An assessment of the total quality management and ISO9001:2008 in practice at the Meteorological Office at Malta International Airport plc.

Abstract

National Meteorological Services are required by the World Meteorological Organisation and the International Civil Aviation Organisation to implement a quality management system and that such system should be in conformity with the International Organisation for Standardisation (IS0). The purpose of this case study is to investigate how the Maltese National Meteorological Office within the Malta International Airport plc. practices its quality management system and is compliant and certified by ISO 9000 series. Quality management today include a wide spectrum of areas within an organisation and are aimed at providing confidence to different internal and external stakeholders and effectively and efficiently meet these stakeholder’s expectations. The qualitative research was conducted through a triangulation method which included observation of meteorological practices, a review of the documentation pertaining to the quality management system and ISO, and a semi-structured interview with the Meteorological Office’s manager. Continuous improvement is the key objective in a Total Quality Management system and should form part of the vision and culture of any organisation adopting this management system. Quality should be a concern for all members of the organisation and not only management. This implies that leadership is a very important aspect of TQM, as management has to design the quality system and encourage employees to embrace new quality values. The customer and his needs are also a focal point of a TQM and any organisation which values quality has to strive to meet these needs. Being ISO certified implies that the organisation has a Total Quality Management system in place and that it is functioning properly. ISO addresses various aspects of iv quality management and provide guidance and tools for companies and organizations who want to ensure that their products and services consistently meet customer’s requirements, and that quality is consistently improved. ISO can be implemented by any organisation big or small regardless of the industry they work in. In fact ISO 9001:2008 is used by over a million organisation in over one hundred seventy countries.