Management system guidance
5.0 Leadership
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5.3 Roles, responsibility and authority
Each employee needs to know who is responsible for the various elements of the management system to ensure a successful implementation. Develop an organization chart and create job descriptions to satisfy the requirements in order to clearly define roles, responsibilities and authorities and communicate those responsibilities and authorities throughout your organization.
You should develop and make available to all employees a list of key personnel and their job descriptions, responsibilities, along with an organization chart of key employees as they relate to your management system. This should effectively define, document, and communicate the organizational structure of the management system. Please note that this method is a suggestion, and other ways of meeting the requirement for organizational structure may be used.
There is no longer a requirement for appointment of Management Representative, though the duties currently assigned to the MR under ISO 9001:2008 or ISO 14001:2004 must still be undertaken but can be assigned to different personnel, or to the quality system manager. Examples of objective evidence to verify implementation might include:
- Communication of roles, responsibilities and authority;
- Processes and procedures to fulfil requirements are adequately resourced;
- Awareness of expectations is demonstrated in all relevant levels of the organization;
- Reporting on the operation (audits & inspections) and performance of the management system is done (business meetings, KPI reviews, etc.).
You should seek evidence that your organization’s personnel have not only been advised of their management system responsibilities and authorities, but also that they understand these in the context of the overall purpose of the management system.
You should also ensure that Top management have assigned responsibility and authority for preserving the integrity of the organization’s management system during changes. If you need a procedure and forms to help determine and control your business's human resources, click here.
Organization charts
Organization charts are used to show the overall hierarchy of a business and the roles, responsibilities and authorities, including job titles and lines of reporting that operate within the quality management system. The organization chart should include the roles and responsibilities that are required to comply with quality management system requirements to ensure they are integrated within your business processes.
All employees should be encouraged to understand their own, and others’, responsibilities for implementing and maintaining business and QMS processes. All defined accountabilities, responsibilities and authorities must be stated in your documentation and communicated throughout your organization. Top management are responsible for reviewing, maintaining and communicating your business’s organization chart.
Job descriptions
For each job title identified, your organization should develop a job description to provide a narrative of what the role entails and to identify all associated tasks. Top management are responsible for assigning relevant roles and responsibilities (e.g. the tasks allocated to each role) and the authorities (e.g. permissions and interfaces allocated within each role).
The assignment of relevant roles, responsibilities and authorities that affect conformity across your organization includes the roles of Top management, Management Representative, Line Managers, Departmental Managers, Supervisors, Process Owners, and Process Users, etc. relating to:
- Conformance of the QMS to ISO 9001 (4.3);
- Delivery of process output results (4.4.1);
- Reporting of QMS performance (9.3) and improvement opportunities (10.3);
- Promoting customer focus (5.1.2);
- Maintaining the integrity of the QMS when changes occur (6.3).
Arrangements to demonstrate that relevant roles, responsibilities and authorities are communicated and understood, and include as appropriate your organization chart, resource allocation spreadsheets, role profiles, accountability statements, job descriptions, training matrices, and skills, competence, qualification and performance reviews. Job descriptions should comprise the following criteria:
- Title of the job;
- Where the role sits within the team, department and wider business;
- Who the role reports to, and other key interactions;
- Key areas of responsibility and the deliverables expected;
- Short, medium and long-term objectives;
- Scope for progression and promotion;
- Required education and training;
- Soft skills and personality traits necessary to excel;
- Location and travel requirements;
- Remuneration range and benefits available;
- Convey our organization’s culture and identity.
The quality accountabilities and responsibilities of each employee are integral components of their respective job descriptions.
More information on PDCA
Planning
Context
Planning
Support
Doing
Support
Operations
Checking
Monitoring, measurement, analysis and evaluation
Acting
Improvement
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