Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
doi:10.5200/1822-9530.2011.03
Abstract
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Keywords: environment, safety, security and quality management, integrated management system, quality award models.
Nors vadyboje sisteminis metodas gali bti taikomas gana plaiai, paprastai laikoma, kad jis
apima kokybs, aplinkos apsaugos ir darb saugos sistemas, kurios kartu sudaro integruot
vadybos sistem. i studija nagrinja integruot aplinkos apsaugos, saugos ir saugumo, kokybs vadybos sistem ir kokybs apdovanojim modeli, ypa Europos kokybs vadybos
fondo sukurto modelio, poveik bendrovi verslui ir skmingai veiklos pltrai. iuo metu
nra integruotoms aplinkos apsaugos, saugos ir saugumo, kokybs vadybos sistemoms parengto ir plaiai pripastamo standarto, kuris bt prilygintas ISO standartams. is tyrimas
parodo, kad integruotos vadybos sistemos ir kokybs apdovanojim modeliai yra naudingi
organizacij veiklai ir konkurencingumui. Vis dlto j naudojimas turi bti vertinamas kiekvienu atskiru atveju, o modeliai turi bti pritaikyti taip, kad atitikt konkreios organizacijos poreikius. Apskritai integracija laikoma teigiamu ir naudingu reikiniu. Besidubliuojani proces atsisakymas, bendra skirting sektori pltra ir geresnis itekli panaudojimas
leis sumainti katus ir net tobulinti bendrovs veiklos kultr. Eksperimentin tyrimo dalis
leidia daryti ivad, kad tarptautins plieno gamybos bendrovs aktyviai nenaudoja integruot aplinkosaugos, saugos ir saugumo, kokybs vadybos sistem ir kokybs apdovanojim modeli. Bet kuriuo atveju, remiantis io tyrimo rezultatais bendrovs vertina mint
modeli gyvendinim, kaip ger galimyb gyti ir ilaikyti konkurencin pranaum.
Reikminiai odiai: aplinka, sauga, saugumas ir kokybs valdymas, integruota vadybos
sistema, kokybs apdovanojim modeliai.
Introduction
The development of management systems and integration of environmental,
quality and safety issues in the same system have become an important factor
in a companys competitiveness. It is no longer sufficient for an organisation
to focus only on internal issues; instead, management systems must take into
account the surrounding environment, clients and the increasing number of
other interest groups. Excellent business management, for example, through
quality management models, is needed in successful organisations.
The objective of this study is to examine the impact of an integrated management system and excellent business management on the competitiveness
and success of an organisation. The research objective was also to examine the
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impact of the successful implementation of the two tools on each other. The
research questions used to operationalise these goals are:
1. What are the experiences in applying Environment, Safety & Security,
Quality (ESSQ) management as an integrated management system in
organisations?
2. What kind of benefits and challenges do integrated ESSQ management
systems provide in respect of organisational success?
3. Are international steel companies integrating their ESSQ management systems and what is the maturity of ESSQ management in these companies?
The first two questions have been discussed in the literature review to exa
mine the foundations of integrated management systems and quality award mo
dels. The second and third question has been studied based on empirial analysis
of the case company and a proportion survey of international steel companies.
The study follows the principles that Yin (2003) presented for case studies.
The empirical material for the case companys ESSQ maturity level eva
luations has been collected through qualitative interviews (13 interviews for
environmental management; 12 for safety management; 10 for quality mana
gement) in order to describe the history and the current situation in the target company. The people interviewed varied from senior management to line
management and ESSQ managers. The questions were qualitative in nature
and mainly based on the literature. In addition to the interviews, the case companys management systems documentation from the companys archives was
used (Ruukki, 2008). The levels were then utilised in benchmarking the case
company with the steel companies of the World Steel Association (Fig. 1).
Original
theoretical
framework
Interviews, documents
and analysis of Ruukki
ESSQ state of the art
Literature review of
integrated
management systems
and quality award
models
ESSQ
integration and
maturity
survey on steel
companies
RQ 1
Maturity
analysis and
comparison of
international
ESSQ levels
RQ 2
Synthesis
and
managerial
implications
RQ 3
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the benefits gained by combining the E, SS and Q sectors and are also trying
to convince top management of the matter. At the walk level, an organisations
level is higher than the average ESSQ management in general, and the specia
lists are doing more than what is required. At the run level, an organisation
is at the forefront of global ESSQ management and paves the way for other
organisations. The Toddlergrade model examines an organisations maturity
level always with respect to risks and the business environment.
1. Experiences of applying the ESSQ as an integrated
management system
Separate areas, also management systems (ESSQ) experienced evolution in
the past. Traditional environmental management was directed by legislation
created in close connection with major environmental hazards or threats. Ho
wever, modern environmental management aims to be proactive rather than
reactive: it emphasises the prevention of problems and the use of environmental management as a positive way to communicate with society (Tervonen etal., 2010a; Elhag etal., 2008). The development of safety management
also follows the development of legislation and regulations. Organisational
development was passive, since it is dictated from the outside of the organisation by regulators and the government. Only in recent years development
has resulted in a more active approach of organisations own volition and own
origins (Tervonen etal., 2009b). The measurement of safety culture is categorised under the proactive approach of safety performance (Afrazeh & Bartsch,
2007; Choudhry etal., 2007). The development of quality management is often
described in the literature as a four-stage process: inspection, quality control,
quality assurance and total quality management, where quality is seen in an
all-inclusive and strategic manner. Responsibility for quality is, at this point,
extended to cover all members of an organisation. The role played by corporate
management also becomes central (Tervonen etal., 2008).
At the moment, there is no widely accepted standard equivalent to ISO
standards for integrated ESSQ management systems. For example, Kazilinas
(2010) believes that there is a strong relationship between the companies ISO
9000 certification benefits and a firms financial performance. Continuous improvement factors are also very important during the post-certification period.
Different integration levels in organisations set a challenge for the making of
a universal standard (Jrgensen et al., 2006). Typically, the most commonly
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Verslo ir teiss aktualijos / Current Issues of Business and Law, 2011, 6(1), 5368
problems. The ranking principles have remained the same, even though the
business environment has changed and, indeed, is changing. The ranking principles are also the same for different fields of industry and both the public and
private sectors. In addition, the impact of ranking or the cause-effect relationship on the actual added value of an organisation is, in some cases, somewhat
unclear or there is not sufficient research in the field (Conti, 2006) (see also
Tervonen etal., 2010b).
Erikssons (2004) study indicated that the biggest problem for companies
participating in competitions was that the competition itself took too much
attention away from development and continuous improvement. All too often
organisations focus on the winning of a competition and the actual work and
exploitation of the results may, therefore, become secondary (see also Dale
etal., 2000). Rusjan (2005) also highlights the lack of diagnostics in the quality
award systems, which was also noted by Conti (2006). These models work well
when looking for the problem points of performance, but they do not dig any
deeper. Reasons for problems cannot be analysed or the assessment or prioritisation of development points cannot be carried out using the quality award
model. However, further development can be operationalised with other tools
or in other ways (see also Tervonen etal., 2010b).
Dale etal. (2000) note that the EFQM and other TQM-related models are
often criticised for having a constantly-changing and too difficult terminology
which cannot be fully understood without specialist information. In reality,
the basic principles of, for example, ISO 9000 do not differ from the core values
of quality award models; only the terminology has changed. The difference
and the problem lies in the concepts and images created by the terminology.
The concept of excellence, for example, is not understood as the most recent
trend in quality management. Instead, it is considered equal to the standard
language word excellent and related to a number of excellent properties of a
product, e.g. inexpensive price, which makes the product excellent from the
viewpoint of the customer. Quality management has become complicated, and
quality specialists find it difficult to communicate their view to corporate management, not to mention the general public (see also Tervonen etal., 2010b).
3. Integrated ESSQ management systems
in international steel companies
A total of seven companies have replied to the questionnaire. The organisations answering the questionnaire were requested to assess their own maturity
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level both in different ESSQ sectors and the integrated ESSQ entity using the
Toddlergrade model (Tervonen etal., 2009b). In addition, maturity levels were
evaluated on the basis of the companies replies in order to obtain a specialist
view from the outside. The maturity levels assessed by the companies themselves were not analysed or viewed prior to carrying out an analysis based on
their replies, hence self-assessments did not affect the results. Maturity levels
were assessed both for the different areas of the Toddlergrade model and as
a whole. The maturity levels of separate ESSQ sectors, e.g., the environment,
safety and quality management, were also assessed.
The companies turnover amounted mainly to billions of euros and the
number of personnel varied from several thousands to tens of thousands, which
means that the companies were of the same size as the case company very
large. The replies indicated that, in general, steel companies made relatively
little use of integrated ESSQ management systems to support their operations.
Four out of seven organisations stated that their management systems were
separate, at least from the viewpoint of ESSQ management. On the other hand,
some of these companies had integrated some sectors, e.g., environmental and
safety management systems, at least to some extent. Most companies seem to
be willing to have an integrated ESSQ system, but the implementation of such
is not yet fully accomplished. As stated in the theoretical section of this study,
changes must take place at all levels of the entire organisation. It cannot remain
a mere nominal change in the organisation and integration of operations (see
also Tervonen etal., 2010b).
None of the companies stated that they were using quality award models, at
least they had not participated in a quality award competition. Some companies stated they had won smaller awards concerning different fields of ESSQ,
mainly related to the environment, occupational health and safety. Excellencebased awards rating the operations of the entire organisation, such as the
EFQM or MBNQA, were not mentioned, nor was participation in any of them.
However, companies may have based their operating systems on quality award
models that have been tailored to meet the companys needs. The theoretical
section of this study showed that such awards were also useful for companies.
Nevertheless, companies or units that replied to the questionnaire did not systematically use quality award models (see also Tervonen etal., 2010b).
Figure 2 shows a diagram of the average values calculated on the basis of
the maturity levels of benchmarked international steel companies. The maturity levels are compared against the maturity level of the case company (Ruukki
Production). The average values of the companies self-assessments are indi63
cated in orange, the evaluations made on the basis of their replies in blue and
the values of the case company in red. The diagram axes are different sectors
of the Toddlergrade model: leadership, business process management, business tracking system and innovativeness. The maturity of the Toddlergrade
sectors increases when moving away from the centre of the axes. The innermost grey diamond indicates the roll over level and the outermost refers to
the run level. The area formed by assessments thus indicates the total maturity
of an organisation: the greater the area covered, the closer the company is to
the run level.
The diagrams clearly show that companies have assessed their maturity le
vels to be on average significantly higher than those of the case company. Their
evaluations are from one to two maturity levels higher in every ESSQ sector.
The companies have typically assessed their maturity level in all sectors close
to the walk level and in some sectors, such as SS leadership and management
systems, even higher, close to the exemplary world-class level. The difference
is clearly smaller when comparing the maturity evaluations made on the basis
of the replies (blue line) with the case companys values.
E -Environmental
Leadership
Leadership
Steering System
Innovativeness
Follow-Up System
Innovativeness
Evaluations made by
organizations
Evaluations based on
answers
Ruukki Production
Steering System
Follow-Up System
Q Quality
Leadership
Leadership
Steering System
Innovativeness
Follow-Up System
Steering System
Innovativeness
Evaluations made by
organizations
Evaluations based on
answers
Ruukki Production
Follow-Up System
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Evaluations made by
organizations
Evaluations based on
answers
Ruukki Production
Evaluations made by
organizations
Evaluations based on
answers
Ruukki Production
Verslo ir teiss aktualijos / Current Issues of Business and Law, 2011, 6(1), 5368
beneficial for companies. Is the steel industry an exception or have the companies not yet discovered the application of the models? The correlation between
success in quality award competition and the use of integrated management
systems could also be a fruitful topic for future studies, since it has not been
widely studied.
We processed companies anonymously in order to increase reliability of
the study in every step of the research. Our aim was to make the questionnaire clear and questions short and pithy in order to improve the reliability of
replies. Internal validity was enhanced by combining theoretical and empirical parts as closely as possible. Therefore, the modified theoretical framework
combined with the detailed findings formed a natural continuum to the conclusions of this study. The reality of the cause-effect relationship was constantly
considered in analysing the collected data.
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