The role of the stakeholder in the quality improvement of an organization

Purpose: Contemporary management seeks ways to foster competitiveness and to enhance organizational development. This can often be achieved by carrying out activities that identify and monitor stakeholder expectations and requirements. This article aims to show the importance of stakeholders in the improvement of quality in an organization. Design/methodology/approach: The multi-faced and multi-dimensional nature of the issue (the role of a stakeholder in the quality improvement) and the identification of the covered research areas was accomplished by means of a two surveys conducted in years 2011-2014 in the Central Pomeranian region. The first survey was done in January-April 2011 and the second in November 2013-April 2014. Therein, 600 organizations were interviewed in the first and 1107 in the second survey. Findings: The study shows that stakeholders consciously influence quality in an organization, which directly affects the need to improve quality (e.g. by the implementation of management systems), enhancing trust, the satisfaction of the entities and the competitiveness of the organizations. The use of management systems by organizations (e.g. ISO 9001), allows companies to adapt to the identified market needs. Originality/value: The results confirmed a correlation between the stakeholder and quality, as the relationship between the quality and the internal/external stakeholder determine improvement of an organization (perceived as a process). This results in, inter alia, the need to continuously monitor and improve the processes, as well as to assess the level of parameterization through the implementation of the management system (e.g. ISO 9001). The stakeholders are important determinant of quality.