Management Review - Who should attend?

[Liz Ortiz]

I work within a 3000+ employee organization with numerous directors and an ongoing challenge we experience is defining the expectations of the directors/top management within Management Review.

Is there anyone out there who works for a similar organization and can explain how they have addressed the following issues:

1) Top management's limited interest in Management Review
2) Who really needs to be there? Does the CEO always attend?
3) In your organization, who sends out the invitation for Management Review? Top management or the quality department?

Any help is appreciated!
Liz

 

[D.Scott]

Hi Liz - welcome to the Cove.

You ask a good question and IMHO, you need a single member of management with executive responsibility together with as many others as it takes to make a determination of the effectiveness and suitability of the quality system in meeting the requirements of the standard, the quality policy and the company objectives. This determination should be made using a multi-disciplinary approach which shuld be the make up of the "others" mentioned earlier.

If in your 3000+ organization, the Quality Director can, with the help of others making up the "team", make this determination and has the executive authority to act on the results of the review, my opinion is the requirement is satisfied. Most of our executive staff have very little input if they do attend a MR and their presence isn't required. Obviously, the larger the turn-out the greater the perception of support from upper management but that is not necessarily true. Most executives have important jobs and responsibilities of their own and sitting in a meeting just to show support doesn't add much value.

I would say as long as you have certain key people there (defined by your own company) you don't need all of top management. There is no requirement for the CEO to attend. As the Management Rep, I send the meeting notice. BTW, I send it to all the executives including finance and legal and they decide if they want to come.

Dave

 

[Sidney Vianna]

I work within a 3000+ employee organization with numerous directors and an ongoing challenge we experience is defining the expectations of the directors/top management within Management Review.

Is there anyone out there who works for a similar organization and can explain how they have addressed the following issues:

1) Top management's limited interest in Management Review
2) Who really needs to be there? Does the CEO always attend?
3) In your organization, who sends out the invitation for Management Review? Top management or the quality department?

Any help is appreciated!
Liz

Liz, in aswer to your 1st question, in my experience, and assuming that your senior management is truly interested in the organization's survival and success, you can gain their interest by presenting all of the issues supposed to be covered in the management review with REAL WORLD CASES. I assume that you have some client dissatisfaction. Are your senior managers taking tylenol due to these? Are they losing some sleep over this? Show them how the system is NOT working and PREVENTING them from having to deal with dissatisfied customers.

Do you have non-conforming products? Make a correlation to them of how much that is detracting from your company's bottomline.

Use their language. Put yourself in their shoes. Using quality lingo and jargons and boring powerpoint slides make this people doze off.

If your CEO does not have an interest in partipating, it would seem to me that s/he thinks that this is not important, otherwise s/he would demand to be there. How do you make this review activity important? once again, make the correlation of your QMS performance, or lack there of, with things that keep awake at night . . .

Hopefully they are concerned with a few other things other than their bonuses and compensation packages . . .

Good luck

 

[Wes Bucey]

Hi Liz - welcome to the Cove.

You ask a good question and IMHO, you need a single member of management with executive responsibility together with as many others as it takes to make a determination of the effectiveness and suitability of the quality system in meeting the requirements of the standard, the quality policy and the company objectives. This determination should be made using a multi-disciplinary approach which shuld be the make up of the "others" mentioned earlier.

If in your 3000+ organization, the Quality Director can, with the help of others making up the "team", make this determination and has the executive authority to act on the results of the review, my opinion is the requirement is satisfied. Most of our executive staff have very little input if they do attend a MR and their presence isn't required. Obviously, the larger the turn-out the greater the perception of support from upper management but that is not necessarily true. Most executives have important jobs and responsibilities of their own and sitting in a meeting just to show support doesn't add much value.

I would say as long as you have certain key people there (defined by your own company) you don't need all of top management. There is no requirement for the CEO to attend. As the Management Rep, I send the meeting notice. BTW, I send it to all the executives including finance and legal and they decide if they want to come.

Dave

I tend to agree with Dave. In my opinion, the actual individuals who are on the Management Review team are not as important as what they do and how their activity is publicized to the rest of the organization.

Dave's idea of having a defined team PLUS sending notice and detailed agenda of meeting to all other execs (perhaps with RSVP so proper meeting room size can be booked) is very good. In my experience, with an accurate agenda, "bystanders" and "objects of review" can attend for just the part that interests them or which applies to them.

Add to that the publication of "action items" (versus complete minutes) to the entire organization (mere background information to most, requiring signoff by only the parties required to perform action.)

The downside is that team members may not have real empowerment and authority and are mere "pro forma" actors going through the motions. At least one member of the Review Team has to have enough "ink in his pen" to compel and implement action, versus recommend action.

The person who chairs or "facilitates" the review meeting is not usually the one with "ink" - his job is to keep the meeting on track.

I find that giving each team member background information, including copies of audit reports, in advance of the meeting, allows them to be prepared to speak to a topic in review rather than spend time learning about it during the review meeting. The review meeting is for the team members to express views to each other and vote on action, not to "educate" each other on the process under review.

 

[Claes Gefvenberg]

Liz,

I think you have received good answers already, and have nothing further to add, except this: Good first post, and welcome to the Cove

/Claes

 

[Greg B]

Hi Liz,

Welcome to the Cove. We have discussed the Mangement Review Process last year in these two threads:

Management Review Frequency: https://elsmar.com/elsmarqualityforum/threads/5988/ , and
Is Management Review a procedure or only in the QM?: https://elsmar.com/elsmarqualityforum/threads/7368/

I attached my Management Review Process in both and I have added the attachement below: (I hope it helps)
https://elsmar.com/elsmarqualityforum/attachment.php?attachmentid=1547.

We have ALL Senior Managers attend our meetings and they can also invite their Senior Supervisor, usually on a rotation basis, as this gives them experience in the meetings should they have to attend in their Managers place. Our Operations Manager is the 'Chair' and I as the Quality Coordinator am the Secretary. Between us we set the agenda and schedule meetings. Neither the CEO nor the board attend these meetings. Although they are most welcome to, as they are on the corporate calendar. We usually hold these meetings a few weeks before a board meeting so the Ops Manager has a clear picture of where we are. Our meetings are far more than just a 'Quality' meeting as we discuss all aspects of the Business and future direction, development etc.
Our managers don't necessarily want to go to these meetings (as they say they have enough already) but they attend because it is part of their duties and I think they are slowly seeing the benefits.

Greg B