اثرات طولی فرآیند صدور گواهینامه ایزو 9000 بر عملکرد کسب و کار

This paper develops and tests several hypotheses relating to ISO 9000 quality system certification process using data collected in a cross-sectional study undertaken in Australia. Multivariate analysis is used to analyze the quantitative data and test the hypotheses. Our findings show that there is a significant and positive relationship between the manager’s motives for adopting ISO 9000 certification and business performance. Those organizations that pursue certification willingly and positively across a broad spread of objectives are more likely to report improved organizational performance. The individual element found to contribute most to business performance was customer focus. The principal motivation to pursue ISO 9000 certification was found to come from customer pressure. Auditing style was found to have an insignificant (positive or negative) effect on business performance. The ability of the new ISO 9001-2000 standard to capture and meet the conformance and performance requirements of the organization as part of a continuous improvement strategy will be a prime determinant of the extent to which managers embrace or reject ISO 9000 certification in the 21st century.

During the last several years, there has been a major push by manufacturing firms in over 100 countries to seek certification to the International Quality Standards ISO 9000. These standards require a high level of documentation plus audited evidence that the intended quality is being delivered to the customer. The ISO 9000 standard points out that the quality system of an organization is influenced by the objectives of the particular organization, the product, service and the practices specific to the organization. The quality system, therefore, varies from one organization to another and must suit that organization’s operation. Despite the clear definitions and objectives of the ISO 9000 discussed above, there is considerable confusion and frustration surrounding the applied role and business value of ISO 9000 certification. The business value of certification has varied from unprecedented successes to an increasing workload and ‘cost of doing business’. An extensive literature review revealed major gaps in research in this area of operations/quality management. Juran (1999, p. 30) summed it up very well in Quality Progress by stating that: …there is a lack of research that can shed light on whether companies that are certified to the ISO 9000 standards actually produce better products than companies that have not been certified…we don’t really know what benefit we are getting from all that costly certification to the ISO 9000 series of standards. We should establish the researches needed to find out This paper, therefore, presents the findings from a cross-sectional study of manufacturing organizations that had been certified to the ISO 9000 standard, and gauge their motives for certification. Furthermore, third party quality auditors were asked to respond to a separate questionnaire which sought the auditor’s perceptions of ISO 9000 practice and its effectiveness on business performance. Several hypotheses are developed from an extensive literature review.

Our findings show that the motive for adopting ISO 9000 certification and the maturity of the quality culture are significant predictors of the benefits derived from ISO 9000 certification. The style of the auditor, on the other hand, does not appear to have a significant and positive effect on the benefits derived from ISO 9000 certification. We conclude that organizations that have been audited to the ISO 9000 standards believe that the quality audit process contributes to business performance when the quality culture in the organization is well developed and the manager’s motivation to gain certification has been to improve business performance and not to conform to an international standard. The individual element found to contribute most to business performance was customer focus. The principal motivation to pursue ISO 9000 certification was found to come from the customers. Auditing style shows no significant and positive effect on business performance. The findings of this study are in agreement with several other studies (Brown, 1995; Hoyle, 1994; Najmi and Kehoe, 2000).