The SRA Symposium - College of Medicine

Papers
Within the context of a management control system and striving to achieve competitive advantage
this paper describes the University’s ISO9001 Quality Management system which is used for the
management of research and consultancy. The first section of this paper defines ISO in terms of its
principles, requirements and intent. The second section explores how ISO9001 has been applied
and implemented at UniSA, and importantly reveals how a formal management system has been
key in driving improvement strategies – thus achieving competitive advantage.
What is ISO?
In the pursuit of competitive advantage, it is increasingly important to identify the demands and
values of current and potential customers (Menzer, Flint, Kent, 1999).
As we enter the 21st Century it is imperative that we consider the complexities of our environment
such as technology, globalisation, competition, change, speed of change and complexity itself
(Tetenbaum 1998) as these factors contribute to the challenges of our organisational existence. If
organisations (including University Research Offices) accept these complexities and challenges,
we must then address them by seeing knowledge, or the attainment thereof, as a prerequisite for
sustainability. The key is how do we address these conditions and challenges and achieve competitive
advantage – thus giving rise to a sustainable future?
It would be naïve to suggest that ISO9001 is the complete answer; however, for UniSA it does provide
a formal management system for identifying customer requirements, setting organisational
objectives, assigning responsibilities, managing processes (human and material) and monitoring
the output of the system, including customer satisfaction, with a view to continual improvement.
This being the case the formalised system enables controlled interaction with the environment in
which we operate.
The ISO9000 model contains eight management principles, designed to enable continual improvement.
They are:
1. Customer focus
2. Leadership
3. Involvement of People
4. Process Approach
5. Systems approach to management
6. Continual improvement
7. Factual approach to decision making
8. Mutually beneficial suppler relationships
88 2005 Symposium Proceedings Book