ISO 9001:2015: the evolution and convergence of quality management and knowledge management for competitive advantage

The ISO 9001:2015 standard released in September 2015 contains, for the first time, a specification for 'organizational knowledge' as a resource and during the following three years more than 1.1 million organisations seeking recertification will need to take this into account. There are few clear guidelines about the practical implications of addressing this knowledge requirement, and therefore this paper attempts to identify some theoretical and practical frameworks. Firstly, it considers the complementary nature of quality management and knowledge management. Secondly, it conducts the first content analysis of how knowledge has emerged in the evolving ISO 9001 standards and how three of the main elements in the data, information, knowledge and wisdom pyramid are represented. Thirdly, it identifies that the knowledge cycle provides a coherent structure for assisting organisations to understand the new standard and applying knowledge requirements in practice. Next, it examines the issues faced with explicit and tacit knowledge. Finally, it summarises a number of conclusions.