hey all. new user, first post.

in our recent TS audit, a minor NC was written against element 6.2.2.4 - employee motivation and empowerment.

this states: the org. shall have a process to measure the extent to which its personel are aware of the relevance and importance of their activities and how they contribute to the achievement of the quality objectives.

the auditor mostly focused on the 'process to measure' portion. i tried selling the regular communications meetings we have, the employee suggestion box, etc.

basically, his stance is that we 'need to know how much our employees know how much they contribute to making good parts'

we've discussed coming up with a multiple choice quiz that is evaluated and trended over time...that's about it.

how would you guys argue this?

hey all. new user, first post.
in our recent TS audit, a minor NC was written against element 6.2.2.4 - employee motivation and empowerment.
this states: the org. shall have a process to measure the extent to which its personel are aware of the relevance and importance of their activities and how they contribute to the achievement of the quality objectives.
the auditor mostly focused on the 'process to measure' portion. i tried selling the regular communications meetings we have, the employee suggestion box, etc. basically, his stance is that we 'need to know how much our employees know how much they contribute to making good parts' we've discussed coming up with a multiple choice quiz that is evaluated and trended over time...that's about it. how would you guys argue this?

This is actually an easy one. Just make sure you assess it during internal audits ... not much different from finding out if they know the quality policy. It does not need to be a separate process.

hey all. new user, first post.

in our recent TS audit, a minor NC was written against element 6.2.2.4 - employee motivation and empowerment.

this states: the org. shall have a process to measure the extent to which its personel are aware of the relevance and importance of their activities and how they contribute to the achievement of the quality objectives.

the auditor mostly focused on the 'process to measure' portion. i tried selling the regular communications meetings we have, the employee suggestion box, etc.

basically, his stance is that we 'need to know how much our employees know how much they contribute to making good parts'

we've discussed coming up with a multiple choice quiz that is evaluated and trended over time...that's about it.

how would you guys argue this?

Use your internal audits, put the 'question' on the audit checklist (as much as I hate the idea) and 'score' how many audits show a 'hit' or 'miss'....

hey all. new user, first post.

In our recent TS audit, a minor NC was written against element 6.2.2.4 - employee motivation and empowerment.

This states: "the organization shall have a process to measure the extent to which its personel are aware of the relevance and importance of their activities and how they contribute to the achievement of the quality objectives."

The auditor mostly focused on the 'process to measure' portion. I tried selling the regular communications meetings we have, the employee suggestion box, etc.

Basically, his stance is that we 'need to know how much our employees know how much they contribute to making good parts'

We've discussed coming up with a multiple choice quiz that is evaluated and trended over time...that's about it.

How would you guys argue this?

We do not argue ;) your Auditor is correct.

One "process" to assess awareness is a quiz (paper or on-line) containing questions about the employee's role in making the internal and external customer happy. Employees' responses can be graded and analyzed to find out where and how more awareness training must be conducted.

Look here (http://elsmar.com/Forums/fileslist.php?mode=allfiles&sortby=filename&pageamt=2&criteria=awareness) for search results here at The Cove Forums and search further on examples of quizzes, questionaires and the like.

I believe that this is a very good requirement. Many folks whom I interview during an audit have no clue how they contribute to customer satisfaction, other then what they've been given/printed on their ID Cards.....:frust:

Good luck!

Stijloor.

Friends,

Employee Motivation and Awareness Quiz.

Stijloor.

Friends,

Management Motivation and Awareness "Quiz."

Stijloor.

Every one of our internal audits includes the questions: What is the quality policy and how do you support it?" We also ask, "What are your goals?" and we ask, "What continual improvement projects have you implemented / completed?"

This may only be a method to satisfy the TS requirements and may not be the most effective method. However, our organization has passed many external audits with this approach.

Friends,

Management Motivation and Awareness "Quiz."

Stijloor.

This looks very interesting; just two questions if I may...

How was this received by the executive management?

How was the participation and the results?

This looks very interesting; just two questions if I may...

How was this received by the executive management?

How did was the participation and the results?

Tom,

I'll get back to you on this one....:yes:

Stijloor.

This looks very interesting; just two questions if I may...

How was this received by the executive management?

I made this tool available to my Clients for the primary purpose of making Top Management aware of the possible questions they may be asked during external and internal audits.

I do not know, if this particular tool was used for actually measuring "Top Management's Awareness."

However, the overall response was generally very positive.

How was the participation and the results?

I don't know because I do not have the statistics.

Feel free to use this at your organization though.

Stijloor.

Thank you Stijloor,

I will certainly pass this on to the people who should review it. I appreciate your offer. Thanks again.

I like the quiz approach because it makes your employees feel a little more involved. You can also get more feedback than if you added a couple questions to your internal audits. At the same time I think the quiz that Stijloor suggested provides your employees with additional information and really helps any questions they have about the quality system come out.

hey all. new user, first post.

in our recent TS audit, a minor NC was written against element 6.2.2.4 - employee motivation and empowerment.

this states: the org. shall have a process to measure the extent to which its personel are aware of the relevance and importance of their activities and how they contribute to the achievement of the quality objectives.

the auditor mostly focused on the 'process to measure' portion. i tried selling the regular communications meetings we have, the employee suggestion box, etc.

basically, his stance is that we 'need to know how much our employees know how much they contribute to making good parts'

we've discussed coming up with a multiple choice quiz that is evaluated and trended over time...that's about it.

how would you guys argue this?


I believe this can be approached from internal audit and management review "processes".

We need to know, therefore should have some "measure", but TS makes it a "shall".

But I do not think "we need to know how much our employees know how much they contribute to making good parts".

We should not overdo to add too much to our work as we already have many measures in the TS std.

By reviewing Internal auditors' feedback whether employees deliver what they were assigned to do without mistakes or inapprpriate actions that could possibly impact quality output; and the trend of performance indicators; we have done the "measure" of the extent....

This should be obtained through observation instead of questionaire of "are you aware of the relevance and importance.....do you know how your activities contribute...". I guess all will answer: "Yes I am aware, Yes I know".

I believe this can be approached from internal audit and management review "processes".

Could be, depending how the auditor phrases his/her questions.

Let's take a look at ISO/TS 16949:2002:

6.2.2.3 Training on the job
The organization shall provide on-the-job training for personnel in any new or modified job affecting product quality, including contract or agency personnel. Personnel whose work can affect quality shall be informed about the consequences to the customer of nonconformity to quality requirements.

6.2.2.4 Employee motivation and empowerment
The organization shall have a process to motivate employees to achieve quality objectives, to make continual improvements, and to create an environment to promote innovation. The process shall include the promotion of quality and technological awareness throughout the whole organization.
The organization shall have a process to measure the extent to which its personnel are aware of the relevance and importance of their activities and how they contribute to the achievement of the quality objectives [see 6.2.2 d)].

We need to know, therefore should have some "measure", but TS makes it a "shall".

I agree.

But I do not think "we need to know how much our employees know how much they contribute to making good parts".

I disagree, look at the ISO/TS quoted paragraphs above.

We should not overdo to add too much to our work as we already have many measures in the TS std.

I agree, but not all process "measures" provide us with the evidence how well individual employees understand their personal role.

By reviewing Internal auditors' feedback whether employees deliver what they were assigned to do without mistakes or inappropriate actions that could possibly impact quality output; and the trend of performance indicators; we have done the "measure" of the extent....

Not necessarily. Employees can deliver what they were assigned to do without having a clue why... They may accomplish this out of fear. We all all know what Dr. Deming said about "fear."

This should be obtained through observation instead of questionaire of "are you aware of the relevance and importance.....do you know how your activities contribute...". I guess all will answer: "Yes I am aware, Yes I know".

I disagree. When an auditor asks nothing but closed questions, all you will here are "yes" and "no" answers. That's why a well-defined awareness and motivation process including an effective way of measuring this awareness will add a lot of value. But again, depending how well it is designed, implemented, and taken seriously by Top Management.

Stijloor.

OH! I am sorry Stijloor, I did not read your posts. I was refering to fleischmann's post.

I do not think the requirement of "aware of the relevance and importance of their activities and how they contribute to the achievement of the quality objectives" means "we need to know how much our employees know how much they contribute to making good parts", literally.

I think we only need to know that they know what they suppose to do to achieve work goals, or what they not suppose to do to cause them not able to achieve work goals.

Auditors' observation or interview to find out whether their works are proper (i.e. follow instructions or meet requirements without doing things that will cause problems and rejects) to produce good quality products and required target quantity, and less rejects; reflected that they are aware of what they are expected of, i.e. their proper work behaviour will contribute to the achievement of the quality objectives.

But that may not be enough, by monitoring performance (which management review can do this, and commited managment will identify the extent of this awareness through this review, periodically) in various aspects (i.e. trend of productivity, customer complaints including recurrence of similar issues, etc), we can tell whether employees are aware of ...., or the awareness has increased, or there is a deterioration in the awareness.

Is there such a requirement that there must be a numerical value or something like that to tell "how much our employees know how much they contribute to making good parts"? Does this add a lot of value more than those other objectives and targets and kpi we have?

However, this is my personal opinion, never mean to say nobody shall not use questionaires, etc.

OH! I am sorry Stijloor, I did not read your posts. I was refering to fleischmann's post.

No problem at all. Good points, excellent discussion! :applause:

As a traininer, consultant, auditor; I find it very sad to see how little employees know about how they personally impact their internal and/or external customers. I focus on the employee. Yes, we can look at KPI's and all other available measures, but those do not indicate to what level the individual employee is aware.

I value all insights and experiences with this....:yes:

A topic near and dear to my heart.

Stijloor.

OH! You responded so fast!

Throughout my participation in this forum, I can see that there are some typical differences in views from the West and the East (i.e. US, Europe, ... and Asia).

This may due to different organization size and language used, etc.

Problems always arose when interpreting from the Standard requirements.

I tend to have a preconceived idea to worry about the amount of documentation in the management of systems, mainly due to where I am from, a place where most people are not English educated, and where one person does works that supposed to be handled by a few....that is why "documentation" is a nightmare to many here in our workplace.

Thank you so much Stijloor, for sharing your views and knowledge with all of us!:thanks::thanx:

OH! You responded so fast!

Throughout my participation in this forum, I can see that there are some typical differences in views from the West and the East (i.e. US, Europe, ... and Asia).

This may due to different organization size and language used, etc.

Problems always arose when interpreting from the Standard requirements.

I tend to have a preconceived idea to worry about the amount of documentation in the management of systems, mainly due to where I am from, a place where most people are not English educated, and where one person does works that supposed to be handled by a few....that is why "documentation" is a nightmare to many here in our workplace.

Thank you so much Stijloor, for sharing your views and knowledge with all of us!:thanks::thanx:

You raise excellent points! Cultural and language issues certainly play a role in designing, implementing and maintaining quality management systems. However, as you and I know, the bottom line is that we must take care of our customers regardless of where they are located.

Stijloor.