"Certification" refers to the activities of a completely trusted third party to make certified products or services conform to specific standards or normative documents. The role of the third party can be played directly by the state or government agencies, or by organizations recognized by the state or government. Such institutions or organizations are called "certification bodies". Certification institutions are institutions approved by the state to independently carry out third-party certification, and consulting institutions are intermediary service institutions that provide help for enterprises to establish and operate systems. When enterprises have difficulties or lack of confidence in implementing standards themselves, they often turn to consulting institutions for help, and consulting institutions make profits by providing consulting services. The cooperation between consulting institutions and enterprises is a kind of commercial behavior. Most certified enterprises in China employ consulting institutions to guide the implementation of standards. An excellent consulting organization can not only help enterprises successfully pass the third-party certification, but also help enterprises improve their management level. In order to ensure the fairness of third-party certification, the state explicitly prohibits "one-stop consultation and certification service", and an institution cannot serve as a consultant and auditor at the same time. Let's talk about how to choose a consulting organization. China's quality certification has developed rapidly in recent years, but there are also many worrying problems.
Among them, the problem of nonstandard consulting market is very prominent. For example, some consulting organizations do whatever it takes to contract, blindly promise 100% to pass the certification at one time, and engage in one-stop consulting and certification service in disguise. A few consultants don't "coach" athletes, but write plans or fill out record forms in person. The contents of the file system are the same. Cut corners in procedure and lack depth in technology. Choosing such a consulting organization is undoubtedly harmful to an enterprise that hopes to improve management and efficiency through the implementation of standards.
Before choosing a consulting organization, an enterprise should know what kind of cooperative relationship it has with the enterprise. The cooperative relationship between consulting institutions and enterprises is like tutoring services.
Parents hire tutors for their children to enter famous universities, so whether their children can enter famous universities depends on two factors: the level of tutors and the students' own ability, qualifications and learning attitude. As a teacher, he will make counseling plans, give lectures, assign homework, correct homework, explain analysis and simulate tests. As students, we should listen carefully, practice, finish homework, revise homework, and digest and absorb the knowledge taught by teachers. It is students, not teachers, who take the college entrance examination. If teachers do their duty and students study hard, they are likely to be admitted to famous universities. Here, enterprises are like students, and consulting institutions are equivalent to teachers. Consultants only provide training, guidance, advice and other services, rather than personally intervene and go into battle. The implementation of standards and certification is the enterprise's own work.
When choosing an advisory body, we should pay attention to the following three issues:
1. Consulting is a commercial activity. When choosing consulting institutions, enterprises should not blindly pursue low prices, but consider the quality-price ratio as a whole. A large part of the operating cost of regular consulting companies is the training expenditure for consultants; Because high-quality consultants are hired, they have to pay high remuneration; But also need to consider the quality of some services, such as consulting after certification. If the quotation of the consulting company is very low, it is often impossible to guarantee the quality of the consultant, and cut corners during the consulting process, laying a hidden danger for the future system operation of the enterprise.
Second, the consulting agency cannot provide certification services. The state prohibits one-stop consulting and certification services. There are many enterprises that can't correctly understand the consultation and certification and provide one-stop consultation and certification services. The general consulting contract stipulates that the enterprise will terminate immediately after obtaining the certificate. For enterprises, obtaining certificates is only an early stage for enterprises to meet the standards. The services provided by consulting institutions are relatively short-lived, so enterprises should not impose their expectations on consulting institutions and ask them to make commitments beyond their own capabilities (such as ensuring initial certification, requirements for audit institutions, certification fees, etc.). ). The certification contract and certification fee of the enterprise shall be directly negotiated with the certification institution. Consulting institutions can recommend certification institutions to enterprises, or evaluate the certification fees, but they can't make general contracts for consulting and certification fees. Otherwise, the consulting organization is likely to save both wages and materials and engage in black-box operations.
Three, consulting institutions suitable for enterprises should at least meet the following basic requirements:
1, strong technical force. Have the ability to closely track the updated information of standards, have a considerable depth in the concept and requirements of standards, and can closely combine with the actual situation of enterprises.
2. Pay attention to training, especially quality awareness training. The effectiveness of the system depends not only on the perfection of the system, but also on the ability and consciousness of the actual undertaker of the system operation. Insufficient training is the main reason why the system becomes a piece of skin. After the consulting agency in charge of the enterprise withdraws from the enterprise, the enterprise has the effective operation of the human resource guarantee system.
3. The consultants are not only knowledgeable, but also have considerable professional ability. After contact with enterprises, they can quickly grasp the key and difficult points of enterprise quality management.
4. Respect the opinions of employees and employees, and respect the traditional culture of enterprises. In the establishment and trial operation stage of the system, we should not be divorced from reality, seek truth from facts and pursue practical results. No mystifying, no cheating, no cutting corners. Safeguard the interests of enterprises.
Enterprises must be careful when choosing consulting institutions. The selected consulting organization should meet the requirements of the enterprise, and shop around if necessary.
First of all, enterprises can ask the participating consulting institutions to provide qualification certificates (such as industrial and commercial business licenses, filing certificates of quality and technical supervision departments, etc.). ) and performance report.
Secondly, in order to verify the credibility and ability of participating consulting institutions, we can choose some clients from the list of consulting institutions as the interviewees and get to know the consulting institutions from the side. In addition, before signing the consulting contract, the enterprise may require the consulting institution to make the following preparations:
1, make a written evaluation of the enterprise's operating conditions. By comparing the evaluation opinions, we can have a preliminary understanding of election consultation.
The difference between the level of institutional management knowledge and practical application ability.
2. Give training courses (or special lectures) to key members of enterprises, analyze the ability of participating consulting institutions to grasp standards and conduct training.
3. Submit standardized contract text. Whether the charges are reasonable and whether the relationship between rights and obligations is clear. By comparing different contract texts, we can understand the differences in their management level, service characteristics and service commitments.
Finally, through the comparison and observation of the above aspects, the enterprise chooses a satisfactory consulting institution as a partner from the candidates.
The ways and emphases of choosing certification bodies are different.
After the system has been running for a period of time, enterprises can apply for certification from certification bodies. China's certification bodies need to be approved and recognized by the state, and accept the supervision of relevant departments. Compared with consulting institutions, certification bodies should be standardized and authoritative. However, there are also differences among certification bodies, which are not only manifested in the characteristics of the industry, but also in the fierce competition in brand, reputation, service level and market share. By the end of 2000, 60 certification bodies (including branches) had been recognized by China National Certification and Accreditation Committee. So how to choose the right one?
What about the certification body? Can be considered from the following aspects:
1. Business scope approved or recognized by certification bodies. The current certification requirements of enterprises must be met by certification bodies (relevant documents can be obtained from certification bodies), which is the basic condition. In addition, enterprises should consider the future demand. For example, enterprises are now implementing the ISO9000 standard. Will other management systems such as OHS-AS 18000 occupational safety and health management system and ISO 14000 environmental management system be introduced with the future development of enterprises? If possible, you should choose a certification body with multiple certification qualifications.
2. Quality of service of certification bodies. Certification bodies are intermediary service agencies, and the level of services provided varies greatly due to different factors such as management level, history and economic strength. Generally speaking, certification bodies with good brands and high reputation pay more attention to their own image and service quality.
3, because most certification bodies charge certification fees according to the charging standards stipulated by the state. Therefore, except for a few certification bodies (some of which are not recognized), the quotations of most certification bodies are similar. Since the fees are almost the same, enterprises should choose a certification body with good reputation, great popularity and the best scale benefit.
4. It's best not to hand over the right to choose a certification body to an advisory body. As mentioned above, consulting institutions generally quit after the enterprise is certified, and enterprise certification is only the beginning of certification work. After obtaining the certificate, the enterprise shall accept the supervision, audit or re-evaluation of the certification body every year. Therefore, it is best for enterprises to choose their own certification bodies.