The dynamics of efficiently operating a service organization are both varied and fluid. They include the unique background and approach of each individual service representative and the needs and desires of each individual client/customer. For any service organization, customer service and customer satisfaction are the end product. For Social Services organizations, less than timely or efficiently delivered service can have a devastating effect on individuals, families and even the communities they are dedicated to serve. Therefore, Social Services must be delivered with consistency and with an eye toward continual improvement. Consistency in a dynamic, fluid environment can only be achieved with a solid basis or frame-work for operation; a frame-work that ensures quality, efficiency and consistency; a Quality Management System - Such a system is ISO 9000:2000, the universal standard for quality. Being a universal Standard ISO 9000 is readily implemented in both product-based and service-based organizations, including Social Service and related government (or quasi-government) agencies. As it is both customer and quality-service focused, ISO is not only well suited for such applications, it  should be deemed “requisite”, as being in the best interest of those the system is designed to serve.

Understanding ISO

ISO 9000 is a written set of standards which describe and define the basic elements of a quality system needed to ensure products/services meet or exceed customer needs and expectations. The implementation of the standards is designed to help ensure that products/services meet the required specifications on a continuous basis, by focusing on the process of producing that product/service, as opposed to the product/service itself. The system is internally audited and regular intervals to ensure both compliance and efficiency. The organization is externally audited periodically, as well, by a registering body that ensures the integrity of ISO at a higher level.

The ISO standards were developed by The International Organization for Standardization, an international body located in Geneva, to ensure that products and services of member countries secure global acceptance. ISO 9001:2000 is the core standard for the ISO 9000 series of standards, and the most widely adopted and implemented quality standard in the world.

ISO is not an acronym for the standards organization that created it, but rather comes from the Greek isos, a word meaning equal. And, indeed, the ISO 9000 standards are equally applicable to a wide and ever growing range of manufacturing and services organizations, from healthcare and social services organizations to aerospace and biotech laboratories. It is a standard equally at home in two person manufacturer or a 2000+ employee information technology firm.

The great “equalizer” of ISO, is that it applies evenly to everyone in the program, from the lowest level to the highest level of management. Once implemented, no one is exempt from adhering to the Standard. For this reason, ISO 9001:2000 underscores “management commitment” as essential for successful implementation.

Universal Application of ISO

With the release of the ISO 9001:2000 series of quality management standards, quality assurance took on an even more universal form.  With greater emphasis on customer satisfaction and the introduction of a process approach to quality, ISO 9001:2000 achieves this universality by broadly defining requirements and leaving the manner of how the requirements are fulfilled to the organization. In other words, the focus is on what needs to be done and not on how it is to be carried out.

The basics of ISO are simple: align your processes to be compliant with the Standard, document your processes as procedures, (to include a quality manual, standard operating procedures (and work instructions, as necessary), and adhere to those procedures in your day-to-day activities (while providing “objective evidence” that you are doing so).

Four Principles of ISO

ISO 9000 embodies a few key principles, as described below:

Principle One: ISO 9000 is a Standard for a quality system. It is not a product/service Standard which describes the specifications that the product/service must have.

Principle Two: ISO 9000 is based on documentation and is premised on the following:

        - Say what you do;

        - Do what you say; and

        - Prove it.

Principle Three: ISO 9000 emphasizes prevention. The objective is to prevent defects in quality and not attend to them after they have occurred.

Principle Four: ISO 9000 is a universal Standard. It is able to achieve this universality because it only spells out broad requirements and leaves the manner of fulfilling the requirements to the organization.

ISO and Customer Satisfaction

According to the ISO 9000 Standard, quality is defined as the totality of features and characteristics of a product or service that bear on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs. The features and characteristics are identified based on the needs of the customer. It is the customer who evaluates whether the services meet the specifications that have been determined. Thus, quality really means meeting customer needs.

In Civil Service, quality service that is capable of meeting the needs of the customer would, among others, include features such as the timely delivery of service; an accurate assessment of needs; reliability; the availability of services to the needy; and the demonstration of social graces such as courtesy, politeness, etc., in service delivery.

Benefits of ISO for Social Services

The implementation of ISO 9000 will bring about various benefits which among others include: less firefighting or need for constant intervention in the operation of the business. This is achieved by providing staff with the means to control their own operations by identifying the tasks to be performed (and means to perform them) to yield the desired results. ISO also provides a means of documenting the organization’s experience in a structured manner, providing a basis for education and training of staff as well as systematic improvement of performance.

For a Social Services organization an ISO quality system can provide a means for identifying and resolving problems and preventing their recurrence; provide measures for detecting deviations from procedures and for determining root cause; and for planning and implementing corrective and preventive actions.  But most important, it provides the means for enabling everyone to perform tasks right the first time. This is achieved by providing work instructions, effective controls, appropriate and adequate resources, training, motivation and an environment conducive to quality.

For Civil or other Social Services, true service must have customer service and customer satisfaction as the desired end result. But trying to achieving such results, without a formal quality management system like ISO 9000, has, to date, been a quagmire for Civil/Social Services agencies, with neither hope nor apparent end. Only by embracing a structure for quality operations will Public Service agencies finally deliver true Customer Service - and the taxpayer, subsequently, will also be served.

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Text by Stephen Rubino -  all rights reserved. RH Andersen and Team ISO are registered trademarks of RH Andersen Consultants. All rights reserved.