Top Management
Food safety is the prime responsibility of everyone
involved in food business and can most effectively be established, operated and
updated within the framework of a properly structured food safety management
system. Successful development and implementation of a food safety management
system requires top management to make a significant commitment. It should be
clearly supported by the business objectives of the organization. Top management
is defined in ISO 9001 as the “person or group of people who directs and
controls an organization at the highest level”. In a small or medium sized
business, this may be the owner or owners (partners), a senior manager or
perhaps the board of directors. It is essential that this group fully
understand what is involved in developing and implementing a food safety
management system and make a commitment to the process.
Top management support has generally
been considered the most critical factor for the success of ISO
22000 projects. Typically, there have developed implicit or explicit
assumptions that top management support has to be constant and consistent
during the entire life of an ISO 22000 implementation project. Top management
support has been widely identified and highly ranked as a critical success
factor in most ISO 22000 implementations. Typical findings indicate that this level
of support is critical for the success of ISO 22000 planning and system implementation.
However, many aspects of top management support are not yet fully understood (Jarvenpaa
& Ives, 1991; Sharma & Yetton, 2003).
An assumption of the ‘absolute’ criticality of top management support has been questioned, albeit reluctantly by a few recent studies. For example, Somers & Nelson (2004) observe that the perception of the importance of top management support among project members continues to decline over the course of the project. This observation contradicted their own expectation and hence led them to state that:
‘such behaviour is not fully understood’ (Somers & Nelson, 2004). Other studies
found top management support not critical to the outcomes of a project and that
efficiency and flexibility of the development process was significant in its
own right, even without any effect of top management support (Marble, 2003; Nah
et al, 2007).
Top management’s commitment is critical to the successful
implementation of the food safety management system. The system costs time and
money to develop, implement and maintain. It will directly involve top
management itself in allocating resources and in decision making at key steps
in the process, its maintenance and updating. As a rule of thumb, Top
management has the responsibility to define, document and communicate its food
safety policy and its objectives. This policy should be appropriate to the role
of the organization in the food chain, conform to statutory, regulatory and
agreed customer requirements, be communicated, implemented and maintained
within the organization, reviewed regularly and supported by measurable
objectives.
The
development of a food safety management system takes planning. The top
management of the organization, or you yourself as the small business owner, or
those who have this responsibility, should be working from a plan when they
commit to developing the system. The plan should identify the business
objectives to be met by the system, set out the resources required and identify
measurable objectives. As the organization moves from the development phase
into implementation, top management will need to ensure that this too is
planned, resource allocated and achievements are measured. Once implemented,
top management’s responsibility for planning continues – it must now ensure
that its management reviews are planned and that any changes to the system are
also planned.
Most
organizations use organizational charts and position descriptions to show the
various functional responsibilities and authorities. In addition, the charts
show how each function relates to other functions. Employees within each
organizational unit or function can see where they fit within the organization,
and also see the limits of authority that are delegated to each manager and
function. Any organization’s food safety management system will involve all
employees whose activities impact on food safety. However, it is necessary for
one employee to be appointed and assigned responsibility for the development
and implementation of the system.
ISO 22000 states that the responsibility and authority for
the food safety management system must be assigned to one person. ISO 22000
identifies that person as the food safety team leader, appointed by top
management. The team leader should be a member of the organization and have a basic
knowledge of hygiene management, the application of HACCP principles and the
requirements of ISO 22000. In a small or medium-sized organization, it is
likely that this person will have other tasks and duties. These duties should
not conflict with their food safety responsibilities.
Management Commitment
When an organization undertakes the
development of a food safety management system, the first and most important
task of top management is to define the purpose of the system. The purpose and
commitment must be stated in the organization’s food safety policy. The primary
driver for this decision should be to ensure that your organization is doing
everything it can to ensure the production of safe food products. Simply
seeking to have the certificate or meet the minimum regulatory requirement will
result in less than optimum outcomes and do a disservice to the organization
and its stakeholders. Thus top management’s commitment is critical to the
successful implementation of the food safety management system. The system
costs time and money to develop, implement and maintain, which will directly
involve top management itself in allocating resources and in decision making at
key steps in the process, its maintenance and updating.
Responsibility & Authority
Effective implementation of a food safety
management system in large-scale retail begins with a commitment from senior
management. Here, the quality manager plays a major role since he must convince
top management of the merits of the approach and demonstrate the added value of
the system. Aligning the project with the company’s strategy is fundamental to
obtaining success. In order to gain management’s trust and support, the system
implementation project must be seen as a translation of the company’s overall
strategy. For example, a company focused strategy based on efficiency is not
really compatible with the implementation of an ISO 22000 system, which is, by
nature, focused on customer satisfaction. Conversely, a strategy based on
satisfying the needs of existing and future customers, enabling the company to
gain an edge over the competition, might find in the food safety management
system the perfect operational and continual-improvement tool. Having committed
itself to implementing the system, senior management must then ensure the
information is disseminated throughout the company. This is critical for
preparing staff to get involved in the process.
As a rule of thumb, it is essential to
understand the role of each corporate department and its link with food safety,
when designing and implementing a food safety management system. As an example,
it is the purchasing department’s responsibility among other things, to look
after the business relationship with suppliers and introduce new product
references. This implies working in collaboration with the quality department,
which, in turn, must implement a process for selecting, evaluating and
monitoring its suppliers to ensure full control of the safety of food products delivered
by suppliers and displayed on store shelves. This is unfortunately not always
the case and in the absence of proper supplier control, products unknown to the
quality department are sometimes sold in stores.
The technical department on the other hand,
is responsible for purchasing the refrigerating equipment and deciding where it
will be installed in the stores while ensuring its maintenance. To this end and
in order to comply with good hygiene practice for store facilities and
equipment, the technical manager must work hand in hand with the quality
manager, especially regarding the intended use of the refrigeration equipment
and the planning and execution of technical maintenance activities. For
instance, refrigerated shelves with a 0 – 4 °C temperature range cannot be used
for meat products, in particular mince meat (0 – 2 °C). Yet it is not unusual
to find refrigerating systems that are unfit for their intended use in the
store.
Communication
Horizontal and vertical integration, backed
by top management, is facilitated by effective internal communication. The
relevant parties dealing with food safety control within the company must be
identified and communication flows established. i.e., effective communication
between the marketing department and the quality department would help avoid
plant schematics that are likely to affect food safety (for example
cross-contamination by allergens from shelves reserved for non-food products).
Vertical communication, in particular between the quality department and the
store, is crucial in that it helps the system design process and enables the
quality department to establish the procedures and tools that are best suited
to the actual store, without losing sight of the commercial purpose.
Coordination
Food safety is an implicit requirement for
the sale of foodstuffs. In the food industry, food safety management is the
province of the quality management department, which has the necessary
competencies in the field. Converting such management activities into a proper
management system requires perfect coordination throughout the food company of
the activities impacting on food safety. This type of coordination is referred
to above as “horizontal and vertical integration” and, as such, requires an
extra set of skills, in addition to the technical competencies, in order to
implement a food safety management system. Leadership skills, for instance, are
essential as the ability to convince and influence internal stakeholders, in
particular top management, is a condition for the system’s efficiency.
Marketing and communication
skills are also important as they help the people involved engage in the
process. Thus top management plays a critical role in assigning right people
for relevant job and authorizing them for the real world requirements. Besides,
an in-depth knowledge and understanding of the company’s strategy helps to
achieve company-wide integration of the food safety policy. Other competencies
in human resources, operational management and finance can also be added. All
these disciplines give food safety control a true management dimension, which
is particularly emphasized in ISO 22000. As a result, this standard provides
the food industry with a real opportunity to make food safety control more
professional and expand it to other disciplines that are vital in order to
succeed in today’s business world.
Reference
- http://www.iso.org/iso/news.htm?refid=Ref1701
- ISO 22000 Food safety management systems. An easy-to-use checklist for small business. Are you ready ?
- https://www.academia.edu/1231505/Top_management_support_in_multiple-project_environment_an_in-practice_view
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