Costs of Quality: Measurement Obligatoriness in Certified Systems Based on ISO Rules

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to verify the agreement between certifiers companies about the obligatoriness of measurement the costs of quality by certified companies in the scope of ISO rules. There is a vast literature emphasizing the organizations benefits by the measurement the quality costs, considered as a prerequisite for an efficient system of planning and control of products and services quality. The study, carried through in the first semester of 2007, is classified as a exploratory research under qualitative analysis of the problem. Beyond this, the research is characterized as a survey, using a questionnaire for the data collection. The population is formed by ISO companies certifiers registered in INMETRO cadastre. The main results demonstrated a consensus about the not obligatoriness of measurement of quality costs for certification the quality system under ISO norms. The obligatoriness of this procedure, according to part of certifiers companies researched, only occurs when this requirement is part of the project and objectives established by own certified company.