Posts: 46
From:Ontario, Canada.
Registered: Nov 2000

posted 19 January 2001 08:07 PM               

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BOOK REVIEWED BY WALLACE TAIT.

The third edition (1997) of the book titled Management Audits is a progression of the second edition (1988-1994) of the same title.
The authororiginally hails from the UK and now lives and works in the USA. The information contained within this book has been used within the current and past body of knowledge for the ASQ, CQA designation testing, and this book can be obtained from the ASQ quality press.  

The central focus of this book is, the approach to auditing taken in a non -ISO manner, the tools and techniques that are presented are aimed at using management audits to reduce or eliminate avoidable costs and improve results, to make a company ever more competitive and meet the challenges of competition, the value added approach is evident throughout the book. I found the Task elements and sub-elements chapter (4) to have the most impact and influence, the use of the auditing method based upon the task elements of person, item, equipment, information and service IMHO should be the standard of every quality auditor, I have personally found the use of the task element method to exceed my expectations as an auditor using this method for information gathering during an audit.
The value- added auditing chapter (found in part 2 management audit applications) discusses the elements of price, the nature of costs and, value-added audits and the registrar and, much more. It was found throughout the book that, the authorbelieves the ISO standards (ISO9001, 2,3 1994) to be inadequate to modern business needs regarding having a standard of compliance that provides the business community with the adequate model to manage quality issues in a value added and proficient manner.
I found the Chapter titled ãTypical quality problems and their real causesä to be a mirror of the many experiences that I have encountered as an auditor, I believe that the quality manager or auditor who reads this book will find the contents the motivator in changing established attitudes and perceptions of the management audit.
I would recommend this book to all quality practitioners and to auditors who wish to seek the ASQ, CQA designation.

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