event of a dispute in the United States or
other countries.
Achieving ISO accreditation is a long,
intensive, and expensive process involving
quality system verification, internal audits,
proficiency programs, equipment calibra-
tion, staff assessments, and corrective actions.
Although some contract laboratories have
chosen not to incur a headache stands of
accreditation, a few large food companies
have obtained ISO accreditation for their
internal laboratories.
The Role of Management in Quality
Assurance
The success or failure of a sanitation pro-
gram is attributable to the extent to which it
is supported by management. Management
can be the major impetus or deterrent to a
QA program. Managers are often uninter-
ested in QA because it is considered a long-
term program. Because quality assurance
programs reflect a cost and dividends cannot
always be accurately measured in terms of
increased sales and profits, they are not con-
sistently supported by management. Fre-
quently, lower and middle management are
unable to convey the importance of QA
when top management does not fully com-
prehend the concept.
Some of the more progressive manage-
ment teams have been enthusiastic about
QA. They have recognized that a QA pro-
gram can be used in promotional efforts and
can improve sales and product stability.
Other managers have been able to improve
sales and product stability, and some have
been able to improve the image of their
organization through sanitary practices and
QA laboratories.
One of the limitations of viewing quality
as conformance to specifications is its effect
on management. When all specifications are
met, the perception is that all is well and that
management is not compelled to take imme-
diate corrective action through the issue of
orders down the hierarchy until results are
obtained. This management style leads to a
“fire-fighting” approach to problem solving
and consumes valuable resources, is very
costly, and frustrates people because prob-
lems, at best, go away only temporarily.Quality Assurance and Job Enrichment
Because many employees, including man-
agers and supervisors, fail to recognize the
importance of QA, all employees must be
made aware of the importance of their res-
ponsibilities. Through effective management,
QA can be glamorized and made exciting.
Although it is beyond the scope of this text to
provide specific guidelines for the implementa-
tion of a job enrichment program for QA, it is
suggested that this concept be considered. An
effective job enrichment program can ensure
that employee responsibilities are more inter-
esting and rewarding. This program also
includes employees more as a part of the oper-
ation and can actually be more demanding of
personnel through assignment of more
responsibilities. If more information regarding
this concept is desired, the reader is referred to
a management textbook or technical journals
related to management.Quality Assurance Program Structure
Before organizing a QA program, it is
important to determine who is responsible
for QA and how the chain of command will
operate. In the most successful efforts, the
QA program is part of top management, not
under the jurisdiction of production. Under
this arrangement, the QA people report
directly to top management and are not
responsible to production management.
However, a close working relationship must
be maintained between QA and the produc-
tion departments. The QA organization is
responsible for ensuring that deviations in
sanitation practices are corrected, in additionQuality Assurance for Sanitation 121