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SYSTEMS AND PROCESSES - IS THERE A DIFFERENCE?

At a time when we are more conscious than ever before of the interconnectedness of our actions we are still publishing international standards that ignore the advances made in system theory and process management since the 1950s. David Hoyle author of the ISO 9000 Quality Systems Handbook, shows that we are rooted in the past using standards that promote unhelpful models of systems and processes. He highlights the key differences between systems and processes and how we can gain a better understanding of the interacting variables that determine organizational outcomes and thus enable us to manage processes and systems more effectively. Personal reflections I have changed jobs a few times in my career and went through a termination process each time. When I now look at the ISO 9000:2005 1 definition for a process I see that I should have been transformed but I can assure you my form was just the same after the process as it was before. During my time as a seagoing engineer office with Cunard on the old RMS Queen Elizabeth I learnt that I was performing a function that the ship had been designed to perform through instrumentation but which had become defunct though neglects and decay. The ship had been adapted to compensate for the reduction in functionality; a characteristic often not possible with other mechanistic systems but quite common with systems that include components of the human kind. During my time as a product assurance manager in spacecraft development with British Aerospace I leant that in physical systems the components have to work together to achieve the goal of the system, that they can’t fulfil their function outside the system; that control over interfaces was critical to project success and that all systems are effected by the environment in which they operate. Thus, I was well aware of the properties of systems but less aware of processes. In fact I was only aware of manufacturing processes like a plating process or welding process and it was to be many years later before I became aware of management and business processes. In common with most organizations at the time, the emphasis was on following procedures, adhering to codes of practice and standards; not in managing a system of interacting processes. What does ISO 9000 say about systems and processes? Intent and requirements