INDUSTRY I SUSTAINABILITY
definitions, and methods for evaluating those efforts. ISO 26000 will attract the attention of those invested in other ISO frameworks such as ISO 9000.
Like CSR, quality is based on a core set of values, such as “do no harm,” “create zero waste,” “make external costs visible,” and “drive out fear” between management and employees, that were defined by quality gurus like Feigenbaum, Crosby, Taguchi, and Deming at a time, much like today, when resource constraints were a growing concern.
Like CSR, quality also has a strong focus on people—not just in terms of customer satisfaction, but related to the quality of working life and employee satisfaction. ISO 26000 makes a more deliberate connection between people and quality management systems with guidance provided for human rights, labor practices, fair operating practices, consumer issues, and community involvement and development.
The two disciplines also share several important concepts: Making hidden costs visible: From a quality perspective, hidden costs related to wasted materials, wasted energy, distracted employees, dissatisfied customers, and poorly performing products can amount to 10 to 40 percent of total costs. Similarly, CSR might use lifecycle approaches to highlight costs buried deep in the value chain, like supplier and consumer energy use for the manufacture and operation of products. This idea is already taking hold, with 86 percent of CEOs viewing “accurate valuation by investors of sustainability as important to reaching a tipping point in sustainability,” according to a UN Global Compact report.
Corporate governance: In quality, senior management holds complete responsibility for quality problems, and quality is made in the boardroom. The majority of quality problems are the fault of poor management rather than poor workmanship. Likewise, CSR success is directly related to CEO commitment.
tiers away, reduced waste, and a strong focus on customer value, which, in the quality world, would be viewed as old challenges put in a new context. These challenges are also relevant to quality given our era of increasingly networked and globalized operations.
Given that both quality and CSR employ a systems approach, encourage businesses to ask better questions, and develop tools to measure and demonstrate improvement, perhaps it is time for more coordination between the two.
Kindred Spirits
There are signs of the quality and CSR disciplines converging, in particular with the release of the ISO 26000 Guidance on Social Responsibility. The international standard encourages companies to make a voluntary commitment to social responsibility and provides common guidance on concepts,
Empowerment: “Quality at the source” refers to an approach in which workers are given the authority to stop a production line if there is a quality problem or offer a customer an on-the- spot refund if the service is not satisfactory. Empowerment is also a primary pillar in promoting supply chain sustainability. The promotion of an informed, participatory workplace helps ensure fair working conditions.
From reactive to proactive: In quality, prevention and continuous improvement are more effective than inspection. And in sustainability, supply chain monitoring approaches used alone fail to address root causes for social and environmental challenges.
Internal alignment: According to the total quality approach, each department views other departments as internal customers, causing barriers to fall. This kind of cross- functional approach is useful in identifying and managing CSR issues. Both quality and sustainability, therefore, encourage internal collaboration both vertically (from the CEO level to the factory floor) and horizontally (across departmental silos).
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