Jim,
I do think the role of a quality auditor does need to change. I know of too many internal auditors that could quote the standard word for word, but don't understand anything about how their company operates. In order to be an effective auditor I think you need to understand the various processes of the company and how they all relate to each other.
I'm not sure about managers being part of the audit team, but they definitely need to support the audit program (so I guess in a way they would be part of the team). The auditor role should still fall to one or two people (or however many depending on company size). But the auditor should have a wider range of skills and knowledge than what is provided in a traditional ISO 9001 auditor course. This is why I see a merging of auditors being a good idea. If you have a person who understands the company processes and also has an understanding of business practices, I think this would be an ideal person to conduct audits. This would also be very beneficial to the company as well.
Sure, you're required to check compliance to the standard, but why stop there? Check to see if all the processes are effective and efficient and look for areas to improve.