ABSTRACT
The requirement makes competence a condition for those personnel whose work affects the performance and effectiveness of the quality management system (QMS). Competence therefore applies to any work that either directly or indirectly affects the organizations ability to consistently provide products and services that meet customer and applicable statutory and regulatory requirements and enhance customer satisfaction. Determining the competence necessary means determining the results or outcomes required of a job, position, task or role, the performance criteria or standards to be achieved, the evidence required and the method of obtaining it. Competence is the ability to meet standards that apply in the particular job not in a classroom or examination but an ability to perform in the real working environment with all the associated variations, pressures, relationships and conflicts. Competence is particularly important in the professions because the outputs result from an intellectual process rather than an industrial process.
