Quality Standards, Accreditation and Self-Evaluation Models

Quality is

• an organization-wide process,
• what the customer says it is,
• a way of managing,
• an ethic,
• the most cost effective, least capital intensive route to productivity,
• implemented as a total system connected to both customers and suppliers.

There are a number of features that the standards used for production and/or service delivery in enterprises should have. Accordingly, standards,

• prioritize the safety of human health, life and property,
• ensure the uniformity of products and / or services,
• require the production of quality products and / or services,
• require that they are produced especially economically in accordance with the intended use,
• are based on the verified results of scientific, technical and experimental research, and
• are proven for accuracy.

Although the main benefit of defining quality standards and producing according to these standards seems to be customer satisfaction, quality standards have many other benefits, some of which are as follows:

• Ensuring productivity in production and increasing profitability,
• Increasing employee motivation,
• Yielding stronger competitive power in national/ international sectors,
• Helping to achieve sustainability,
• Facilitating the increase of market share by increasing trade volume,
• Strengthening the perception of reputation for goods or services,
• Helping to increase the level of quality and reliability.

The TSE has many different functions, which are listed below:

• To prepare all kinds of standards or have them prepared,
• To examine the standards prepared within the Institute or outside the Institute and to accept them as Turkish Standards if deemed appropriate,
• To publish the accepted standards and to encourage their implementation, and to submit those that are deemed beneficial to make mandatory to the approval of the relevant ministry.
• To prepare standards and projects at the request of the public and private sectors and to provide expert opinions,
• To conduct all kinds of scientific technical studies on standards and to follow similar studies in foreign countries,
• To cooperate with universities and other scientific and technical institutions and organizations, to publish on standardization issues,
• To establish relations with international and international standard institutions and to cooperate with them,
• To create archives from national and international standards and to make them available to the interested parties,
• To establish laboratories to conduct research on standards and to supervise the implementation of optional standards, to perform the technical studies and reports required by public or private sector,
• To train staff to establish and develop standard works in the nation and to open courses and seminars for this purpose,
• To carry out studies to encourage quality production in accordance with the standards and to issue the related documents,
• To carry out research and development studies related to metrology and calibration and to establish the necessary laboratories.

The international organizations that the TSE is a member of are listed below:

• ISO (International Organization for Standardization since 1956),
• IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission since 1956),
• SMIIC (Standards and Metrology Institute for the Islamic Countries since 2010),
• CEN (European Committee for Standardization since 2012),
• CENELEC (European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization since 2012).

We can list the characteristics of accreditation as follows:

Accreditation is

• a way to ensure quality assurance,
• an independent external evaluation,
• a method of obtaining a quality certificate,
• a document that is not permanent and is valid for a certain period of time,
• an evaluation process,
• a process at the end of which an organization is decided to be accredited or not accredited,
• a process where the institution and the organization must prove that they operate according to the quality criteria used in the assessment,
• a process where, after receiving this document, institutions or organizations are monitored periodically,
• a process where, if requested by the institutions, the accreditation process is initiated. Volunteering is essential.

Accreditation is an ongoing process that guarantees the competence of accredited bodies performing conformity assessment services such as:

• Certification of management systems: For quality, environment, occupational health and safety, energy, food information security, information technology, sustainable development,
• Certification of products, processes, and services: Toys, lifts, electrical devices, personal protection equipment, building products, biofuels, organic food and quality marks, recycled products, e-signature,
• Certification of persons: Auditors, welders, verifiers, inspectors, experts, consultants, professionals in IT, healthcare, training and education
• Inspections: Products, services, processes, designs, installations, buildings, roads, railways, trucks and cars,
• Verifications: of declarations of greenhouse gas emissions, such as water vapour, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, ozone, chlorofluorocarbons,
• Calibrations: Speed control meters, weighing machines, spectrometers, chronometers, radiation monitor devices, gas flow meters, electric counters,
• Medical examinations: Microbiology, histology, oncology, hematology, genetics, endocrinology, reproductive biology,
• Laboratory tests: Chemical, biological, physical, fire, mechanical, water, air, food, electrical and electronic, software, DNA, fingerprints, anti-doping, animal health.

Self-evaluation enables organizations to evaluate themselves in line with established standards using a variety of methods and techniques. Thus, organizations:

• identify open areas for improvement and development by using different analysis methods,
• ensure the continuity of their corporate development and form a system based on evidence, data, information and observation to measure these developments regularly,
• compare and contrast with other institutions,
• integrate the applied development model with their own operations.

Self-evaluation aims to achieve the following objectives in the institutions:

• Inclusion of all units in activities aimed at improving the processes related to the field of activity (goods/services) of the organization,
• Identifying and encouraging the adoption of good examples,
• Establishing a common quality culture,
• Operationalizing a sustainable quality development process,
• Providing reliable data needed for external evaluation,
• Ensuring a better understanding of the objectives and encouraging teamwork,
• Ensuring effective and efficient use of resources.

Malcolm Baldrige Model’s self-evaluation criteria include the following:

1. Leadership: How does the senior management manage the organization? How does senior management fulfill its public responsibilities? What are the efforts of senior management to become a good corporate citizen?
2. Strategic Planning: What kind of strategic plan did the business prepare? How did it prepare its basic action plans?
3. Customer and Market Focus: How does the business determine the expectations and needs of customers and the market? How does it communicate with the customers? How is customer loyalty managed?
4. Measurement, Analysis and Knowledge Management: How does the business management process and analyze a variety of information and data on key organizational processes, organizational performance, and management systems? How does it improve as a result of this analysis?
5. Human Resource Focus: How exactly are the potentials of individuals operating within the organization determined? How are these individuals developed and how are their workforce competencies optimally distributed within the organization?
6. Process Management: How are the basic production, delivery and support processes designed, managed, and developed?
7. Business Results: How is the organizational performance and development of key operational results such as customer satisfaction, financial and market performance, human resources, performance of suppliers and partners, operational performance, and social responsibility? What is the relative position of the firm compared to competitors?

The EFQM Model structure is based on the simple but powerful logic of asking three questions:

• “Why” does this organization exist? What Purpose does it fulfill? Why this particular strategy? (DIRECTION)
• “How” does it intend to deliver on its Purpose and Strategy (EXECUTION)
• “What has it actually achieved to date?
• “What” does it intend to achieve tomorrow? (RESULTS)

RADAR logic requires the organization to focus on the following from a top-down perspective:

• Determining the results (RESULTS) to perform as part of the strategy,
• Having approaches (APPROACHES) that will ensure the realization of present and future results,
• Applying these approaches appropriately (DEPLOY),
• Evaluating and improving diffuse approaches to learn and improve (ASSESS AND REFINE).