An organization can reap significant benefits from generic international management standards if one understands the nature of those standards and applies them creatively and integrated with business management. In this case, the leaders of the organization play a key role. This article considers the subject in all kinds of organizations and focuses specifically on the ISO 9004 quality management standard, one of many international management standards. ISO 9004 standard is the most challenging standard in the ISO 9000 quality management (QM) standards series. Often, however, organizations applying the ISO 9000 standards have not clearly recognized the differences and relationship of the ISO 9004 and ISO 9001 standards and hence have not been able to exploit the potential of the standard in their QM implementations. The ISO 9004 standard emphasizes that the organization's identity and its differentiating competitive advantages are the basis for the organization's sustained success. In this context, effective QM also plays an important role. However, QM cannot be separated from business management. Each organization has its own and always existing ISO 9000 QM realization that can be continually improved according to the organization's business development strategies and practices. In this respect, the ISO 9004 is very flexible and challenging. In a natural way, the organization's QM targets can be achieved through the principles and practices of the learning organization. Organizational benefits from the ISO 9000 standards should be weighed from the business point of view. All organizations and their interested parties have unique needs and business environments. In particular, established organizations, SMEs, and startups are very different genres of business. They need different QM approaches and ISO 9000 implementations. The ISO 9004 standard is aimed at providing QM guidance for organizations to achieve sustained success in a complex, demanding and ever-changing and specific contemporary business environments, including the requirements of the 4th industrial revolution. In addition to the ISO 9000 standards, organizations also use other well-known managerial reference models, including, for instance, performance excellence models and many other management system standards of the specific disciplines. All these may be seen as sub-domains within the ISO 9004 implementation. In addition to the opportunities, the article also discusses some of the practical difficulties and pitfalls associated with the ISO 9004 standard, and their possible solutions. Since the 1980s, the authors of this article have gathered experience in the international preparation process of the ISO 9004 standard-editions and the practical promotion and application of the standard in different kinds of organizations.

An organization's internal context and its strategic and operational management elements, which are the foundation for QM and QA implementation

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21. Međunarodni simpozij o kvaliteti/21st International Symposium on Quality

KVALITETA – JUČER, DANAS, SUTRA/QUALITY – YESTERDAY, TODAY, TOMORROW

Crikvenica, Hrvatska, 18. -20.3.2020./Crikvenica, Croatia , March 18th – 20th 2020

ISO 9004 – A STIMULATING QUALITY MANAGEMENT

STANDARD FOR THE CREATIVE LEADERS

OF CONTEMPORARY ORGANIZATIONS

ISO 9004 – STIMULATIVNA NORMA UPRAVLJANJA KVALITETOM

ZA KREATIVNE LIDERE SUVREMENIH ORGANIZACIJA

Juhani Anttila, M. Sc.

Academician, (IAQ – International Academy for Quality)

Rypsikuja 4, FI-00660 Helsinki, Finland/Finska

E-mail: juhani.anttila@gmail.com

Kari Jussila, M. Sc.

University of Helsinki, Faculty of Pharmacy,

Viikinkaari 5e, FI-00014 Helsingin yliopisto, Finland/Finska

E-mail: kari.jussila@helsinki.fi

UDK/UDC : 006.35(100)ISO:005.6

JEL klasifikacija/JEL classification : L15

DOI: 10.30657/hdmk.2020.06

Pregledni članak/Review

Jezik/Language : Engleski/English

ABSTRACT

An organization can reap significant benefits from generic international management standards if one

understands the nature of those standards and applies them creatively and integrated with business

management. In this case, the leaders of the organization play a key role. This article considers the

subject in all kinds of organizations and focuses specifically on the ISO 9004 quality management

standard, one of many international management standards. ISO 9004 standard is the most challenging

standard in the ISO 9000 quality management (QM) standards series. Often, however, organizations

applying the ISO 9000 standards have not clearly recognized the differences and relationship of the ISO

9004 and ISO 9001 standards and hence have not been able to exploit the potential of the standard in

their QM implementations. The ISO 9004 standard emphasizes that the organization's identity and its

differentiating competitive advantages are the basis for the organization's sustained success. Each

organization has its own and always existing ISO 9000 QM realization that can be continually improved

according to the organization's business development strategies and practices. In this respect, the ISO

9004 is very flexible and challenging. In addition to the ISO 9000 standards, organizations also use

other well-known managerial reference models, including, for instance, performance excellence models

and many other management system standards of the specific disciplines. All these may be seen as sub-

domains within the ISO 9004 implementation. In addition to the opportunities, the article also discusses

some of the practical difficulties and pitfalls associated with the ISO 9004 standard, and their possible

solutions. Since the 1980s, the first author of this article has gathered experience in the international

preparation process of the ISO 9004 standard-editions and both authors in the practical promotion and

application of the standard in different kinds of organizations.

Key words: quality, quality management, ISO 9004, sustained success, organizations' quality.

1. INTRODUCTION

Business benefits of the generic international standards can only be realized if the

organization understands the nature of the standards and is able to implement them creatively

within the business management. In this case, the leaders of the organization play a key role.

This article considers the subject in all kinds of organizations and focuses specifically on the

ISO 9004 quality management (QM) standard (ISO 2018a), which is one of many international

management standards (ISO/IEC 2019).

Sp ecialized expertise areas, which are required for organizational management, include,

in addition to QM, among others asset management, dependability management, environmental

protection, information security management, occupational health, safety management, risk

management, social responsibility, etc., which also are dealt with in the corresponding

international management system standards. These specific managerial areas, 'XXX', are

abstract issues and hence cannot be managed directly. The 'XXX' management in an

organization is defined as the management of an organization with regard to the 'XXX' (Ibid.).

According to this principle, also QM is defined as the management of an organization with

regard to quality.

Standardization related to management systems, including the ISO 9000

standardization, is a part of the general international standardization. Therefore, the general

concepts, principles, and aims, as well as the pros and cons of standardization, apply to QM

standardization, too. The most basic concepts, standardization and standard, are defined as

follows (ISO/IEC 2004):

Standardization: An activity giving solutions for repetitive application, to problems

essentially in the spheres of science, technology and economics, aimed at the

achievement of the optimum degree of order in a given context. Generally, the

activity consists of the processes of formulating, issuing and implementing

standards.

Standard: A technical specification or other document available to the public, drawn

up with the cooperation and consensus or general approval of all interests affected

by it, based on the consolidated results of science, technology and experience, aimed

at the promotion of optimum community benefits and approved by a standardization

body.

In line with these general purposes, international standardization does seek to benefit

all types of organizations and the whole society.

Those benefits include:

Improved performance and quality of products (goods and services);

Decreased operational costs;

Improved communication between people and organizations.

General standards are the result of a broad and often compromised consensus and

cannot, as such, represent the exceptional excellence of a particular organization.

This means

that the creative application of the standards is a prerequisite for gaining the overwhelming

advantage of them. General standards are voluntary but they may become obligatory in certain

contexts through reference to standards, for instance in the contracts, regulations, and

legislation. However, in these cases, too, innovations are essential for competitiveness, and not

only in products but also in the organizational operations and processes.

Juhani Anttila and Kari Jussila, "Standardization and integrated management systems – Business-practitioners'

viewpoints!, 55th EOQ Congress/World Quality Congress, Navigating Global Quality in a New Era, Budapest

Hungary, 2011.

Juhani Anttila and Kari Jussila, ISO 9001:2015 – "A questionable reform. What should the implementing

organisations understand and do?", Total Quality Management, 2017.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14783363.2017.1309119.

ISO 9000 is a standards series for QM, and since 1979 its different standards have been

developed through extensive international cooperation. It is also a pioneer, the best known and

most widely spread one of all international management standards. The basic standards of the

ISO 9000 series are the ISO 9004 for quality management (QM) in a broad sense and ISO 9001

for quality assurance (QA). Often, however, organizations applying the ISO 9000 standards

have not clearly recognized the differences and relationship of the ISO 9004 and ISO 9001

standards. Hence, the use of ISO 9004 has been negligible and misunderstood, and its benefits

have not been exploited. Overly emphasized ISO 9001

gives too narrow and one-sided

solutions, which has been harmful to the creative implementation of QM and also caused

distortion in the general worldwide development of the quality profession (ISO Central office

1994).

The ISO 9004 extensively deals with QM aspects from the holistic business and

organization point of view. QA and ISO 9001 represent a sub-area of QM and focus on general

assurance requirements to create confidence and satisfaction in the organization's products

among its customers. ISO 9001 may be useful in contractual contexts, and if so needed, it can

also be used as a basis for auditing and certification. ISO 9001 does not define the

organizational quality management system (QMS) as a whole.

Usage of the ISO 9004 and the whole ISO 9000 standards series supports enhancing

business performance through:

Increasing key competencies within business leaders, workers, and experts;

Diminishing uncertainties in business activities;

Releasing resources of business leaders from acute problem eliminating to proactive

business development;

Avoiding amateurism and trial-and-error approach in business actions;

Obtaining professional appreciation from stakeholders;

Indicating opportunities for QM innovation.

ISO 9004 standard emphasizes that the organization's identity and its differentiating

competitive advantages are the basis for the organization's sustained success. In this context,

sustained success means that the organization's business continues for an extended period or

without interruption for the desired time. The standard provides guidance on how this can be

realized by the means of effective and efficient QM in practice. However, QM cannot be

separated from business management, and hence, a particular quality management system

(QMS) is harmful. Business-integrated QM, or 'Quality Integration' as used by the authors

, is

understood as the implementation of the general and specific quality concepts, principles and

methodology embedded within the normal business management activities. This not only

requires operational quality effectiveness and efficiency but also proactive QM in the area of

strategic management. Hence, factually, QM means the quality of organization management.

ISO 9004 standard is aimed at providing QM guidance for organizations to achieve

sustained success also in a complex, demanding and ever-changing environment. However, the

specific issues of the contemporary business environment, for instance, in the emerging

challenges of the 4th industrial revolution

, are not explicitly taken into account in the standard.

ISO 9001 Quality management systems – requirements, ISO, Geneva Switzerland, 2015.

Juhani Anttila and Kari Jussila, ISO 9001:2015 – "A questionable reform. What should the implementing

organisations understand and do?", Total Quality Management, 2017.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14783363.2017.1309119.

Juhani Anttila and Kari Jussila, "Understanding quality – conceptualization of the fundamental concepts of

quality", (Updated and improved from the conference paper presented at QMOD 2016 Conference, Rome, Italy.),

Int. J. Qual. Serv. Sci., (Vol. 9, No. 3e4), 2017.

Juhani Anttila and Kari Jussila, "Universities and smart cities: the challenges to high quality", Total Quality

Management & Business Excellence, 2018. DOI: 10.1080/14783363.2018.1486552.

This belongs to the responsibility of each organization. The following main subject areas are

covered by the ISO 9004 standard:

Terms and definitions;

Quality of an organization and sustained success;

Context of an organization;

Identity of an organization;

Leadership;

Process management;

Resource management;

Analysis and evaluation of an organization's performance;

Improvement, learning and innovation.

This article addresses various aspects of these topics and additionally opens up

theoretical and practical points of view for supporting the use of the standard for the sustained

success.

Each organization has always its own existing realization and implementation of QM

and way to use ISO 9000 standards, which can be improved according to the organization's

business development strategies and practices. In this respect, the use of ISO 9004 is very

flexible. In a natural way, an organization's targets can be achieved and the performance

continually improved through the principles and practices of the learning organization.

Organizational benefits from the QM efforts should be weighed from the viewpoint of business

success. All organizations and their interested parties have unique needs and business

environments. Big established organizations, SMEs, and startups are very different genres of

business.

They need different QM approaches and ISO 9000 applications.

In addition to the ISO 9000 standards, organizations also use other well-known

managerial reference models, for instance, performance excellence models (or quality awards

criteria). All these different means may be seen as sub-elements in the ISO 9004

implementation. ISO 9004 is also aligned with the TQM (Total Quality Management) thinking

and movement. However, TQM is not any longer a popular concept

, and in fact, the concept

of QM in ISO 9000 standards equals the concept of TQM.

ISO 9000 standards are constantly being developed, and organizations have challenges

in the new standards creation, their understanding and applying in the particular business

environments. The future concepts of QM, which are currently being developed in the ISO/TC

176 standardization committee for revising the whole ISO 9000 standardization, should also be

of particular interest for the organizations when implementing the ISO 9004 standard.

Also, a lot of new challenges exist for all ISO 9000 implementations. The aim of this

article is to present ideas and promote discussions when searching for new opportunities for

standards-based QM solutions. The authors want that this article will broaden the horizon for

critical discussion on important QM issues. This article includes collated and updated material,

which the authors have presented in many different conferences, training courses, articles, etc.

during recent decades. The first author was involved in publishing an ISO 9004 article

similar

to this article about twenty years ago. That article has also been publicly available on the

Internet, and its nearly a thousand readers evidence a growing interest in the subject. Therefore,

Juhani Anttila and Kari Jussila, "Organizational learning in developing the integrated quality management,

Production engineering archives" , 2018. DOI: 10.30657/pea.2018.18.01.

Juhani Anttila and Kari Jussila, "Implementing quality management in startups", QMOD Conference, Krakow

Poland, 2019.

Su Mi Dahlgaard-Park, "The quality movement: Where are you going?", Total Quality Management & Business

Excellence, Volume 22, Issue 5, 2011.

Malcolm Bird and Juhani Anttila, "Using ISO 9004 to achieve excellence", In Cianfrani, C. A., Tsiakalis, J. J.

and West, J. J. (eds.), The ASQ ISO 9000:2000 handbook, ASQ Quality Press, Milwaukee, USA, 2002.

it is well-founded to re-examine the subject since, after 2000, the ISO 9004 standard has been

revised twice and completely rewritten recently.

In addition to the opportunities, the article also discusses some of the practical

difficulties and pitfalls associated with the ISO 9004 standard, and their possible solutions. The

first author of the article has a long experience in the international preparation process of the

ISO 9004 standard-editions since the 1980s and both authors in the practical promotion and

application of the standard in different kinds of organizations.

2. ONTOLOGICAL AND EPISTEMOLOGICAL FOUNDATION

The international standardization and standards are based on the consolidated results of

science.

Science describes reality through theories. The ontology and epistemology provide a

solid scientific basis for organizational management and thus for QM, also.

This helps us in

understanding and conceptualizing the complex entirety of the quality phenomena and related

details in today's organizational and societal environments. This approach also supports

creating ideas and methodologies for dealing with the relevant problems of the QM. On the

other hand, through practical applications, the theories are being tested, which in turn leads to

the improvement of the theories.

Business ontology means an extensive awareness of all aspects of the business,

and it

consists of the concepts and categories of business phenomena, including their properties and

the relations between them. Quality aspects are a subdomain in the business ontology. Ontology

has direct links to the organization's operational practices and organization-internal standards,

where also international standards can be utilized.

ISO 9004 terms and concepts are consistently based on the terminology of the ISO 9000

standard,

which also is aligned with the general terminology principles and practices. The

most important terms and concepts that are necessary for standard-based QM implementations

are:

Quality: Degree to which an object fulfills the needs and expectations;

Quality management (QM): Management of an organization with regard to quality

(in the sense of Quality Integration);

Quality assurance (QA): Providing confidence that the needs and expectations will

be fulfilled;

Quality improvement: Increasing the ability to fulfill the needs and expectations.

With these concepts, one can ensure dealing with professional quality management in

all types of organizational cases.

ISO 9001 has a restricted scope focusing only on the organization's products and on

assuring the customers' needs and expectations. However, for ensuring the organization's

sustained success, the organization needs to fulfill the needs and expectations of all interested

parties. For this reason, ISO 9004 emphasizes that the organization should strategically

determine its relevant interested parties and their specific needs and expectations. When the

organization takes this into account, it is called in ISO 9004 as the quality of an organization.

ISO Guide 2 – Standardization and related activities – General vocabulary, Geneva Switzerland, 2004.

Juhani Anttila and Kari Jussila, "Understanding quality – conceptualization of the fundamental concepts of

quality", (Updated and improved from the conference paper presented at QMOD 2016 Conference, Rome, Italy.),

Int. J. Qual. Serv. Sci., (Vol. 9, No. 3e4), 2017.

Peter M. Senge, Charlottre Roberts, Richard Ross and Art Kleiner, The fifth discipline fieldbook, Nicholas

Brealey Publishing Limited, London, UK, 1995.

Mark von Rosing, Overview of the Business Ontology Research & Analysis, 2015.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/287958619_Overview_of_the_Business_Ontology_Research_Analysis

ISO 9000, Quality management systems – Fundamentals and vocabulary, ISO, Geneva Switzerland, 2015.

Also, an important difference between ISO 9001 and ISO 9004 is that ISO 9001 only focuses

on operational effectiveness, but ISO 9004 also requires ensuring efficiency.

Regarding the QM definition, it should be noted that quality cannot be directly managed

but only through organizational processes and their management, i.e. through the management

of the entire organization. Hence, QM has an organization-internal purpose (to ensure) for

success and QA an external communicative purpose (to assure) for creating and strengthening

confidence among the customers and other interested parties. The challenging way to achieve

a continual quality improvement is through organizational learning.

The general quality management principles (QMPs), as defined in the ISO 9000

standard, also have a key ontological and epistemological role in all ISO 9000 standards and in

the implementation of ISO 9004, too. QMPs are a set of fundamental beliefs, norms, rules, and

values that are accepted as true for QM and hence can be used as a basis for QM standardization,

too. QMPs emphasize what one should take into account in all contexts of ISO 9000

standardization and application. QMP's provide a profound knowledge for understanding the

standard clauses. QMPs of ISO 9000 should be utilized together with the general management

principles that have been articulated by many recognized business management teachers.

These QMPs consist of the following at the title level (ISO 2015a):

Customer focus;

Leadership;

Engagement of people;

Process approach;

Improvement;

Evidence-based decision making;

Relationship management.

The ISO 9000 Standardization Committee ISO/TC 176 is currently exploring future

concepts for the coming revisions of all ISO 9000 series standards. These concepts are

aimed at taking into account the emerging organizational and societal changes and

associated megatrends, including the 4th industrial revolution and the UN sustainable

development goals. The futures concepts to be selected are currently in the draft phase and

include the following topics:

Customer experience;

People aspects;

Change management;

Integration;

Knowledge management;

Emerging technologies;

Ethics & integrity;

Organizational culture.

Forward-looking organizations should consider these new concepts when developing

their own QM solutions.

Management is defined as coordinated activities to direct and control an organization.

Management, as well as QM, are based on knowledge. Epistemology provides the scientific

basis for understanding things and conditions, and sources of related knowledge, and

Juhani Anttila and Kari Jussila, "Organizational learning in developing the integrated quality management,"

Production engineering archives, 2018 . DOI: 10.30657/pea.2018.18.01.

Juhani Anttila and Kari Jussila, "Standardization and integrated management systems – Business-practitioners'

viewpoints!, 55th EOQ Congress/World Quality Congress, Navigating Global Quality in a New Era, Budapest

Hungary, 2011.

ISO 9000, Quality management systems – Fundamentals and vocabulary, ISO, Geneva Switzerland, 2015.

introducing to the knowledge-related methodology. Management requires a systematic way of

thinking, models for reality, and a sense of good reasoning. This leads to a more objective

assessing the questions of the business environment. Epistemology is a branch of philosophy

generally concerned with the nature of knowledge. It asks questions such as 'How do we

know?' and 'What is meaningful knowledge?' Epistemology is a clear way to critical thinking.

Many business-related issues such as the nature of logical inference, why we should accept one

line of reasoning over another, and how we understand the nature of evidence and its

contribution to decision making, are all epistemic concerns.

Traditionally, knowledge is defined as a "justified true belief'

or in other words

"conscious effort to establish belief upon a firm basis of reasons". In managing an organization,

knowledge can relate to all aspects of an organization's operations, and it has both operational

and strategic purposes. Knowledge is either explicit or implicit (tacit) knowledge.

Fact-based operation is valued as a consistent approach to business management

including QM. Data can be obtained from the existing facts by measuring the conditions and

processes of an organization. The scientific basis for measurements is metrology, which is a

well-established discipline, whose concepts, principles, and practices are also internationally

standardized. Management-relevant information is achieved when data is analyzed and linked

with the organization's business questions. The ISO 9000 standards emphasize the importance

of documented information for management and QM. When information is utilized

collaboratively and effectively by the organization's employees and managers to guide

operations, they learn and internalize the business knowledge, and hence, often in operational

situations, knowledge is tacit knowledge by nature.

All knowledge being used to run an organization is not coherent or does not base on

empirical facts. In general and philosophically, all knowledge is originated from four basic

sources:

Perception including all senses;

Memory or authority;

Consciousness, intuition or introspection;

Reason and reasoning.

Critical scientific realism and scientific methods have proved to be the best theoretical

basis for rational action.

Knowledge, justified true belief, requires a theoretical basis.

Deming

emphasized that information is not knowledge. Knowledge originates from theory.

Without theory, there is no way to use the information, which comes to us in some particular

instant.

Quality improvement as part of QM cannot be realized professionally without a

knowledge base, and this approach also results in new knowledge. Organization-wide quality

improvement is achieved through organizational learning in a natural way.

Roco J. Perla and Gareth J. Parry, The epistemology of quality improvement: It's all Greek, 2011.

https://qualitysafety.bmj.com/content/20/Suppl_1/i24.;

Peter Ellerton, How do you know that what you know is true? That's epistemology , 2017 .

https://theconversation.com/how-do-you-know-that-what-you-know-is -true-thats-epistemology-63884.

Neel Burton, The Problem of Knowledge , 2018 .

https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/hide-and-seek/201806/the-problem-knowledge.

Om Kumar Harsh, "Three dimensional knowledge management and explicit knowledge reuse" , Journal of

Knowledge Management Practice, Vol. 10, No. 2, 2009. http://www.tlainc.com/articl187.htm.

Oliver Kim, What are the four Ways of Knowing (WOKs)?, 2009. http://www.toktalk.net/2009/12/06/what-are-

the-four-ways-of -knowing-woks/.

Ilkka Niiniluoto, Critical Scientific Realism, Oxford University Press, Oxford UK, 1999.

William Edwards Deming, The New Economics, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA USA, 1993.

Juhani Anttila and Kari Jussila, "Organizational learning in developing the integrated quality management " ,

Production engineering archives, 2018. DOI: 10.30657/pea.2018.18.01.

Any organization in striving for sustained success should have necessary and sufficient

knowledge of various specialized disciplines as described, for instance, in the various

management system standards. These disciplines support business leaders' and employees'

decisions and actions. However, situations may exist, where causality is difficult to understand

and people have different beliefs and personal biases. Hence, employees and business leaders

have to negotiate in order to understand the situations that they are facing. Leadership language

has an important role.

An organization is a living organism and a set of conversations among

people. Language defines the environment, in which the organization lives. A common shared

language helps the organization arrive at decisions more efficiently. By narrowing language,

efficiency increases but also ignorance increases, which leads to the fact that the organization

becomes unable to adapt and revitalize itself to challenging changes in its environment. An

organization is able to learn and grow only if it creates conditions that help generate a new

language, with which the organization can create new paths to productivity, and regenerate

itself.

3. THE ORGANIZATION AND ITS INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL CONTEXT

The concept of organization is a core issue in all managerial contexts including QM and

ISO 9004. An organization is a group of people, which has its own functions with

responsibilities, authorities, and relationships to achieve its objectives.

Even one single person

can be a singular case of an organization. The concept includes, but is not limited to sole-trader,

company, corporation, firm, enterprise, authority, partnership, charity, or institution, or part or

combination thereof, whether incorporated or not, public or private. The organization may be a

big one or SME (small or medium-sized enterprise). In today's business environment SMEs are

seen as the backbone of the economy of countries and regions, providing potentials for jobs,

renewal of organizations and economic growth. More than 99% of the organizations are SMEs.

Startups also have become a significant business area. They are human institutions designed to

create new products under conditions of extreme uncertainty.

The future is pioneered by

startups, not existing companies. Startups exist also within large organizations. The most

management practices and also ISO 9000 standards have been developed for well-established

organizations and predictable business environments. However, the situation in the SMEs and

startups is very different; they are different organizational genres and hence require different

management methodologies and creative application of the general standards.

Because of the organized people and their objectives, the organization can be understood

as a system, i.e. as a collection of interrelated or interacting real-world items organized for a

given purpose. Many recognized management experts emphasize the system aspects in the

management of the organizations. All systems always have the internal and external context.

Through its border, the system interacts with its environments. The system functions through

interrelated or interacting activities of processes, which transform certain inputs into desired

outputs.

Paul Pangaro, Notes on the role of leadership and language in regenerating organizations , 2013. available at:

http://pangaro.com/leadership-language-regenerating-organizations.html.

ISO 9000, Quality management systems – Fundamentals and vocabulary, ISO, Geneva Switzerland, 2015.

Eric Ries, The lean startup: How today's entrepreneurs use continuous innovation to create radically successful

businesses, Random House, New York USA, 2011.

Juhani Anttila and Kari Jussila, "Implementing quality management in startups", QMOD Conference, Krakow

Poland, 2019.

Juhani Anttila and Kari Jussila, "An advanced insight into managing business processes in practice", Total

Quality Management & Business Excellence, Vol. 24, No. 7–8, 2013.

Sustained success requires a differentiated approach that reflects the competitive identity

of the organization. In this article, the organizational identity is understood as the character,

profile, or personality of an organization, and it consists of five perspectives:

a) Organization's culture and its development and linkages;

b) Organization's brand characteristics;

c) Business ideas;

d) Managing principles and architecture;

e) Interactions and transactions with the interested parties or stakeholders.

The internal context of an organization consists of values, culture, knowledge, and

operational performance.

Especially the business processes have the main role in the internal

context. Also, QM and QA have the same foundation. Management of an organization consists

of two main responsibilities (figure 1), which are very different managerial areas and based on

different foundations:

a) Operational management of daily activities by using reactive and rational fact-based

performance control and problem-solving,

b) Strategic management where the strengths, competitive advantages, and challenges of

the organization are utilized in order to proactively improve the organization's business

performance by recognizing, inventing, and implementing new solutions. Strategic

management is very much related to change management.

Figure 1. An organization's internal context and its strategic and operational management

elements, which are the foundation for QM and QA implementation

Source: Juhani Anttila and Kari Jussila, "Organizational learning in developing the integrated quality

management", Production engineering archives, 2018.

The external context of an organization consists of the value network, which includes

issues arising from the legal, technological, competitive, market, cultural, social and economic

Juhani Anttila and Kari Jussila, "The growth of an organization's identity and the management systems

standardization" , Proceedings of the 15th International Symposium on Quality, Quality, growth and development,

Croatian Quality Managers Society, Zagreb, Croatia, 2014, pp. 29-49.

The organization's relevant interested parties are those, which strongly affect

or are affected by the decisions or activities of the organization.

Hence these parties have a

crucial impact on the organization's ability to achieve sustained success. Different parties

should be considered separately for QM and QA because they have different needs and

expectations with regard to the organization. This relates to the product and confidence

requirements. In this context, the key QM and QA related questions with regard to each relevant

interested party include the following:

- Who is the relevant interested party?

- Why is the party relevant, what is its value to the organization?

- Why is the party interested in the organization, what is its value to the party?

- What is the organization's contribution (output or product) to the party?

- How to contribute to the party (policy and processes)?

4. ORGANIZATION-WIDE PROCESS MANAGEMENT

Organizations are business systems that consist of interrelated business processes and

organizational structures.

Performance of the business processes has the greatest strategic and

operational importance to the organizations' competitiveness and sustained success. All

products (goods and services) and other organizational outcomes are the results of processes.

Processes imply to all kinds of activities, which are performed by people or by the hardware or

software mechanisms. In fact, originally the process concept just denotes any kind of productive

doing. Basic work activities that exist in all organizations can be called as 'elementary

processes'. They typically include:

Working for something;

Moving people, material, or information;

Interacting and communicating.

When the elementary processes within an organization are linked with achieving the

organization's business results, one can talk about business processes.

The process/structure-dichotomy may lead to a dilemma:

should the organization's

management be based on processes or structures? Although processes should be prioritized, the

optimum solution is a proper balance between process and structure. Adequate structures are

needed for enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of processes. Managing for balance

requires trade-off decisions per each process, for instance, between freedom and control,

awareness and instructions, people and systems, and proactive and reactive approaches.

According to the authors' experience in different kinds of organizations, a four-level business

infrastructure model has proved useful for managing a comprehensive system of business

processes. This organizational framework consists of the following four business

activity/management levels that have a remarkable importance in managing the organization

comprehensively:

ISO 9004 Quality management – Quality of an organization – Guidance to achieve sustained success, ISO,

Geneva Switzerland, 2018.

ISO 9000, Quality management systems – Fundamentals and vocabulary, ISO, Geneva Switzerland, 2015.

Juhani Anttila and Kari Jussila, "Implementing quality management in startups", QMOD Conference, Krakow

Poland, 2019.

Juhani Anttila and Kari Jussila, "An advanced insight into managing business processes in practice", Total

Quality Management & Business Excellence, Vol. 24, No. 7–8, 2013.

Juhani Anttila and Kari Jussila, "Organizational learning in developing the integrated quality management, "

Production engineering archives, 2018. DOI: 10.30657/pea.2018.18.01.

Corporate level (the whole organization): Establishing and maintaining the

fundamental and normative process concepts, principles, visions, and general

process management methodology.

Strategic business level: Establishing and managing the system of interlinked

business processes towards strategic targets of the particular strategic business units

within the corporation.

Operational level: Managing individual business processes in real-time.

Individual personal and team level: Emphasizing the human commitment and role

in business processes.

A strategic business system may be described by four major domains of business

processes:

Market processes: Anticipating the current and future market requirements.

Launching new competitive products/solutions to the market, establishing and

maintaining product management, and practicing market communication.

Customer processes: Fulfilling individual customers' needs with products, and

establishing and practicing high-quality customer relationships and servicing.

Management processes: Controlling and enhancing business performance,

managing the organization's business processes as a whole.

Support processes: Providing effective support to the business processes and

management in the organization.

Process management implies how the strategic and operational business objectives are

carried out through business processes. A well-known and simple model for all management,

including process management, is the PDCA (Plan - Do - Check - Act) model

, which should

be applied in three different management scopes (the authors call it as 'Triple' PDCA model:

Control: Managing daily operations in business processes in order to achieve the

specified results. Normally rectifying nonconformities is carried out in connection

with control.

Operational improvements: Solving acute problems and implementing operationa l

small-step improvements in business processes ('Kaizen').

Breakthrough improvements: Inventing and implementing strategically significant

changes successfully in the business-wide process system and transforming

organizations.

The ISO 9004 standard devotes a whole chapter to the organization's resource

management, how the resources support the operation of all processes in the organization and

are critical for ensuring effective and efficient performance and sustained success. In particular,

the following resources are highlighted:

Financial resources;

People;

Information and organizational knowledge;

Technology;

Infrastructure, such as equipment, facilities, energy and utilities;

The environment for the organization's processes;

The materials needed for the provision of products (goods and services);

Natural resources;

Juhani Anttila and Kari Jussila, "Organizational learning in developing the integrated quality management, "

Production engineering archives, 2018. DOI: 10.30657/pea.2018.18.01.

ISO 9004 Quality management – Quality of an organization – Guidance to achieve sustained success, ISO,

Geneva Switzerland, 2018.

Resources provided externally, including subsidiaries, partnerships, alliances, and

outsourced processes.

For these resources, a lot of various management systems have been presented in various

sources. The most appropriate way is to implement and manage them within the organizational

QM and process management.

People are the most significant resources in the organizations' business processes and in

the roles of business leaders, managers, and employees. In order to avoid problems in the

personal work-actions and in interpersonal collaboration, the business process activities and

personal somaesthetic, mental, and spiritual processes should not be in conflict with each

other.

Human activities have a crucial role in the realization of quality through producing

products (goods and services) that effectively and efficiently fulfill the needs and expectations

of customers and the other relevant interested parties. Particularly, the position and

responsibilities of process owners and their relationships with the line managers are important

topics in process management.

The information, digital and telecommunication technologies provide unlimited

opportunities for new product development and business process solutions (Anttila and Jussila

2018b).

This includes 5G networks, Cloud computing, Internet of things (IoT), Industrial

Internet, Big data, Biohacking, Artificial intelligence (AI), Machine learning, Intellectual

robotics, 3D printing, Additive manufacturing, Augmented reality, and Blockchain. Also, other

technologies, including biotechnology, nano and micro-technology, optical technology, energy

technology, social technology, and wellbeing technology mean big opportunities but also

challenges and risks.

5. PERFORMANCE EVALUATION

Performance evaluation of an organization is a normal management activity

incorporated with the improvement of the business system. It also is an important part of QM.

Self-assessment is a fact-based business performance improvement approach deployed in

accordance with business requirements and preconditions. It covers the organization's or a

unit's business scope as a whole. Relevant viewpoints being addressed in the self-assessment

are identified from the business requirements.

In general, two different methodological approaches are available for the self-

assessment:

a) Evaluations based on maturity models, and

b) Evaluations based on performance excellence models.

The first one is for assessing the performance against certain specified maturity level

criteria based on the existing best practices. The latter emphasizes the continual performance

growth based on learning, refining, and integrating. ISO 9004 standard provides in its annex a

self-assessment tool, which is based on the approach (a). However, the authors' preferred

approach is the option (b) because it is more proactive to respond to future challenges.

Critical views can be presented for maturity-model based assessments. Performance

excellence models have achieved a more recognized position in all kinds of organizations and

Juhani Anttila and Kari Jussila, "An advanced insight into managing business processes in practice", Total

Quality Management & Business Excellence, Vol. 24, No. 7–8, 2013.

Juhani Anttila and Kari Jussila, "Universities and smart cities: the challenges to high quality" , Total Quality

Management & Business Excellence, 2018, DOI: 10.1080/14783363.2018.1486552.

Juhani Anttila and Kari Jussila, "Understanding quality - conceptualization of the fundamental concepts of

quality", 2017. (Updated and improved from the conference paper presented at QMOD 2016 Conference, Rome,

Italy.), Int. J. Qual. Serv. Sci., (Vol. 9, No. 3e4), 2017b.

in the general quality award. These models have been used for a long time all over the world,

and they are revised regularly. The most well-known models are the American Malcolm

Baldrige model and the European EFQM model. The ISO 9004 assessment methodology

cannot likely compete with these practices. In the maturity models, the different evaluation

areas are assessed separately, and the model does not provide clear links between them. Results

are not evaluated at all in the maturity models. Hence in practice, it is difficult to get holistic

business performance from the evaluation-item related results. Because the criteria are general

and standardized, the relevance to the specific organizational situations and needs is not

necessarily ensured. Best practices of the maturity models do not necessarily present brand new

creative organization-specific solutions. Maturity is not necessarily a good business target for

success, which depends on the nature of the organization and its activities. Many organizations

prefer agility more than maturity. For instance, SMEs and startups, do not want to strive for

maturity, because it does not represent their sustained success that is more based on dynamics

and continual regeneration.

In performance excellence models, the evaluation criteria take into account performance

enablers (processes) and also the results obtained with them, and they emphasize organizational

learning and integration. In order to achieve excellent performance and sustained success, the

organization cannot optimize a single area of activities and neglect the entirety, but one should

recognize connections between the performance of the processes (enablers) and the overall

business results. Processes and results are assessed separately but the criteria emphasize the

causal relations between them. Numerical scoring is based on the open assessment criteria

(table 1)

.

Table 1. An example of the scoring dimensions for the self-assessment according to the

performance excellence model.

1. Approach: The planned actions, including process

plans, measures, and deployment of requirements

2. Deployment: Executing the planned approach in

practice

3. Learning: Capturing new knowledge, including

new innovations

4. Integration: Embedding the approach in the

organization's strategies and the management of

the processes and activities.

1. Level: Levels of the achieved results

2. Trends: Sustained rate of improvement of the

performance results over time

3. Comparisons: Performance relative to

appropriate comparisons or benchmarks

4. Integration: Achieving the results in a

balanced and comprehensive manner

according to the organization's strategic

objectives and anticipating future

development.

Source: Juhani Anttila and Kari Jussila, "The role of internal auditing in the development of the organization

towards the excellent performance" , Proceedings of the 19th International Symposium on Quality, Quality as a

concept of development, Croatian Quality Managers Society, Plitvička jezera Croatia, 2018, pp. 335-357.

Processes and results are assessed separately and scored from 0 to 100% according to

the scoring criteria.

Juhani Anttila and Kari Jussila, "Organizational learning in developing the integrated quality management,

Production engineering archives", 2018. DOI: 10.30657/pea.2018.18.01.

Self-assessments and audits complement each other. Auditing has a long development

history.

Today internal audits are well-established management tools for examining,

monitoring and analyzing the organizational activities for sustained success. Internal audit helps

the organization ensure that its process management operates effectively and efficiently as a

whole. The first international standard for auditing quality management systems was developed

along with the ISO 9000 quality management standardization, and its latest version, ISO

19011

, has expanded to cover the needs of all different management system standards. The

guidelines of this standard can be used for both internal and external auditing. From the

organizations' viewpoint, it is beneficial to understand all audits as the management support

functions for performance improvement and QA. Hence, the audits should be carried out in a

business-integrated way.

6. BUSINESS PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT,

RISK AND INNOVATION MANAGEMENT

ISO 9004 standard emphasizes that the organization should continually recognize

challenges in its external and internal circumstances for effectiveness and efficiency and

changes in the needs and expectations of its interested parties. In this context, also

organizational learning and innovation support the organization's QM and quality improvement

by increasing the ability to respond to the situation in a manner that enables it to fulfill its

business targets for sustained success.

In quality improvement, the organization should especially focus on improving process

performance by using two basic approaches:

a) Strategic breakthrough projects, which lead to the revision of existing processes or

the implementation of new processes, and which are usually carried out by the cross-

functional groups separately from the routine process-operations and

b) Continual small-step improvements made by natural work-teams within the existing

process operations.

Well-established and popular systematic methodologies are available for the business

process improvement based on problem-solving techniques:

Kaizen is a Japanese term meaning "change for the better" or "continuous

improvement" . It is a Japanese business philosophy and practice of continuously

improving operations and involving all employees. Kaizen means improvement as

a gradual and methodical process. It involves making the work environment more

effective and efficient by creating a team atmosphere, improving everyday

procedures, ensuring employee satisfaction, and making a job more fulfilling, less

tiring, and safer. There are many variations in the practical Kaizen realizations.

SixSigma is a process focused methodology designed to improve business

performance by improving specific areas of the strategic business processes. It is

typically used in large scale and financially significant improvement projects in

organizations that have a strong SixSigma culture. Hence, SixSigma can also be

understood in a broader sense as a management-led philosophy, methodology, and

tool kit for business transformation, strategic improvement, and problem-solving.

Lean methodology is also often associated with performance improvement. It aims at

eliminating useless process activities and waste. It consists of a large and quite vague collection

Juhani Anttila and Kari Jussila, "The role of internal auditing in the development of the organization towards

the excellent performance" , Proceedings of the 19th International Symposium on Quality, Quality as a concept of

development, Croatian Quality Managers Society, Plitvička jezera Croatia, 2018, pp. 335-357.

ISO 19011 Guidelines for auditing management systems, ISO, Geneva Switzerland, 2018b.

of improvement tools. Also, benchmarking methodology is used in the context of process

performance improvement.

In big organizations, particular startups may be created for new strategic initiatives and

for regenerating certain business areas.

Sustained success as a major business target requires that the organization should

recognize positive and negative uncertainties and their effects on objectives, which means

utilizing adequate risk management practices.

In this context, also business continuity

methodologies may be useful.

Quality and innovation can be seen as partnering disciplines.

They can be useful to

each other and together create business improvements and differentiation for competitive

advantage. The European technical specification CEN/TS 16555-1 defines innovation as the

"implementation of a new or significantly improved product (good or service), or process, a

new marketing method, or a new organizational method in business practices, workplace

organization or external relations" .

In this definition, the "significantly" and

"implementation" are keywords. Hence, the innovations should be conceptually new and

commercially viable solutions that are available to the markets and society. Thus, in fact, all

innovations aim at quality improvement. Business innovations are directly related to improving

product performance, increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of the business processes, and

making possible organizations' radical structural and operational reforms. All these topics are

basic intentions of the professional QM.

The exploitation of new technologies is central to innovation. Technology innovations

may be directed according to the two major ways by using:

a) Sustaining technology for fostering and enhancing the existing technical features.

b) Disruptive technology for simplifying the existing technical solutions and providing

a very different value proposition.

The authors have recognized serious needs for innovations also in quality practices and

methodologies.

The "from-invention-to-innovation" process is very complicated in practice

and involves many different actors.

Professional quality practices may be beneficial in this

process.

Successful development of the business integration is a holistic learning process that

leads on to continual refining the discipline related concepts and principles, tools and

methodologies, and management practices in a compatible and balanced way.

This

organizational learning constitutes the development not just of new capacities, but of

fundamental shifts of mind, individually and collectively. That is based on sensibility to new

Juhani Anttila and Kari Jussila, "Implementing quality management in startups", QMOD Conference, Krakow

Poland, 2019.

ISO 31000 Risk management – principles and guidelines. Geneva Switzerland, 2018.

First London, Business continuity, London, UK, 2003. www.thebci.org/London%20Firsts.pdf.

Erica Seville, What makes a resilient organization?, 2016. https://www.koganpage.com/article/what-makes-a-

resilient-organization.

Juhani Anttila and Kari Jussila, "Quality and innovation – Partnering disciplines", Proceeding of 17 th

International Symposium on Quality Quality makes a difference, Croatian Quality Managers Society, Zadar,

Croatia, 2016, pp. 13-35.

CEN/TS 16555-1 Innovation management – Part 1: Innovation management system, CEN Brussels, Belgium,

2013.

Clayton M. Christensen, The innovator's dilemma, Harvard Business School Press, USA, 1997.

Juhani Anttila and Kari Jussila, "Quality and innovation – Partnering disciplines", Proceeding of 17 th

International Symposium on Quality Quality makes a difference, Croatian Quality Managers Society, Zadar,

Croatia, 2016, pp. 13-35.

Juhani Anttila and Kari Jussila, "Organizational learning in developing the integrated quality management" ,

Production engineering archives, 2018. DOI: 10.30657/pea.2018.18.01.

opportunities, changing attitudes, and getting new skills. In this context, the five basic learning

factors:

Personal mastery;

Mental models;

Shared vision;

Team learning;

Systems thinking;

are the key means by which this learning and business integration are ensured.

7. CONCLUSION

Professional QM is a promising approach in striving for organizations' business benefits.

ISO 9004 is the most challenging general international QM standard. Its holistic organization-

wide approach provides guidance for the sustained success of the organization. As a side effect,

it also can lead to fulfilling the general ISO 9001 requirements of QA.

ISO 9004 is built on a systemic process-based approach and aligned with the sound

scientific ontological and epistemological thinking. It makes multidisciplinary QM solutions

possible in a flexible way, which easily allow the integration of different specialized managerial

requirements that are presented for instance in many various management system standards.

Key aspects of ISO 9004 implementation can be summarized as follows:

- Integration : Implementing effective and efficient and business-relevant quality

principles and methodology embedded within the organization's normal activities of

strategic and operational management. Changing emphasis from separate QM

systems to the quality of organization and the quality of management.

- Responsiveness: Striving for quickly adjusting to suddenly altering business

conditions and resuming stable operation without undue delay, and aiming at

successful business continuity and resilience.

- Learning: Continual individual and organizational learning for quality

improvement.

- Innovation: Striving continuously for new organization-dedicated creative solutions

and encouraging various choices for QM in different organizations. Emphasizing

the organization's unique approach instead of a forced standard approach.

- Collaboration: Communicating and working together with colleagues and

appropriate multidisciplinary knowledge communities appreciating connectivity,

interactivity, and shared knowledge and resources.

Sažetak: ISO 9004 – STIMULATIVNA NORMA UPRAVLJANJA KVALITETOM

ZA KREATIVNE LIDERE SAVREMENIH ORGANIZACIJA

Organizacija može imati značajne koristi od općih međunarodnih normi za sustave upravljanja ako

razumije njihovu prirodu i primijeni ih kreativno i integrirano s poslovnim upravljanjem. U ovom

slučaju, lideri u organizacijama imaju ključnu ulogu. Ovaj članak razmatra ovu problematiku u svim

vrstama organizacija s težištem na normu upravljanja kvalitetom ISO 9004, jednu od mnogih

međunarodnih normi za sustave upravljanja. Norma ISO 9004 najzahtjevnija je u seriji ISO 9000

upravljanja kvalitetom. Međutim, organizacije koje primjenjuju norme ISO 9000 često jasno ne

Peter M. Senge, Charlotte Roberts, Richard Ross and Art Kleiner, The fifth discipline fieldbook , Nicholas

Brealey Publishing Limited, London, UK, 1995.

prepoznaju razlike i odnos normi ISO 9004 i ISO 9001 i stoga nisu mogle iskoristiti potencijal norme u

svojim implementacijama. Norma ISO 9004 naglašava da su identitet organizacije i njene različite

konkurentske prednosti osnova za kontinuirani uspjeh organizacije. Svaka organizacija ima svoju i

uvijek postojeću ISO 9000 realizaciju koja se može kontinuirano poboljšavati u skladu s poslovnim

strategijama i poslovnim razvojem. U tom je pogledu norma ISO 9004 vrlo fleksibilna i izazovna. Pored

ISO 9000 normi, organizacije koriste i druge poznate upravljačke referentne modele, uključujući, npr.

modele izvrsnosti performansi i mnoge druge norme sustava upravljanja za određene discipline. Sve

ovo može se promatrati kao poddomene unutar implementacije zahtjeva norme ISO 9004.Uz prilike, u

članku se također raspravlja o nekim praktičnim poteškoćama i zamkama povezanim s normom ISO

9004 te mogućim rješenjima. Od 1980-ih prvi autor ovog članka prikupljao je iskustvo u međunarodnom

postupku pripreme izdanja ISO 9004 i oba autora sudjelovala su u praktičnoj promociji i primjeni

standarda u različitim vrstama organizacija.

Ključne riječi: kvaliteta, upravljanje kvalitetom, ISO 9004, održivi uspjeh, kvaliteta organizacije.

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ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any citations for this publication.

High quality is organizations' competitive advantage. It is beneficial to base this on professional approach, and basic concepts and definitions with scientific foundation. The necessary main concepts consist of quality, quality management, quality improvement and quality assurance. Organizations' top management is responsible of the quality management decisions and implementations. The present practical situation is fragmented and the implementations are most often based on the instrumental means of the different methodological schools, which is confusing and detrimental to the understanding and usefulness of the concept of quality management. It is not beneficial to build a special system for quality management by only following the requirements of the general standard. This cannot ensure competitive business advantage. In this article, we present an alternative approach that is a natural practical way to realize quality management as the teleological solution, Quality Integration, in which the general and specific quality concepts, principles and methodology are embedded within the normal business management activities. Our Quality Integration is based on the thinking of organizational learning. Its framework covers both running the current business and improving the overall business performance. This model has been used as the thinking framework in practical organizational cases since 1990's. As the business circumstances change constantly, the organization must be constantly ready to renew through both small and radical changes. This change also receives resistance, and the development takes place according to a multi-phase process towards the new integration and requires a proper recognition and decisions. Principles of the organizational learning can help organizations in a consistent way. Evaluation of the overall organizational performance is an important quality management practice and should take into account performance enablers (processes) and also the results obtained thereof. In our approach, the evaluation criteria emphasize organizational learning and integration. The external context of the organization has a crucial role in achieving and developing the business objectives. The organization's strategy can no longer be based on the value chains but on finding ways to alter them radically through value networking. The organization is influenced by the true and all-inclusive reality, which differs from the apparent reality perceived by the senses, and which is only revealed through consciousness. Understanding this reinforces awareness and trust that are important factors also in quality management and quality assurance.

  • Juhani Anttila Juhani Anttila

Quality and innovation are significant and necessary business factors in all kinds of organizations. However, they often are considered as separate fields of knowledge, and relations between them in the organizations' business context are at least vague. Quite typically quality professionals are not much aware of the innovation phenomena, and neither are innovation experts familiar with the quality principles and procedures. In general modern quality and innovation disciplines have developed apart from each other during the last one hundred years, and this development is highlighted in this article. However, now over the recent years, we have noticed many general cross-references between them. This article considers questions of innovation in quality and quality in innovation, and realization of the both topics in the organizations and society. Innovation is needed and has been practiced for a long time in the context of quality improvement and the development of the new products. The process 'from-invention-to-innovation' is complicated and involved with many different actors. Professional quality practices may be beneficial in this process. Viewpoints of quality and innovation are also considered with regard to standardization including possibilities of the business integrated implementation of quality management and innovation management in a harmonized way. A great challenge is to understand how the awareness and skills of the human individuals and wide societal efforts can promote quality and innovation. Quality and innovation are partnering disciplines, which can be useful to each other and together create organizational differentiation for competitive advantage.

  • Mark von Rosing Mark von Rosing

The Business Ontology presented in this publication has taken the Global University Alliance members over a decade to research and develop, with hundreds of 'man years' involved to create the product introduced in this paper. This paper provides an overview of he business ontology research and analysis done and elaborates on its development and adaption journey. This research paper therefore has the aim to provide an overview of the research and analysis that has been done around the subject of Business Ontology. It does so by firstly defining what Ontology means in the context of this research after which it elaborates on the chosen research approach. It than describes how the Business ontology is a part of formalizing a Domain Ontology. Followed by a historic overview of the Business Ontology development adaption and how the business ontology is used to develop enterprise and industry standards. The Overview of the Business Ontology Research & Analysis paper than concludes with mentioning the main research team members.

Business systems consist of interrelated processes and business structures. Performance of the processes is of the greatest strategic and operational importance in affecting organisations' business results, competitiveness, and sustained success. This paper presents a holistic approach to business processes and their management, and aims at reacting against problems and superficial solutions that we have found in many organisations. Process management concepts are clarified in a business-oriented way. The presented principles and managing tools and infrastructure have proved effective and efficient in practical cases in different organisations. People and leadership aspects, information and knowledge aspects, and requirements of modern business networks and ecosystems are especially highlighted. The value of our approach lies in its comprehensiveness and theoretical foundation. These and our flexibly practical business-oriented tools ensure that possible limitations can be evaluated and avoided. The results achieved encourage dedicated tailoring towards other organisations and further research. The research approach of this paper is business pragmatism combined with relevant academic studies based on the authors' long-term experience both as business and standardisation practitioners, and involvement with academic research. Hence, practical results are grounded in the ontological and epistemological theoretical foundation, and linked with business reality.

The universities have a diverse influence on the development of the society. Today this also includes countless smart city and community initiatives all over the world. These cases bring together city planning, industry, universities and citizens to improve the urban life of individuals and organisations with the integrated use of versatile information, digital and communication technologies. The purpose of this article is to consider quality management in the universities in a professional and creative way, which comprehensively covers the universities' activities of education, research and social collaboration, and which can ensure the universities' successful partnership in the smart city projects. This article describes the key aspects related to the smart city phenomenon and development, and in this context the challenges to expanding and reinforcing the universities' quality management practices to meet the increased requirements of the collaboration with the other organisations for the quality of society through the disrupted innovations. The article brings up related conceptual bases, practical solutions and examples. Smart cities are also manifestations of the 4th industrial revolution and industry 4.0, which emerging phenomena imply innovations, better planning, a more participatory approach towards higher energy efficiency, better transport solutions, and intelligent use of information and communication technologies. The required collaboration with the many different involved societal parties sets requirements for quality in the universities' main activity sectors. In practice, this is ensured through organisational learning towards excellence in the overall performance of the university that implies professional quality management principles, innovations in processes and practices aligned with the other organisations of the society. This article is based on the authors' long-term general research and practice of the business integrated quality management, and education and industry collaboration at different universities. Some parts of the material have been presented at different seminars and conferences, for instance in Chelyabinsk/Russia, Kenitra/Morocco and Kremenets/Ukraina.

Purpose The purpose of this study is to challenge bridging the gap between the problems of the existing quality profession and the existing and emerging challenges of quality with regard to people, organizations and societies, hence broadening the traditional coverage of quality from the organizations to these three hierarchial societal levels. Design/methodology/approach Through professional involvement with researching, developing and practicing quality principles, methodologies and solutions in practice for decades, the authors became convinced that the prevailing conceptual thinking of quality is not based on the valid scientific basis and contains the problem of superficiality. Hence also the practical quality applications are fragmented and vague. As a reaction to the situation, the authors clarify the conceptual essence of quality, its historical background and usage in today's everyday and professional contexts. Findings In this article, the authors present a solid scientific baseline for the ontological fundamentals of the quality discipline, on which also the epistemological pondering can be built, hence establishing the robust foundation for the practical quality management applications. Originality/value This conceptual article is an original research and review paper, contributing to the revival process of the quality profession in its entirety, including quality research, education and practices. The study is based on the authors' multidisciplinary experience, theoretical reflecting and recognized references.