ISO 9001:2015 – a questionable reform. What should the implementing organisations understand and do?

Abstract

We have recognised significant problems in understanding and applying the standard ISO 9001:2015. In this general review article, we expound that this situation originates from the standardisation process and its managerial drawbacks. Our research provides insight into the problematic aspects in the standard. The research is based on analysing the standard text, making observations from the initial application period of the standard half a year after its publication, and searching for an explanation for the situation from the problems in the standardisation process. Our aim is to guide organisations in implementing the standard for business advantages in spite of its existing problems, to identify the responsibility of the implementing organisations, and to provoke and encourage them into creative business-specific solutions. We want that our study also provides more understanding about the general international standardisation procedures and in particular of the management system standards, of which ISO 9001 is the most well known. Our main focus is on the practitioners’ viewpoints and the implementation of the standard in the organisations, and the article is based on our own observations and long-term participation on the ISO 9000 standardisation and implementation.

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