EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF INTEGRATION WITHIN THE STANDARDS-BASED INTEGRATED MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

The overall goal of this paper is to empirically analyze the augmentation and integration of ISO 9001 - based quality management systems with ISO 14001 - based environmental and other standardized management systems. Results from a survey of 298 organizations headquartered in the Spanish regions of Catalonia and the Basque Country are presented. All surveyed organizations were registered to both ISO 9001: 2000 and ISO 14001: 2004, while some had further management system standard certificates, for example in occupational health and safety and social responsibility. Various aspects of augmentation and integration, such as the usage of additional subsystem standards, the process of integration and the conduct of audits, are discussed through largely descriptive analyses.