Management Commitment: The Key For Training QA Managers

By Lance Schultz, Food Safety Consultant

The author of a GFSI-accredited, quality-management system (QMS) knows every facet of the system. After achieving certification, a contingency plan must be in place for replacing the QMS author. Likewise, the new QA Manager must be ready to accept the challenge.

Management Commitment

Food-Safety Culture theory identifies management commitment as the key facilitator for behavioral change in a food-manufacturing facility.  W. Edwards Deming and Joseph M. Juran — two renowned authors on quality theory and practice — included management responsibility as tenants of their philosophies. It is not surprising, therefore, that GFSI-accredited schemes, such as BRC, SQF, IFS, and FSSC 22000 all have management commitment as mandatory sections in their schemes. Failure to demonstrate compliance to these sections results in a critical failure of an audit and loss of certification. Management must be aware of risks inherent to food-production processes, effectiveness of employee training, and allocation of resources to ensure functionality of food-safety controls. Policy statements signed by management, job descriptions, organizational charts outlining personnel responsibility, and cross-training are important tools managers can use to reinforce company standards. Management should be involved with the review of the system internally. Audit results and corrective actions should be communicated at regular intervals to management and root causes identified. Small companies typically hire a Quality-Assurance Manager or a Quality Consultant to ensure the QMS is functional and corrective actions are resolved, while larger companies have fully-operational quality departments to ensure product safety and customer confidence.

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