Guidance
Plan your management system
The ISO Navigator™ database hyperlinks the ISO 9000:2005 principles and the ISO 9001:2008 requirements; and explains them in plain English with practical guidance.
This guidance has been superseded by ISO 9001:2026 Clause 5.1 Leadership and Commitment. If you want to see a comparison matrix that correlates the requirements of ISO 9001:2008 to the revised requirements of ISO 9001:2015, please click here to begin comparing.
Our range of ISO 9001:2026 quality manuals and integrated manual templates cover the requirements of ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001, and offer an easy way to implement and document your organization's quality management system or integrated management system.
ISO 9001:2008: Management Commitment (superseded)
Without solid management commitment, you will not have a successful quality management system. This is not a commitment in words; it is the continuous and active demonstration to everyone in the organization that the need to meet customers' expectations is vital.
The adoption of a quality management system should be a strategic decision made by the organization's top management. Top management must demonstrate their commitment to the QMS and continual improvement by:
- Defining and communicating the quality policies
- Establishing organizational quality objectives
- Ensuring appropriate resources are available
Implement and improve the QMS by:
- Encouraging employees to achieve requirements
- Reviewing QMS performance
- Ensuring resources are available to improve the QMS
The principal message that management must get across is that the objective of this business is to keep the customer happy. Specifically, management must communicate these ideas (5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.5.1, 5.5.2, 5.5.3) to the employees who should be aware of their own roles and responsibilities (6.2.2).
Notice that none of these clauses specify a procedure or a record – you are simply required to do it. As a result, the Certification Body auditor will want to speak to the MD and the staff. This something that your internal auditors must also do.
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