Internal Quality Audits as an Improvement Tool

Sammanfattning: A large proportion of businesses around the world is today ISO 9001 certified and is consequently conducting internal audits on a regular basis. It has however not been possible to conclude that internal audits always add value to the organisation, despite the large utilisation of this tool. Some authors, e.g. Alic & Rusjan (2010) and Wealleans (2000), mean that there are possibilities that internal audits may be used as a value-adding improvement tool. This has led to the emergence of this master’s thesis. The purpose of the case study was therefore formulated to examine how internal quality audits can be made more effective and used as an improvement tool. Research questions were formed to fulfil the stated purpose. The aim of these research questions was to answer how and why internal quality audits are conducted, what factors that are important for effective audits and how internal quality audits be used as an improvement tool. Saab AB is a military defence and security company with a long history of conducting internal quality audits. Key personnel of the audit organisation at Saab have however recognised a need for developing the audit activities, with the goal of adding more value to the company. The recognition had a similar purpose to this thesis, making Saab the ideal case company for this study. From academic theories nine important factors emerged to be able to fully understand and improve the internal audits. The empirical data was collected at the case company through interviews, a focus group, participant observations and document analyses. The result from the empirical findings were, together with the identified factors, analysed and discussed. Conclusions could thereafter be drawn. The case study shows that an internal audit is performed according to a process with five steps, similar to the theory presented by Wealleans (2000). The main purpose of audits is currently to check requirement compliance. The earlier mentioned nine factors were confirmed to be important for effective audits. These factors have to be considered in order for internal quality audits to be used as an improvement tool. One of the conclusions was that all factors are indirectly or directly linked to each other in a complex matrix. It is therefore essential that all factors are treated when examining a company’s internal audit activities. The results indicate that the audit activities need to be broaden and that the work methods and tools, used in the audit process, require further development. A recommendation to the case company is to work closer to their Lean organisation and start using quality tools such as 5 Whys. There is a need of further academic attention in the field of complementary quality tools and methods used in internal quality audits. This case study could work as a foundation for deeper and more targeted research in this area.