Dr. L. Ramakrishnan said:
I think by "define" you mean "appoint" an Audit Team leader; if that is the case I agree that a team leader has to be "defined" to carry out the audit.
What I am reading in this thread is that within an Internal Audit, the roles and responsibilities of a Lead Auditor or a Team Leader are the same, thus the 'job titles' of this leadership function are synonomous with each other.
ISO 9001:2000 requires us to ensure that the "...responsibilities and requirements for planning and conducting audits....shall be defined in a documented procedure." At the end of '8.2.2 Internal audits', however we find the following Note telling us to refer to "...ISO 10011-1, ISO 10011-2 and ISO 10011-3 for guidance."
The key word here is guidance. It is not a requirement for Internal Auditors to meet the characteristics and traits described in ISO 10011 or ISO 19011.
Don't misunderstand me, Dr. L...personally, I would love it if all of my Internal Auditors met that which is in ISO 19011, but it's not going to happen. My Internal Auditors are not full-time auditors. They conduct one or two audits a year (maybe), depending on their availability and workload.
I do know, however, that with in my Internal Auditor Pool there are some Internal Auditors who are great at sifting through paperwork and asking questions, but can not rephrase the requirements of ISO 9001:2000 in a language the auditee understands and have rather appalling time management skills. These Internal Auditors will not assume a leadership function within an Internal Audit until their skills can demonstrate that they are qualified/competent. In our documented procedure, these people are designated as "Team Auditors".
Some of my other Internal Auditors, however, have an amazing awareness and knowledge of ISO 9001:2000 and our Internal Audit process, possess great investigative and observation skills, manage their time well, adhere to all safety rules and regulations and take take detailed notes. These people possess the qualifications/comptencies necessary to assume a leadership role within our Internal Audit process. In our documented procedure, these people are designated as "Lead Auditors".
What I have been reading in this thread has been advice to xfngrs to define the roles and responsibilites of what his/her Organization classifies as a "Lead Auditor" within their Internal Audit process. They may not meet all that is described in ISO 19011, but they do not need to. As long as they are deemed to be qualified/competent by xfngrs' Organization and the requirements that they must meet to be considered qualified/competent are documented (and objective evidence maintained demonstrating their qualfications/competencies), then no External Auditor or Registrar should take issue to this.