ISO 9001 - 9.3.1 Management Review - Attendees in a flat organization

[Casana]

We just had a reorg at our company, and they removed a management layer. Specifically, ALL the managers that I would invite to Management Review have now been reshuffled, their responsibilities redistributed, and their authority rolled up to a higher level manager.

I asked this new manager regarding who should now be invited to attend our MR, given this new organization, and his answer was to invite everyone in the team, since he's really the only manager and they'd be the ones identifying issues/ addressing actions etc. He's also based at another location (visits monthly) so he would have limited input.

I'm looking at 9.3.1, which specifically references TOP MANAGEMENT as the participants in the MR, and I'm not sure if this new arrangement will meet 9.3.1...
Has anyone seen a similar situation or have any thoughts? Thanks!

 

[Tagin]

I think you are right that the explicit '...top management shall...' requires that actual 'top management' be actively involved in the reviews. It doesn't mean the team could not attend or provide input, but they cannot be a proxy for top management, in my view.

 

[yodon]

Hmm... I don't know that I would see the President / CEO of a Fortune 500, international device company attending a Management Review - so I think some latitude can be applied here.

I've always considered "top management" in the context of the standard to be those who have the authority (including budget responsibility) to be responsible for and ensure these things get done. In a small company, indeed, that would probably be the top dog; but as the organization grows or authority gets re-distributed, that may not be the case.

In the case @Casana describes, having that one manager attend would seemingly be little added value.

Interesting discussion.

 

[Sidney Vianna]

FWIW, the term top management has a definition in ISO 9000:2015.

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[Casana]

Thanks for all the comments, they helped calm down my worries.

I believe that the one manager we have does need to attend since he needs to approve any changes with enough impact, and just monitor how things are doing.

My main concern was that the standard asks for TOP management but there's only one of those. @Sidney Vianna, thanks for the reminder that Top Management can delegate authority. Which means I'm probably ok with inviting the whole team. I expect some people will drop out and the key players will remain. I'm hoping for not too much chaos...

I guess I'll find out in October when we have our recert assessment if this approach will pass review!

 

[Golfman25]

Top management need not be more than one person. The underlings can provide the reports and context and the head honcho can make the decisions. Since the guy is remote, I am guessing he regularly asks for updates and gets briefed when he stops in. That's an opportune time to do management review.

 

[Al Rosen]

There's no requirement for a meeting. You can send him the reports to review, comment and request actions.