The Role of Leadership in Organizations Managed in Conformity with ISO 9001 Quality Management System Standard

The role of top management in organizations managed in conformity with ISO 9001 Quality Management System (QMS) standard has been rising in importance. In view of this standard, leadership should play a fundamental role with regard to processes related to planning, support, operation, performance evaluation, and improvement. The aim of the article was to determine the effect of the ISO 9001 - Quality Management System standard on the responsibilities of top management with respect to the resources managed and processes carried out in the organization. Materials and methods: The study involved 30 enterprises in the food industry. The research participants were divided into two groups of equal size. One group included enterprises which have operated with a quality management system for at least seven years, whereas the other included organizations which have never been managed in conformity with the QMS standard. CAPI and PAPI techniques were used. For both of these quantitative methods an auctorial interview questionnaire was employed. Results: Indicators for all of the studied top management responsibilities (to the exclusion of demonstrating commitment to customer focus where both groups achieved the same results) bespeaking the commitment of top management to resource management and process completion were higher for the companies which had implemented an ISO 9001 QMS at least seven years prior to the study.