I agree. QA has to inform management, who ought to work with the teams producing (software, widget, service) to address the causal factors of the discovered defects and deficiencies.

By inform, I don't mean "rat out". I mean, management has to have a learning objective. To understand the system that they're managing (because no one understands it fully, their mental model is different than what's actually happening). QA, along with other sources, inform the model of management who can then work with teams to improve the overall system.