ISO 27501: New standard puts humans at the centre of business

From the advent of the Internet to what is now known as the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the latest cutting-edge technologies – among them robotics, artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things – are fundamentally changing how we live, work and relate to each other.

Utilizing these technologies can help businesses manage their supply chains better, save human resources and improve production efficiency. However, this also poses a challenge to the role of people in the industrial revolution 4.0: What is the new role of human while a lot of work is being replaced by machines?

ISO 27501 – The human-centred management system, can help organizations to face these challenges. Accordingly, organizations will not only interested in their customers but also in other stakeholders, including employees, their families and the wider community. ISO 27501 also outlines managers’ responsibilities that range from the organizational strategy to the development of procedures and processes that enable human-centredness, to the implementation of those procedures and processes.

The standard is based on ISO 27500, which explains to executive board members the values and beliefs that make an organization human-centred. The standard’s requirements and recommendations are intended to be applicable to organizations large or small, and in the public or private sector.

ISO 27500 explains seven principles of human centredness, which are: — capitalize on individual differences as an organizational strength; — make usability and accessibility strategic business objectives; — adopt a total system approach; — ensure health, safety and wellbeing are business priorities; — value personnel and create meaningful work; — be open and trustworthy; and — act in socially responsible ways.

Organizations vary in their assignment of management responsibilities. Some larger organizations can assign the responsibilities set out in ISO 27501 to multiple managers, while some smaller organizations can have these assigned to a few managers or even one manager. While not all clauses of ISO 27501 are of equal use to all types of organizations, all the core subjects are relevant to every organization. Therefore, the management method is not the most important issue for executives, but what they have to determine is: What is my organization aiming for?

Peter Frener, Chair of the subcommittee that developed the new standard, says: “While not all parts of this International Standard will be of equal use to all types of organizations, all core subjects are relevant to every organization.” He goes on to say that it is the organization’s responsibility to identify which parts are “relevant and significant for the organization to address, through its own considerations and through dialogue with stakeholders”.

Productivity and Quality Office