The Production of Distrust by Means of Producing Trust

Abstract

ISO 9000 certifications are spreading throughout the world. ISO 9000 standards and certification should serve as a verification that it is justified to trust the ability of a supplier to produce quality goods. In this paper, results of an empirical study on the use of ISO 9000 standards and ISO 9000 certification in Germany will be presented. An important finding is that the standards and the certification do not, as was intended, serve as a means for producing trust between customers and suppliers. Reasons as to why ISO 9000 certification does not serve as a means for producing an institutional-based type of trust will be presented. However, despite the fact that certification does not produce trust, the implementation of the standards was evaluated positively by the organizations investigated. The implementation of the ISO 9000 standards was regarded as an occasion for structuring and led to the development of a system of bureaucratic control that was both enabling and coercive.

Managing with ISO Systems: Lessons from Practice

“…Certain pitfalls, especially inappropriate and excessive documentation and the search for commercial certification have already been stressed in the literature (Awan and Bhatti, 2003;Moatazed-Keivani et al, 1999;Walgenbach, 2001;Jiang and Bansal, 2003;Christmann and Taylor, 2006). Others issues, such as the externalisation of the implementation process, insufficient resources and lack of follow-up between two certification audits have been overlooked.…”

“…Most research only focuses on the measurement of specific benefits. Conversely, few studies, especially those employing a qualitative perspective, adopt an approach that is critical of ISO certification (Walgenbach, 2001;Jiang and Bansal, 2003;Boiral, 2003). As a result, research on this issue rarely provides a balanced and global picture of ISO management systems.…”

“…Thus, internal practices can be quite unrelated to the standard's recommendations. These issues have been raised, most notably in qualitative studies intended to delve deeper into the internalisation process (Walgenbach, 2001;Boiral, 2003).…”

“…In the opinion of some, the adoption of ISO management standards is tantamount to ensuring the implementation of efficient, proven practices. For others, these systems have a debatable impact, representing a marketing tool that may lead to negative consequences within organisations (Walgenbach, 2001;Bansal and Bogner, 2002;Jiang and Bansal, 2003;Aragón-Correa and Rubio-López, 2007). Nevertheless, these two seemingly opposite positions are not mutually exclusive.…”

Globalisierung, Technik, Normen—Warum weichen japanische Unternehmen von internationalen Normen ab?

“…Weder in der Theorie der Standardisierung, einer Teildisziplin der Institutionenökonomik, noch in wirtschaftspolitischen Entscheidungen ist diesem Problem Beachtung geschenkt worden, obwohl es infolge der zunehmenden Bedeutung internationaler Normen an Relevanz gewinnt. Eine Ausnahme hiervon stellen die Beiträge von Moenius (2001), Tomimasu et al (2000) und Walgenbach (2001) dar. Sollten Mißverständnisse dauerhaft bestehen bleiben, ist die internationale Normung offenbar in vielen Fällen kein geeignetes Instrumentarium für die Bewältigung internationaler Anliegen.…”