->I see a lot of speculations in many articles around
->"process approach", "system approach to management",
->"process management", "management as a process".
Yup - lots of people trying to sell you something. This is not that complicated. I stand by my assertion that if you do what I have recommended to clients since 1994 - flow chart your systems - you will see every system is a process or processes each of which has inputs and outputs -- and inter-relationships are well defined - that's all this is about. Your internal audit system is a process or a set of processes. Purchasing is a process or a series of processes. You have a nonconformance system which is made up of processes. Taken to the extreme, almost everything can be looked at as a process.
I took a course in the mid-1980's called "Business as a Process". None of this is new. It is more 'Good Business Practices' which is all ISO 9001 is. When you reach the point where you can understand everything you do in terms of inter-relating processes, you can then go on to evaluate each in terms of cycle time, effectiveness of interaction, etc. The course goal was, by the way, how to ensure continuous improvement -- a relatively 'new' concept to the ISO standards folks -- and stressed the use of experiments to generate knowledge as well as process feedback for learning.
If you take a step back and review ISO 9001 against the reality of good business practices you will find ISO 9001 is at least 10 to 15 years behind the times. If you are just now looking at your business as a series of processes with inputs and outputs, and you implement and take ISO 9001 to heart, your company will improve significantly.