problem-solving, knowledge and awareness of quality systems
among all employees, and continuous improvement as part of the audit requirements.
However, there is little current evidence that the expected improvement potential has been
realized.”

This study suggests organizations can do a lot more to tap the power of engagement at the
front lines, and that starts at the top. The authors call for a more systematic approach to the
application of engagement to achieve maximum achievable results.

Applications for Other ISO Standards

Engagement applies to other ISO standards as well. Writing about ISO 15189:2007 standards
on medical laboratory management, author Lisa M. Walters, PhD, MBA, wrote in the
publication Medical Laboratory Observer, “Quality is everyone’s responsibility, but
organizations with quality-management systems (QMS) still tend to surrender all quality
issues to one department, even while QMS is expected to engage all staff members within
the day-to-day work of the organization toward that higher quality goal.”

ISO 15189:2007 governs requirements for quality and competence in the medical
laboratory. According to Walters’ article, the standards are sustained by the creation and
continual improvement of policies, procedures and protocols. “To be robust, this framework
must be consistently implemented by the lab’s most critical resource: humans. And therein
lies the problem. People, by nature, exhibit a great deal of variation. As a result, a whole
bunch of folks are difficult to control. Thus, it is easier to put the process into the reins of a
limited number of hands – like one department or one person.”

Unfortunately, she writes, “limited control usually means limited knowledge, as information
that may be vital to the process might be lost or disregarded by those that are not part of
the ‘Q club.’ You want staff members to fully implement ISO 15189 on their own, without the
signage reading, ‘Not my job; take it to the quality department.’ How can you get everyone
on board with ISO 15189? QMS structure requires implementation, and that implementation
requires engagement.”

Walters goes on to write: “Engagement is more than work satisfaction or loyalty.
Engagement is passion and commitment, a willingness to go beyond the day-to-day by
investing oneself and one's discretionary effort to help the employer succeed. This sounds a
bit like an engagement of the heart, does it not? It helps to think that you do not marry
someone just because you are satisfied with him or her; you marry when you are willing to
invest your time, energy and self into another’s goals. When you think of it that way,
engagement is even more than commitment, because engagement is more action-oriented,
resultant from passion. By understanding the role of engagement in organizational

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