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Purpose The number of standards for management systems (MSs) has increased recently. Among the most recognizable ones are ISO9001, ISO14001 and OHSAS18001. The need for integration has risen due to the development and adoption of more than one MS in the same business, in a process known as integrated management systems (IMS). Some authors have argued that the use of IMS contributes toward sustainability. The purpose of this paper is to present an instrument to assess the integration of different MSs and its effect on sustainable performance. Design/methodology/approach A review of IMS, maturity of IMS and sustainability was conducted to build the instrument used in this research. Domingues et al. (2016), Poltronieri et al. (2017), Bernardo et al. (2009) and ISO9001:2015 were used as references pertaining to IMS, whereas Global Reporting Initiative and the research of Delai and Takahashi (2011) were employed for performance issues. All were evaluated both qualitatively and quantitatively. Findings In the pre-test the order of some questions was changed, some other questions were reformulated and a new classification was created. The evaluation of specialists contributed to reduce the number of questions and make the questionnaire more clear. Cronbach’s α was used to prove the reliability of the questionnaire. Originality/value The importance of this study lies in the development of an instrument that helps assess the maturity of the integration of MSs and evaluate sustainable performance.

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For more than 30 years, Total Quality Management (TQM) has been recognized as strategic for organizations worldwide. However, a significant number of Quality Management (QM) initiatives have still not been successful. Some authors argue that this number can achieve more than 60% of the implemented cases. This paper aims at describing how Brazilian Companies use Quality Management Practices. By conducting a survey with 125 respondents, the current status of Quality Management Practices utilization in Brazil was investigated. The analysis of QM practices reveals that companies prefer the usage and give more importance to soft practices such as teamwork and customer focus. On the other hand, companies give less importance to and do not use hard practices such as Analysis of Variance and Six Sigma. According to the respondents, Brazilian companies are at a middle stage of QM maturity level: more than 30% attest that their companies are at "inspection" age and less than 20% state that their companies have achieved strategic quality management. This unsatisfactory level of QM maturity can mean that Brazilian companies manage quality with more focus on inspection and control than quality assurance and strategic management. Therefore "improvement" in this context can mean bringing the operation back to the standard than indeed improving the standard. Finally, future research derived from these findings could investigate how QM practices would be effectively used and help companies to achieve higher QM maturity levels and strategic quality management.