The objective of this article is to articulate how we can address the requirement of “needs and expectations of interested parties” as in ISO 9001:2015 standard. In fact, it is an innovative concept to focus on
ISO defines “interested party” as a person or organization that can affect, be affected by or perceive itself to be affected by a decision or activity. In fact, it is about actively and clearly understanding and managing the positive, negative, and changing effects that can influence different stakeholders of the business. It can be noticed that the requirement to capture the needs and expectations of interested parties is expressed almost identically in each standard by way of simplifying this concept for
The organization shall determine:
- The interested parties that are relevant to the management system
- The requirements (needs and expectations) of these interested parties that are relevant to the management system
The terms “needs” and “expectations” have been quite smartly used to enhance the catchment of the overall demands of the interested parties or stakeholders. The “needs”
It is the responsibility of the organization to define what actions are essential to satisfy the needs and expectations of those relevant parties to reduce the risks of
Let’s study in which clauses this requirement is addressed in
ISO 9001:2015 standard:
-Understanding the needs and expectations of interested parties (clause 4.2)
-Quality management system (QMS) scope (clause 4.3)
-Quality policy (clause 5.2.2)
-Measurement tractability (clause 7.1.6)
-Requirements for products and services (clause 8.3.2)
Design and development planning (clause 8.3.2)
Management review (clause 9.3.2)
Clause 6.1.1 (risks and opportunities) indirectly includes interested parties by referring to clause 4.2
Starting point
Initial
Examples of interested parties
ISO 9001
Customers, owners, employees, service providers, bankers, regulators, unions, partners, society, competitors, pressure groups, distributors, retailers, vendors
ISO 14001
Customers, employees, communities, suppliers, regulators, NGOs, Investors,
ISO 45001
Workers, top management, managers, external providers
In order to carry out an easy analysis of the needs and expectations of interested parties, we can use the 2*2 matrix of Power Vs Interest (Significance and Relevance) as follows:
Even though ISO 9001 does not require a written procedure for addressing interested parties, it should be beneficial to document the process. Thus, it can be repeated later whenever information on the
All in all, it can be seen that identification of needs and expectations of interested parties in the business is a very useful aspect introduced to