The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has circulated a proposal for a new field of activity on integrating a business excellence framework with management system standards. As the U.S. member body to ISO, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) invites all relevant and interested stakeholders to submit comments on the proposal by the end of the business day on Friday, March 3, 2017.
The Standards Council of Canada (SCC) submitted the proposal to ISO, which states that organizations implementing single or multiple management systems, and, simultaneously, the "business excellence framework," are faced with the major challenge of lack of alignment. This is due to multiple factors, including but not limited to: organizational design/structure, responsibilities matrix, contextual understanding of the linkages/interdependencies, silo mentality, and turf protection.
The proposal reads: "Guidelines on Integrating a Business Excellence Framework with ISO Management System Standards' will provide the roadmap on integrating the national/international business excellence frameworks with management system standards, for enhancing organizational efficiency, facilitating effective decision-making, and promoting transparency, innovation, and continuous improvement."
The field of work will exclude the development of an ISO business excellence standard and/or development of ISO management system standards. Instead, it will focus on the integration aspects, available best practices, and provision of useful practical tips for better organizational management.
Relevant stakeholders would include industry and commerce in large industry, SMEs, government, standards application businesses, and non-governmental organization, among others.
All interested stakeholders are invited to review the proposal, which includes the full listings of relevant documents at the international, regional, and national levels, as well as affected stakeholder categories that may benefit from or be impacted by the proposed standard.
Please submit comments to Steven Cornish, ANSI senior director of international policy ([email protected]), by close of business on Friday, March 3, 2017. Based on the input received, the ANSI ISO Council (AIC) will then be asked to approve an ANSI position and comments to be submitted to ISO before its April 12, 2017, deadline for voting on this proposal.
ANSI has published an explanatory information document outlining the process used to develop U.S. positions on issues and activities under consideration by ISO and IEC.