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Company "SWOT" analysis

Discussion in 'ISO 9001:2015 - Quality Management Systems' started by KyleG, Jan 31, 2019.

  1. KyleG

    KyleG Active Member

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    my company has 35-50 associates management included. I have purchased and been reading ISO 9001:2015 in Plain English (very good book and source) in reading the section 4.1 an idea popped into my head to create a form, with specific questions asking all employees questions pertaining to the company. questions such as What are we good at? where can we improve? what technologies could assist us? etc. I think this will add valued opinion of operations staff, gain insight anonymously, gain operations staff buy-in etc.
    two questions,
    has anyone tried something like this? Has it worked? whats your opinion?
    and
    What questions would you guys ask to aid the "census"
    Also i would be gearing the questions towards the "SWOT" format.
    Do you guys see Value added? or a better suggestion in order to accomplish this?
     
  2. Qualmx

    Qualmx Well-Known Member

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    For 4.1, it works, I used SWOT , identifying strengths, weaknesses, strengths and threats.
     
  3. Andy Nichols

    Andy Nichols Moderator Staff Member

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    Nice idea...but

    Let's say you actually do this. Management sit down and go through the feedback. Are they prepared to DO something about the feedback? Let's not overlook, this is going to be, for the most part, criticism of what they have/have not done. They might not be prepared for that. Or have money, or time... Nothing worse than asking a question and NOT having a response except "thanks for sharing"...
     
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  4. John C. Abnet

    John C. Abnet Well-Known Member

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    Good day @KyleG ;
    I have been involved with a similar approach, and it worked very well for us. The difference is that (while we certainly promoted and collected and utilized associate feedback), we kept the activity to limited to department managers and sr. leadership.

    We also did not use a checklist or form (tends to limit an individuals scope of thinking). What we did was have all department managers list their impression of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats in order of priority. We (Sr. Leadership) would then review all "top threes" with the entire leadership team and further reduce/commingle/prioritize those results.

    Sr. leadership would then compare the results with our mission, context of the organization, business plan. We (Sr. Leadership) may then decide to select some of the resulting SWOT determinations for determining action plans.

    Worked well for us.

    Hope this helps.
    Be well.
     
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  5. RoxaneB

    RoxaneB Moderator Staff Member

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    Further to Andy's point, are they prepared to communicate what they're doing (or not doing) and why to the rest of the organization?
     
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  6. Qualmx

    Qualmx Well-Known Member

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    In this point, ISO offers to users to address this issue in a way that will be useful and helpful to organizations.
    To visualize the organization at 30000 ft. And to plan it strategically.
    But guess what..... most of Auditor don't consider this point in the way ISO expects.
     
  7. tony s

    tony s Well-Known Member

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    I use SWOT analysis primarily as a tool for planning (e.g. 6.1). The issues we have considered serve as inputs in establishing our strategic directions and objectives. Any changes in the issues also serves as input during our ManCom meetings. I believe, this approach adequately fulfill the requirements of 4.1.
     
  8. Jennifer Kirley

    Jennifer Kirley Moderator Staff Member

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    SWOT can be very useful, and may be widely understood since it is included in a number of college management curricula. I had a client with a management team that was very "into" SWOT. They used the tool to great effect, understood it and kept it updated. If done well, it can be very useful for management review as it can facilitate information such as changes in issues and effectiveness of actions taken to address risk. Its high-level summary structure provided a means to treat it as a living document, updating and including in each management review.
     
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  9. ncwalker

    ncwalker Well-Known Member

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    Part of my job is to evaluate if companies run well. And I have been doing it a long time. I cannot reiterate enough what Andy says above. If management is not behind it and engaged in it, it becomes the flavor of the month. Good for a dog a pony show, and coming up with poster ideas. Absolutely zero value on the shop floor.

    People come on these boards and ask quite often "Which system is the best?"

    The answer is: the one that management fully supports.

    A system of ouija boards and chicken sacrifices to control downtime that is fully supported by management will work better than a chapter and verse correct TPM system that management doesn't care about.
     
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