Please wait while we load your article...

Home > Standardization

Learn more about "Standardization"

Standardization

Standardization (or '''standardisation''') is the process of developing and agreeing upon Standard (technical)|technical standards. A standard is a document that establishes uniform engineering or technical specifications, criteria, methods, processes, or practices. Some standards are mandatory while others are voluntary. Some standards are ''de facto,'' meaning a norm or requirement which has an informal but dominant status. Some standards are ''de jure,'' meaning formal legal requirements. Formal standards bodies such as the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) or the American National Standards Institute are independent of the manufacturers of the goods for which they publish standards. The goals of standardization can be to help with independence of single suppliers (commodification), compatibility, interoperability, safety, repeatability, or quality. In social sciences, including economics, the idea of ''standardization'' is close to the solution for a coordination problem, a situation in which all parties can realize mutual gains, but only by making mutually consistent decisions. ''Standardization'' is defined as best technical application consentual wisdom inclusive of processes for selection in making appropriate choices for ratification|ratification coupled with consistent decisions for maintaining obtained ''standards''. This view includes the case of "spontaneous standardization processes", to produce de facto standards.

Usage

Standardization is the process of establishing a technical standard, which could be a standard Specification (technical standard)| specification, standard test method, standard definition, standard procedure (or practice), etc. It can also be viewed as a mechanism for optimising economic use of scarce resources such as forests, which are threatened by paper manufacture. As an example, all of Europe now uses 230 Volt|V 50 Hertz|Hz Alternating current|AC Mains electricity|mains grids and GSM mobile phones, and Weights and measures|measures lengths in metres. The United Kingdom has officially accepted metres for business purposes but Foot (length)|feet and inches are still widely used by the general public. The existence of a published standard does not necessarily imply that it is useful or correct. Just because an item is stamped with a standard number does not, by itself, indicate that the item is fit for any particular use. The people who use the item or service (engineers, trade unions, etc) or specify it (building codes, government, industry, etc) have the responsibility to consider the available standards, specify the correct one, enforce compliance, and use the item correctly. Validation of suitability is necessary. In the context of social criticism and social sciences, standardization often means the process of establishing standards of various kinds and improving efficiency to handle people, their interactions, cases, and so forth. Examples include formalization of judicial procedure in court, and establishing uniform criteria for diagnosing mental disease. Standardization in this sense is often discussed along with (or synonymously to) such large-scale social changes as modernization, bureaucratization, homogenization, and centralization of society. In the context of business information exchanges, standardization refers to the process of developing data exchange standards for specific business processes using specific syntaxes. These standards are usually developed in voluntary consensus standards bodies such as the United Nations Center for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT), the World Wide Web Consortium W3C, and the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS (organization)|OASIS). Standards can be:
- de facto standards which means they are followed by informal convention or dominant usage.
- de jure standards which are part of legally binding contracts, laws or regulations.
- Voluntary standards which are published and available for people to consider for use In general, each country or economy has a single recognized National Standards Body (NSB). Examples include ABNT, American National Standards Institute|ANSI, BSI, DGN, DIN, Instituto Argentino de Normalización y Certificación|IRAM, JISC, Korean Agency for Technology and Standards|KATS, SABS, SAC, Standards Council of Canada|SCC, SIS, SNZ. An NSB is likely the sole member from that economy in International Organization for Standardization|ISO. NSBs may be either public or private sector organizations, or combinations of the two. For example, the three NSBs of Canada, Mexico and the United States are respectively the Standards Council of Canada (Standards Council of Canada|SCC), the General Bureau of Standards (Dirección General de Normas, DGN), and the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). SCC is a Canadian Crown Corporation, DGN is a governmental agency within the Mexican Ministry of Economy, and ANSI is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization with members from both the private and public sectors. The determinates of whether an NSB for a particular economy is a public or private sector body may include the historical and traditional roles that the private sector fills in public affairs in that economy or the development stage of that economy. Many specifications that govern the operation and interaction of devices and software on the Internet are in use. To preserve the word "standard" as the domain of relatively disinterested bodies such as ISO, the W3C, for example, publishes "Recommendations", and the IETF publishes "Request for Comments|Requests for Comments" (RFCs). These publications are sometimes referred to as being standards. Drafts and working documents should not be considered as formal published standards. In a military context, '''standardization''' can be defined as:The development and implementation of concepts, doctrines, procedures and designs to achieve and maintain the required levels of compatibility, interchangeability or commonality in the operational, procedural, material, technical and administrative fields to attain interoperability. Note: there are at least four levels of standardization: compatibility, interchangeability, commonality and reference. These standardization processes create compatibility, similarity, measurement and symbol standards.

Other uses

- In statistics, standardization refers to conversion to standard scores.
- In test theory, standardization refers to measurements or assessments conducted under exact, specified, and repeatable conditions.
- In supply chain management, standardization refers to approaches for increasing commonality of either part, process, product or procurement. Such change will enable delayed making of manufacturing or procurement decisions, thus reducing variability found in having many non-standard components.
- From a New institutional economics point of view, ''standardization process'' starts with a social problem known as "coordination dilemma". ''Standards'', as "voluntary norms", serve to facilitate the resolution of Coordination game|coordination dilemmas and realize mutual gains; then ''standard'' refer also to a kind of social dilemma solution.

Types

Types of standardization process:
- Emergence as de facto standard: tradition, market domination, etc.
- Written by a Standards organization:
    - in an impositive process: written by edict by a regulator, etc.
    - in a closed consensus process: Restricted membership (for example, a trade association) and having formal procedures for due-process among voting members
    - in a full consensus process: usually open to all interested and qualified parties and with formal procedures for due-process considerations.

References

- W3C/IST Standardization guidelines
- FAQ for standards use
- ISO view 1, ISO view 2, ISO view 3 Category:Standards

Related Images

Sources: StartLearningNow, Wikipedia | Usage license: GNU FDL

Welcome to Start Learning Now. Explore to your heart's content, and we hope you enjoy reading the material we have assembled for you here!

Related News

Further Resources


	home lucky pick

Related Resources