ARE METHODS USED TO INTEGRATE STANDARDIZED MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS A CONDITIONING FACTOR OF THE LEVEL OF INTEGRATION? AN EMPIRICAL STUDY

Merce Bernardo, Marti Casadesus, Stanislav Karapetrovic

Abstract: Organizations are increasingly implementing multiple Management System Standards (M SSs) and considering managing the related Management Systems (MSs) as a single system.The aim of this paper is to analyze if methods us ed to integrate standardized MSs condition the level of integration of those MSs. A descriptive methodology has been applied to 343 Spanish organizati ons registered to, at least, ISO 9001 and ISO 14001. Seven groups of these organizations using different combinations of methods have been analyzed Results show that these organizations have a high level of inte gration of their MSs. The most common method used, was the pro cess map. Organizations using a combination of different methods achiev e higher levels of integration than those using a single method. However, no evidence has been found to confirm the relationship between the method used and the integration level achieved.

Keywords: Quality, Environment, Inte gration, ISO 9001, ISO 14001

DOI:

Recieved: 20.01.2011  Accepted: 06.07.2011  UDC: 005.591.45

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