Quality systems
Quality policy
Organisational excellence driving continuous improvement achieved through customer delight and employee satisfaction.
GSL quality management
GSL has a genuine commitment to quality that lies at the heart of our business, and our success. Like any service business, our performance is often judged subjectively. We are measured not just on what we do, but how we do it.
Objective
Our overall quality objective is to ensure:
GSL delivers a consistently high level of service throughout all our businesses.
Management system development
Our approach is to develop a customised management system for each business, thereby ensuring the involvement of all employees, assisting team development, improving training and enabling continuous improvement in all aspects of the service delivery.
Management system processes and initial operating procedures are defined in advance of contract commencement to ensure a smooth transition. GSL then develops detailed service procedures after contract commencement, with the direct involvement and assistance of employees and customers.
Our management systems are developed within a framework of:
- The principles of Business Excellence.
- BS EN ISO9001:2000. http://emea.bsi-global.com/Quality/index.xalter
- Investors in People. http://www.investorsinpeople.co.uk/IIP/Web/default.htm
- PRINCE2 project management methodology. http://www.ogc.gov.uk/prince2/
Corporate model for bidding and mobilisation
To assist development of the system during the bidding and mobilisation stages of the contract, we have produced a corporate model for development of all GSL management systems, including common approaches and best practice, and GSL corporate policies.
This corporate model has been designed to complement relevant customer policies and procedures, as well as applicable BS and ISO standards, and guides those elements that need agreement with our customers and the management team during the operational stage.
ISO9000 registration
Involvement of our employees in establishing and improving procedures leads to ownership and more dynamic systems. It also focuses all employees on the service requirements of the Contract, which is the principal document around which the management system is based.
This process is enhanced by our philosophy of involving as many employees as possible in the internal auditing and formal review process. The result becomes an ISO9000 registration that is owned by all those operating the systems, gaining maximum benefit from the ability of those performing the job to see and implement improvements in efficiency and effectiveness.
Investors in Excellence
GSL is committed to and working towards becoming recognized as an Investor in Excellence.
The initiative provides a framework for pursuing continuous improvement and can also provide an umbrella for initiatives such as Investors in People, ISO and Charter Mark.
In order to achieve excellence, our documented management systems incorporate the EFQM Business Excellence Model as our corporate process for continuous improvement.
EFQM Excellence Model
The EFQM Excellence Model is a non-prescriptive framework that can be used to assess an organisation's progress towards excellence. The model encompasses all aspects of good management, while at the same time encouraging a cycle of review and improvement through performance monitoring and feedback.
Continuous improvement of business processes is the driver for establishing meaningful and effective systems of measurement. Continuous review allows us to identify improvements and efficiencies throughout the contract period and also to respond to our customers’ changing requirements, facilitating a partnership approach to service development and performance improvement.
The Model is based on the premise that excellent results with respect to performance, customers, people and society are achieved through leadership driving policy and strategy, which is delivered through people, partnerships and resources and processes.
Within this framework, we place behaviours, activities and initiatives, which gives us a ‘total quality management’ approach.
Investors in People
As a people-orientated business, GSL understands the importance of having a trained, motivated and skilled workforce if customers’ needs and the GSL business objectives are to be satisfied.
For this reason, GSL is committed to the Investors in People standard to support all other quality initiatives, linking job descriptions and appraisals to the achievement of customer satisfaction, and putting a strong emphasis on training and communication.
We have been recognised as an Investor in People since 1999. This award is a means of measuring both approach and perception, and identifying areas for improvement of our culture.
PRINCE2
In the creation of new businesses, GSL adopts a project management approach in line with PRINCE2.
PRINCE2 is a scaleable, flexible project management method suitable for use on any type of project that has been derived from professional Project Managers’ experiences and refined over years of use. It is owned by the Office of Government Commerce (OGC), which is committed to maintaining the method’s currency.
In line with GSL’s other adopted systems, it is a process-based approach that defines the management activities to be carried out during the project.
Ways of working
Our experience in the quality field also allows us to work with our customers in a number of ways:
- Provision of inspectors and assessors to undertake internal audits and inspections.
- Advice and consultancy on drafting quality policies and procedures.
- Support in working towards recognised quality standards; (e.g. ISO 9001; Investors in People; Charter Mark).
Performance management
GSL understands and values the use of performance monitoring and measurement systems as a tool that enables us to continually review and improve our service to our customer.
Continuous improvement of business processes is the driver for establishing meaningful and effective systems of measurement. Continuous review allows us to identify improvements and efficiencies throughout the contract period and also to respond to our customers’ changing requirements, facilitating a partnership approach to service development and performance improvement.
Performance payment mechanisms
Through our varied PFI / PPP contracts, we are very experienced in working within a system that links our performance to our pay.
We produce a model for calculating the financial impact of service performance failures according to the customer requirements through GSL’s performance and payment mechanism development process that. This model can then be developed into an acceptable contractual payment mechanism linked to the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) of the operational business.
By linking the payment mechanism to the performance of the contracted business we then perform continuous self-monitoring of the contract, which is regularly reported to the customer. By GSL performing the monitoring, the customer is then free to channel all of its resource into conducting its own business operations. By encouraging the sharing of information both GSL and the customer can then jointly use this information to identify service improvements and mutual benefits.
Customer surveys
The purpose of customer satisfaction surveys is to monitor individuals’ experience of a service, and we know from experience that individual aspirations and requirements can be very diverse and will undoubtedly alter over time.
We believe that Customer Surveys should be jointly used to implement management actions geared to improve satisfaction levels and this constitutes a practical demonstration of the development of partnership.