Management System Certification Research Articles

How To Improve The Effectiveness of Energy Management System Certification

Using energy efficiently helps organizations save money as well as helping to conserve resources and tackle climate change. ISO 50001 supports organizations in all sectors to use energy more efficiently through the development of an energy management system. After the conducted analysis, energy management system certification effectiveness not draw much attention and the paper tries to fill the gap. Energy management system certification effectiveness should be improved from the enterprise, certification body and supervision department.

Quality Management System Certification in the Russian Software Development Industry

Quality Management System Certification in the Russian Software Development Industry

The Relationship between Advanced Manufacturing Technologies and ISO 9001 Certified Enterprises of Mechanical Engineering and Metalworking in Latvia

In this study, the relationship between advanced manufacturing technologies (AMTs) and ISO 9001 certification was analyzed. The purpose was to examine the most used AMTs in enterprises of mechanical engineering and metalworking (MEM) sector in Latvia. A literature review was conducted first to determine what technologies are currently considered to be advanced in manufacturing. This article gives detailed information of six types of AMTs, which according to the survey are most frequently applied by MEM sector enterprises in Latvia. The information for this analysis is obtained from the database collected by the Latvian Association of Mechanical Engineering and Metalworking Industries (MASOC). Paper also presents the usage of these technologies by enterprise size class (micro, small, medium and large size). The results of the comparative analysis are discussed, taking into account ISO 9001 Quality Management System (QMS) certification and non-certification factor, respectively. The data sample is based on more than 100 enterprises from MEM sector where the use of AMTs was identified. The findings showed that the most often a computer numerical control (CNC) and computer-aided design (CAD) are used by enterprises of MEM in Latvia. The hypothesised relationship was supported by results which showed that in enterprises that do not have ISO 9001 certification CAD technologies are used in 13 % of cases, while enterprises with ISO 9001 in 20 % of cases, respectively. The CNC is used in 62 % of cases by enterprises without ISO 9001 and in 76 % of cases having ISO 9001 certificate. From above, it could be concluded that in enterprises in which a QMS certified according to the ISO 9001 is introduced, these two above mentioned technologies are used more frequently (7-8 % points more).

Maturity in management system integration and its relationship with sustainable performance

The motivation for this study comes from the need of companies to become more sustainable and to find out how the integration of management systems can contribute to this. The present paper aims to investigate whether the maturity of integrated management system is related to a better sustainable performance. It could be expected that an increase in the maturity level of integration in management systems would lead to a higher level of performance in terms of sustainability. Company size was also evaluated because of its potential moderating effect over maturity and sustainable performance. Moreover, it would indicate whether larger companies would find it easier to integrate their management systems and reach sustainability. A survey was conducted in Brazilian companies that presented at least two of the following management system certifications: ISO9001, ISO14001 and OHSAS18001. Data was analyzed with descriptive statistics and the Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whiney nonparametric tests. According to the survey results, companies can obtain better sustainable performance if they invest in more integration of their management systems. The size of companies also affects the results of the lower-maturity group, that is, environmental and social performances are better in larger companies. Consequently, this work shows that management system integration is one way to achieve sustainability and brings a large contribution to both the academic and business management areas. Studies that focus on how sustainability can be reached give a greater support to companies, helping them to evaluate the best way to become sustainable.

Perceived importance of sustainability dimensions in the Portuguese metal industry

ABSTRACTThe growing interest of stakeholders regarding the contribution of organizations to Sustainable Development is influencing organizational behavior and strategic planning. The purpose of the present paper is to analyze the perception of the importance of organizational sustainability dimensions in a relevant economic sector: the metal industry. Survey data was collected from a sample of 211 Portuguese industries, and non-parametric statistical tests were used to validate five research hypotheses regarding the importance of the economic, environmental, social and cultural dimensions of sustainability. The results obtained demonstrate awareness of the sampled industries regarding all sustainability dimensions, recognizing that their importance has been increasing over the years, and prospecting that this importance will continue to increase in the future. The industries in this sample revealed different degrees of perceived importance for the different sustainability dimensions: the highest importance was given to the economic dimension, and culture was considered the least important sustainability dimension. However, the perception of the respondents is that these differences will be less relevant in the future. The results also show that companies with certified management systems reveal a higher perceived importance regarding sustainability dimensions. Also, industries with higher values of annual turnover, number of employees and export sales tend to give higher degrees of importance to sustainability dimensions. Considering the economic, environmental and social impacts of metal industries at an international level, the awareness of this industrial sector regarding the importance of sustainability is a relevant step to the commitment towards Sustainable Development.

Business process orientation in the Slovenian power supply

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to empirically evaluate business process orientation (BPO) of the Slovenian power supply business.Design/methodology/approachWithin the empirical investigation, the level of BPO maturity was measured in the 19 organizations of the power supply business. The survey was focused on the top, middle and lower managers. As a measuring instrument, a questionnaire for the extended concept of process orientation with nine elements was used.FindingsThe results of the BPO measurement show that, despite this long-standing preoccupation with processes, certified management system and the computerization of operations, process maturity is not high. Particularly the lowest score for information technology represents a surprise.Practical implicationsThis research makes significant contributions to the literature and above all to scholars and practitioners who work professionally in this field and will find useful guidance for a better understanding of applying BPO and maturity models.Social implicationsOne important reason for performing the maturity measurement in the power supply business is the importance of its activities for the operation and development and environmental impact of the whole of Slovenian society.Originality/valuePresented research is the first one which considers the BPO maturity in the Slovenian power supply business and therefore contributes to understanding of the “intangible factors” which have impact on the introduction of business process management and BPO.

Using Certification as a Tool to Develop Sustainability in Project Management

Sustainability is a field of growing interest in Project Management (PM). Literature on Sustainability in PM is abundant at a theoretical level; however, it is necessary to explore hands-on approaches for designing models and practices. The purpose of this study is to introduce management systems as a practical tool for Sustainability in PM. Management system certifications are used as an indicator of the implementation of Sustainability practices, and thus, the impact of Sustainability on the success of projects is analyzed. The methodology for this study includes the analysis of the correspondence between Sustainability and five recognized management system standards (ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 50001, UNE 166002 and OHSAS 18001) and experimental research based on data delivered by CDTI (Center for Industrial Technological Development) including relevant and objective information about R&D&I Projects in the energy sector. This study analyzes the impact of four variables (duration, budget, year of funding and certifications to management systems) on the success of the project. The conclusion is the significant positive impact of having management system certifications on the success of company projects analyzed in the Spanish energy sector, which may be of interest to PM practitioners in order to consider Sustainability as a factor for success.

A Study on Design Security Management Evaluation Model for Small-Medium size Healthcare Institutions

In this paper, the security characteristics of healthcare institutions were derived through analysis of previous research, and the characteristics and status of small and medium sized healthcare institutions were surveyed through field surveys of small and medium sized healthcare institutions. The security management evaluation model for small and medium sized healthcare institutions was designed and verified based on the security characteristics of small and medium healthcare institutions. For the design, we compared and analyzed existing security management system and evaluation certification system of healthcare institutions. We also confirmed the proposed security management evaluation model and the degree of sharing. In addition, we conducted validation for the statistical verification of the proposed security management evaluation model for small and medium sized healthcare institutions, and we performed the relative priority analysis through AHP analysis to derive the weight for each item. The result of this study is expected to be used as a standard of security management evaluation model that can be practiced in small and medium sized healthcare institutions.

Social responsibility as a management system

Purpose: The aims of this research was to demonstrate what IQNet SR10 certification of a Social Responsibility management system means to companies. From the wide range of existing certifications, we identified the added value of having the IQNet SR10 standard by showing a specific company’s situation before and after certification. Design/methodology/approach: We used an exploratory study of items of Social Responsibility management system certification (IQNet SR10) to develop a qualitative questionnaire. The questionnaire was then administered to the company under study to determine the added value to companies of holding this certification. Findings and originality/value: The study describes how social responsibility (SR) management system certification benefits a company, what way of doing things it identifies in a company, and what effort is required to maintain the certification. It also highlights a way of managing companies that is focused on their survival, as management systems must provide economic, social and environmental added value for companies to have a future in an internationalised world that requires credentials to prove it. Research limitations/implications: The main limitation of this study is that it is based on the results of just one company, because few companies currently have this certification. To continue with this area of research in the future, we hope to obtain information about IQNet SR10 certification from other companies. Practical implications: The study demonstrates the need for certifications in the field of Social Responsibility in today's business world, to be in line with the normal dynamics of economy activity in different sectors, and for companies of assorted sizes to enjoy an added value that makes them more competitive. Social implications: The study identifies a new business management system, in line with the necessary Social Responsibility of companies today. This system must be integrated into business models to facilitate current business dynamics at international level, with appropriate certifications that show companies’ good economic, social and environmental behaviour. Originality/value: The study identifies a business management system that continuously organises and improves the performances of a company in the area of Corporate Social Responsibility, through audited certification that enhances the competitivity of companies that hold the international standard. The study also demonstrates the need for a management system to integrate into business models.

The Integrated Management System (IMS) and Ergonomics: An Exploratory Research of Qualitative Perception in the Application of NR-17

The integrated management system (ims) has been guiding business management utilizing the requirements of ISO 9001, ISO 14001, OHSAS 18001, and SA 8000 in an integrated way instead local decision. Ergonomic sciences are presented as a tool to improve the occupational health and safety of workers. In Brazil regulatory standards apply, in the case of ergonomics to NR-17. This study aims to present the qualitative and exploratory survey research as to the workers knowledge. Regarding normative system and their agreement or disagreement with the ergonomic requirements described in the NR-17. The research was carried out with a group of professionally active technical students. The results shown that 54% of respondents are not aware of IMS norms or their companies do not have a certified management system, and 60% say their seats still have some type of ergonomy problems.

The certification of the quality management systems in the municipalities: Case study in the intermunicipal communities region of Coimbra and Viseu Dão Lafões

The certification of the quality management systems in the municipalities: Case study in the intermunicipal communities region of Coimbra and Viseu Dão Lafões

ГЛОБАЛЬНАЯ ИНИЦИАТИВА ПО БЕЗОПАСНОСТИ ПИЩЕВЫХ ПРОДУКТОВ

Under modern conditions, requirements to food safety are constantly becoming more demanding. Consumers and state control authorities place more and more strict demands for food products to comply with high standards of quality and safety. Companies that warrant safety of the released products possess enhanced volume of customers’ trust. GFSI unites all leading figures of the world market: retail chains, manufacturers, transport operators and other participants of the chain of supplies to the end customer, as well as food safety specialists and scientists. 20 largest producers (Nestle, Danon, etc.) just like 20 largest commercial networks (Carrefour, Tesco, ICA, Metro Cash&Carry, Migros, Ahold, Wal-Mart, Delhaize) are forming the “core” of the Global initiative on food safety. Compliance of requirements to food safety is achieved by implementation and certification of activities of enterprises and suppliers on various standards which warrant safety of products. One of the acknowledged GFSI certification scenes for food industries is the FSSC 22000 system. The FSSC 22000 scheme was developed in order to assist organizations in establishment and constant improvement of management systems and successful production experiences. FSSC 22000 is the leading international scheme for certification of food safety management systems. In July of 2017, a new version of the FSSC 22000 standard was approved – the version 4.1. Enterprises which have certificates of the previous versions (3.2 or 4.0) of the FSSC 22000 scheme must switch to new requirements within the next compliance audit after its date has been announced. Main features of this system are reviewed in the article.

Analysis of ISO 14001 implementation and program performance assessment ratings company (PROPER) environmental management in. Power Plants with gap analysis tools

In various studies revealed that the ISO 14001 Environmental Management System into an integrated environmental management system that is considered capable of improving environmental performance and financial performance. This study aims to analyze the application of ISO 14001 Environmental Management System certification on environmental performance and company performance. The sample in this study was one of the power plants in Indonesia that was ISO 14001 certified in 2015. This study used annual data from the period 2013 to 2014. The main method used was the Gap Analysis Tool. , The results using a checklist show that, in general, the clause requirements have an average value of 50% - 74% the organization still has to fix the SML for preparation of ISO 14001-2015 the inspection process and the clause have an average value, 32% clause, the planning clause has an average value of 77%, the management review has an average value 57% and the overall average value in accordance with ISO 14001-2015 requirements is 55%. based on the characteristics of the sample company, the company needs to improve its inspection and management review so that it can improve the operational management of the environment better.

Developing model for integrating sustainability into enterprise operations

The study aims to develop a model which helps integrate sustainability into business processes of a firm. The earlier study from Thailand's Management System Certification Institute or MASCI with its international partners shows that there are nine elements (anticipation, concern, leadership, communication, capability, planning, execution, performance, and report) when integrating sustainability into enterprise-wide operations. Model development is based on extending this study. It is viewed that sustainability is one of the key strategies to advance beyond the Original Equipment Manufacturer status for the manufacturing sector in the country. MASCI engages with 504 organisations which have been extensively trained or certified with the international standards on quality and environment as well as applications such as Global Reporting Initiative and Dow Jones Sustainability Index. The model shows the interrelationships among the nine elements deemed as critical for integrating sustainability into enterprise operations. It highlights the importance of the leadership, planning, and performance as the main elements for integrating sustainability into enterprise operations. The comparison with the sugar industry's development supports the model and its highlight on these three components.

Leadership, goal acceptance, and QMS conformance readiness: exploring the mediating effects of audit team cohesion

The significance of quality management system certification continues to increase as signalled by growth in the number of companies that have implemented quality systems conforming to the ISO 9001 standard. Even though the ISO 9001 standard requires organisational leaders to work with internal and external auditors to assess quality management system readiness and conformance, there are claims that the largest obstacle to certification is lack of leader involvement. The purpose of this study is to explore involvement, in terms of leader capability to foster acceptance of team goals, and its relationship to team performance and operational outcomes and whether these relationships are mediated by audit team cohesion. This research examines leadership and group dynamics in relation to system conformance to ISO 9001 through views from external auditors. Data from 106 external auditors were analysed using PLS path modelling. Results showed that audit team cohesion mediates relationships between fostering acceptance of team goals and satisfaction with team performance and quality management system conformance readiness.

The impact of regulatory complexity upon self-regulation: Evidence from the adoption and certification of environmental management systems

This article focuses on environmental management systems (EMS) and aims to enhance our understanding of the relationship between environmental state regulation and self-regulation. Unlike previous studies that treat state regulation as uni-dimensional and focus on externally certified forms of environmental self-regulation, this article takes a more nuanced approach. It looks at how direct and indirect state regulation and its stringency influence both non-certified in-house and externally certified adoption of EMS. Methodologically, the study differentiates from previous research by acknowledging the interconnected nature of in-house and external certification decisions, viewing these decisions as sequential. Based on a survey of 2076 UK firms, findings show that effective environmental protection entails collaboration between environmental state regulation and in-house adoption of EMS. Results also reveal that externally certified EMS substitute for state environmental regulation, filling the void that results from weakening state regulation in the context of neoliberalism.

Management system certification benefits: where do we stand?

Purpose: The implementation and certification of Management Systems International Standards, such as ISO 9001 and ISO 14001, achieved a high international recognition, with more than 1 million organizations with their Quality Management Systems certified worldwide. Researchers have been paying considerable attention to this theme and the number of published articles has robustly growth. Although, on an overall basis, the research results support the existence of positive impacts on the use and certification of these International Standards, there are various inconsistency and contradictory results, leading to some controversy over its impacts for organizations. This study aims to bring a longitudinal time perspective to this area of research, analyzing the articles published since 1996, on the benefits of Management Systems Certification. A longitudinal perspective of countries of authors origin, keywords and journals is presented, complemented with an evaluation of the research results.Design/methodology/approach: The research was supported with a Bibliometric Study, with data collected from Web of Science, SCOPUS, and Research Gate data bases. Following the detailed analysis of the journal titles, articles abstracts and their full content, an evaluation scale was applied to access if the results support the existence of a positive relationship between MSC and economic, financial or stakeholder results.Findings: The results evidence a steep increase in the number of publications addressing Management Systems Certification benefits, that mainly originate from Europe (48%) and East Asia and Pacific (23%), with Spain as the clear leading country accounting (43% of the total number of articles published between 1996 and April 2017). Journal of Cleaner Production (EMSC) and Total Quality Management and Business Excellence journal (QMSC) are the leading journals for disseminating the research and the most used keywords are “Quality/Environment”, “ISO 9001/14001”, “Performance”, “Management Systems” and “Certification”. There are also insights that the research is now open to other Management Systems either than Quality and Environment. The systematic review of the selected papers shows that the Management Systems adoption and certification brings fairly positives benefits (average 2,34 in a 1 to 5 Likert type scale) for the certified organizations, although some variations are observed. Some avenues for future research should consider the reliability and validation of measures; sampling and biases errors; the use of control, moderating and mediating variables; the consideration of time and situational contingencies; and the search for explanations for cause and effect relationships.The results of this research support the view that the investigation of Management Systems Certification benefits is indeed an issue of high academic and practitioners interest. This research, although subject to some subjective evaluation of the authors, and acknowledging that the research articles are not always comparable, aims to give some insights for this continuous research field. Research limitations/implications: Although the authors took measures to reduce subjectivity, it should be noted that the evaluation could be subject to the authors own interpretation and the research articles are not always comparable.Originality/value: This research makes a longitudinal and comprehensive evaluation of the articles published since 1996 on the benefits of Management System Certification. It highlights trends and gives contribution for future research, on a field of intense academic and practitioners interest.

Analysis of certified occupational health and safety management systems in Portugal

The systematic assurance of the occupational health, safety and wellbeing of the employees may be accomplished through the implementation (and certification) of standardized occupational health and safety management systems in accordance with the requirements listed in the BS OHSAS 18001 standard. In Portugal the certification of occupational health and safety management systems is usually carried out against the requirements of the BS OHSAS 18001 and the NP 4397 standard which is a national adaptation of the former. The purpose of this paper is to "snapshot" the diffusion of the certified occupational health and safety management systems in Portugal dissecting the following features: regional geographic location, integration phenomenon, evolution throughout the years, more involved activity sectors, more often found integrated management systems typologies and the most relevant and active certification bodies. To address this research goal a thorough, in-depth and comprehensive analysis of the data available in a Portuguese periodical publication (Barómetro da Certificação) was carried out. Results show that a great deal of the certified occupational health and safety management systems (96.3%) is integrated (in the sense that encompasses a multiple certification scheme). However the occupational health and safety management system is not typically the primordial subsystem of an integrated management system. In our view these results provide insights to the companies' top management. On one hand, it seems that a patterned and "logical" path is pursued by the companies that seek organizational excellence- management systems integration. On the other hand, it seems that previously implemented subsystems, such as the quality management system, facilitate a "smoother" integration process encompassing the occupational health and safety management system.

Introduction

Introduction

Exploring Nature, Antecedents and Consequences of Symbolic Corporate Environmental Certification

Voluntary environmental certifications can be considered as firms’ strategic responses to institutional market and non-market pressures to reduce the impact of business activities on natural environment, and also as a means to legitimate the firm in the eyes of the society and the stakeholders in general, by fitting environmental behavior to competitive dynamics and strategic choices. Among these certifications, the ISO 14001 is considered as the most widespread environmental management system (EMS) certification. Nevertheless, ISO 14001 cannot disguise the fact that these certifications could be used as a symbolic environmental commitment. In our research, we examine the potential existence of symbolic corporate environmental certification phenomenon, as well as its key antecedents and consequences. We found four unexplored antecedents of symbolic corporate environmental certification: negatively linked industry technological dynamism and lead cost competitive strategy, and positively linked certification maturity and product differentiation competitive strategy. Finally, we explore the link between symbolic corporate environmental certification and firm performance.