What Is ISO? An Introduction to Generic management system standards and a History of ISO

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The History of ISO

ISO has been developing voluntary technical standards over almost sectors of business, industry and technology since 1947. So, if the first you heard of us was in connection with ISO 9000 or ISO 14000, then you are probably asking yourself, "How come I'd never heard of ISO before?"

The answer is that if you are asking yourself the question, then you are probably not an engineer, because if you were, you would almost certainly have come into contact with at least some of ISO's technical standards.

With the exception of ISO 9000 and ISO 14000, the vast majority of ISO standards are highly specific. They are documented agreements containing technical specifications or other precise criteria to be used consistently as rules, guidelines, or definitions of characteristics to ensure that materials, products, processes and services are fit for their purpose. If that sounds like engineering talk, you're absolutely right! It also explains why ISO standards were, before ISO 9000 and ISO 14000, principally of concern to engineers and other technical specialists concerned by the precise scope addressed in the standard.

To take just one example, ISO standards for such seemingly humble items as bolts, nuts, screws, pins and rivets literally help stop much in the world around us from falling apart, but you're not likely to come across references to them in the business and economic press, nor see companies proudly advertising that they implement them.

Then, in 1987, came ISO 9000, followed nearly 10 years later by ISO 14000, which have brought ISO to the attention of a much wider business community. These are very different from the majority of ISO's highly specific standards.

Generic management system standards

The vast majority of ISO standards are highly specific to a particular product, material, or process. However, both ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 are known as generic management system standards.

Generic means that the same standards can be applied to any organization, large or small, whatever its product, including whether its "product" is actually a service, in any sector of activity, and whether it is a business enterprise, a public administration, or a government department.

Management system refers to what the organization does to manage its processes, or activities. In a very small organization, there is probably no "system", as such, just "our way of doing things", and "our way" is probably not written down, but all in the manager's or owner's head. The larger the organization, and the more people involved, the more the likelihood that there are some written procedures, instructions, forms or records. These help ensure that everyone is not just "doing his or her thing", and that there is a minimum of order in the way the organization goes about its business, so that time, money and other resources are utilized efficiently.

To be really efficient and effective, the organization can manage its way of doing things by systemizing it. This ensures that nothing important is left out and that everyone is clear about who is responsible for doing what, when, how, when, why and where.

Management system standards provide the organization with a model to follow in setting up and operating the management system. This model incorporates the features which experts in the field have agreed upon as representing the state of the art. A management system which follows the model, or "conforms to the standard", is built on a firm foundation of state of the art practices.

Large organizations, or ones with complicated processes, could not function well without management systems, although they may have been called by some other name. Companies in such fields as aerospace, automobiles, defense, or health products have been operating management systems for years.

ISO's management system standards now make these successful practices available for all organizations.