Gender-Certification: Introduzione alle Norme ISO 9000:2000

INTRODUCTION TO ISO 9000:2000 STANDARDS
what they are and how they work

The corpus of ISO 9000 Standards has now become widespread in organisational and production processes throughout the World. In virtue of the so-called “globalization” process, their use is probably destined to increase and to be adopted by more and more organizations in all countries.

So what are ISO Standards exactly and why have they pervaded worldwide?

One simple reason: because at the time of our technological growth, we have understood that improvement of our work and existence is forced to depend on others, and so a shared language is necessary for communicating and developing together.

ISO Standards are nothing more than a set of references that manufacturing and other types of organizations adapt to in order to converse without misunderstandings and waste of time and resources.

ISO addresses just about every field of technology and organization that humanity has approached, from electro-technical to materials technology, biomedicine to telecommunications and, last but not least, business organisation.

With regard to the latter theme, the most famous standards are those defined by the acronym ISO 9000, which began in 1987 and continue with increasing precision, to outline an enterprise management quality standard.

The ISO 9000 series of standards targets all organizations interested in efficient management of its own capabilities, in other words the persons, businessmen/women, executives and managers who see in their work the opportunity of satisfying their customers and reaping personal benefits from their work in the present and in the future.

Experience in corporate management, especially in Europe, whether referred to the manufacturing context or to services, has brought to light some basic rules to be applied for achieving the above mentioned objective; these rules are to be found in ISO's three current sets of Standards - ISO 9000, ISO 9001 and ISO 9004 - and constitute a standard for conduct that all companies find to be common ground for comparison and shared philosophy.

The December 2000 version clarified once and for all that management of Human Resources is one of the chief elements in the quality of an organization, alongside principles of customer satisfaction and in-depth knowledge of all processes developed by the organization.

Certainly, a superficial reading of ISO 9000 may suggest they are a Utopia, since they indicate an approach that tends to accept compromise and a logic of maximum financial gain to the detriment of coherence and ethics; in reality, true application and awareness of rules suggested by ISO 9000 Standards lead without fail to a successful business, which not only brings the fundamental result of "corporate profits" (which actually means “prospects for staying on the market”), but also activates a virtuous circle of customer and worker satisfaction.

It must be possible for all human potential to be expressed. Resource management, and therefore Human Resource management, means giving men and women the opportunity to express the potential of their experiences, culture, imagination, abilities, to gather the maximum and waste nothing in favour of the organisation itself.

Organizations that show their ability to valorise gender differences, which is to say are capable of gathering the intrinsic and peculiar potential of men and women, will have really applied ISO 9000 requirements and will be able to obtain the best results; let us not forget that creating trust in employees, role satisfaction and work quality are elements that may sometimes be neglected, but are essential for a company's continuity and gain.

Certainly the Standard is generic, based coldly on a series of points that Certification Agency (when involved by the organization) will then have to verify meticulously, but it is opportune to read ‘against the light’ and operate in the direction that can bear the best fruits.

Real quality certification in an organization is that which is agreed by men and women, with hands-on experience of the real meaning of managing (human) resources.

ISO – International Organization for Standardization – is a non-government organization founded in 1946 by an initiative of 25 member states with the scope of coordinating and normalizing technical standards associable to industrial products, such as classification of materials, test methodologies, terminologies, production techniques.

At the moment there are 146 member states that and to a central Secretariat located in Geneva.