Life Cycle of Quality Management System in Organizations

Abstract

Considering that some organizations implemented the ISO 9001 standard more than 25 years ago, while othersdid it a while ago, some quality management systems (QMS) are older than others. This fact led authors to question whether there are differences between long and recently implemented quality management systems. Is there a pattern that QMS follows in its aging that could be considered as a life cycle of QMS? From October 2013 to June 2014, authors have conducted a survey in 186 certified companies using structured questionnaire in order to learn whether there was a significant difference between long and recently implemented QMSs.Collected data were processed using the ANOVA test with a confidence interval of 95%, i.e., α=0.05.Results show that there is a difference between quality management systems in the mature stage and those recently implemented. However, research pointed out two facts. First,34.41% of all surveyed companies apply QMS partially and have virtual QMS that has no purpose of improving business performances but only the purpose ofmaintaining the company’s certificate. Second, in companies that apply QMS fully, the frequency of all processes (which are elements of QMS) decreases in the first seven years of implementation, while after that period it begins to increase. Also, the paper describes indicators for determining companies which partially apply QMS.

What would QMS implementation really bring to a company?‐ Theoretical review on benefits and disadvantages researched in practice

“…In both groups of companies (those with fully implemented QMS and those with partially implemented QMS), different benefits and disadvantages are expected to appear in earlier years of QMS implementation than those that would appear in later years of QMS application. This contributes to the findings of Živaljević et al. (2017) that QMS changes through time.…”

“…There are researches on the changes in QMS characteristics through time which show that QMS has different features in earlier than in later years of its implementation (see: Morsal et al. , 2009; Novokmet and Rogošić, 2017; Sfreddo et al ., 2018; Zaloha et al ., 2018; Živaljević et al ., 2017; Ginevič ius et al ., 2015). Therefore, it is expected that benefits and disadvantages of young and mature QMS would differ as well.…”

“…Another fact is spoken in professional and scientific circles, yet very "quietly" and more on the conferences than in scientific journals: There is a certain percentage of certified companies which claim to have QMS implemented, while they are only maintaining certificate (Wright, 2000;Kim et al, 2006;Zivaljevi c et al, 2017;Dementyev and Semenov, 2019). This QMS systems cannot have the same characteristics as those with fully implemented and continually improved QMS, therefore benefits and disadvantages of those two kinds of QMS cannot be the same.…”

“…Another fact is spoken in professional and scientific circles, yet very “quietly” and more on the conferences than in scientific journals: There is a certain percentage of certified companies which claim to have QMS implemented, while they are only maintaining certificate (Wright, 2000; Kim et al. , 2006; Živaljević et al. , 2017; Dementyev and Semenov, 2019).…”

Communication of commitment towards sustainable development of certified Portuguese organisations

“…Andre et al, 2009;Asif and Searcy, 2014;Asif, Searcy, Zutshi and Ahmad, 2011;Domingues et al, 2016Domingues et al, , 2017Cabecinhas et al, 2017;Ejdys and Matuszak-Flejszman, 2010;Ferreira and Gerolamo, 2016;Fresner and Engelhardt, 2004;Gianni et al, 2017;Hadad, 2017;Hernandez et al, 2016;Jørgensen, 2008;Llonch et al, 2018;Mežinska et al, 2015;Oskarsson and Malmborg, 2005;Qi et al, 2013;Rebelo et al, 2014Rebelo et al, , 2016Rocha and Searcy, 2012;Rocha et al, 2007;Roslin et al, 2017;Santos et al, 2012;Tsai and Chou, 2009;Zeng et al, 2011). Qi et al (2013) and Rebelo et al (2016), in line with several authors (such as Domingues et al, 2016;Hernandez et al, 2016;Gianni et al, 2017), found that the three dimensions (economic, environmental and social) usually ascribed to SD establish a connection with three MSs (QMS, EMS and OHSMS) that, in turn, also support the standards requirements (core of the resulting IMS) (Almeida et al, 2014;Domingues et al, 2016Domingues et al, , 2017Ezzat et al, 2017;Fonseca and Domingues, 2017;Rebelo et al, 2016;Sampaio et al, 2012;Simon et al, 2011;Živaljević et al, 2017, s...…”