Critical Factors for Iso 9001 Critique
Critique "Critical factors for effective implementation of ISO 9001 in SME service companies", (Psomas at al. 2010, p. 440-457)
Introduction The paper in review is part of the Journal “Managing Service Quality” which was published in 2010. At the time of publication the authors were researching for the University of Ioannina in Greece1 (Psomas, et al., 2010, p. 457). Evangelos Psomas was a Research Assistant and received a PhD in Total Quality Management (TQM) in 2008 (Psomas, et al., 2010, p. 457). Christos Fotopoulos is a fulltime Professor (University of Ioannina, 2012) and Dimitrios Kafetzopoulos was a PhD candidate for Food Quality Management (Psomas, et al., 2011a, p. 460). All authors have TQM as research interests in common (Psomas, et al., 2011b, p. 251) and have published several papers in Quality Management in the past four years. According to the literature review this study responds to Psomas, et al. (2010, p. 441) observation that critical success factors require constant re-investigation.
Summary
The paper is reviewing ISO 9001:2000 implementations in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Greece’s services sector with the purpose to assess critical factors for effective implementation of the ISO2 standard. The study is a deductive approached (Saunders, et al., 2009, p. 61) quantitative research defined by a random sample of 300 out of approximately 1000 ISO certified companies been selected for an e-mail survey. The survey is limited to quality managers whereof 93 responded to rate the importance of predefined critical factors on a seven-point Likert-type scale. Results of the research enlist 22 factors from most critical to least important followed by a factor analysis (Bryman & Bell, 2011, p. 170) concluding five critical areas for effectively implementing ISO 9001, in descending order of importance:
“# internal motivation
# attributes of company
# employee attributes
# requirements of the quality system
# attributes of the
Introduction The paper in review is part of the Journal “Managing Service Quality” which was published in 2010. At the time of publication the authors were researching for the University of Ioannina in Greece1 (Psomas, et al., 2010, p. 457). Evangelos Psomas was a Research Assistant and received a PhD in Total Quality Management (TQM) in 2008 (Psomas, et al., 2010, p. 457). Christos Fotopoulos is a fulltime Professor (University of Ioannina, 2012) and Dimitrios Kafetzopoulos was a PhD candidate for Food Quality Management (Psomas, et al., 2011a, p. 460). All authors have TQM as research interests in common (Psomas, et al., 2011b, p. 251) and have published several papers in Quality Management in the past four years. According to the literature review this study responds to Psomas, et al. (2010, p. 441) observation that critical success factors require constant re-investigation.
Summary
The paper is reviewing ISO 9001:2000 implementations in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Greece’s services sector with the purpose to assess critical factors for effective implementation of the ISO2 standard. The study is a deductive approached (Saunders, et al., 2009, p. 61) quantitative research defined by a random sample of 300 out of approximately 1000 ISO certified companies been selected for an e-mail survey. The survey is limited to quality managers whereof 93 responded to rate the importance of predefined critical factors on a seven-point Likert-type scale. Results of the research enlist 22 factors from most critical to least important followed by a factor analysis (Bryman & Bell, 2011, p. 170) concluding five critical areas for effectively implementing ISO 9001, in descending order of importance:
“# internal motivation
# attributes of company
# employee attributes
# requirements of the quality system
# attributes of the
References: Al-Najjar, S., 2011. ISO 9001 Implementation Barriers and Misconceptions: An Empirical Study. International Journal of Business Administration, 2(3), 118-131. Bryman, A. & Bell, E., 2011. Business Research Methods. 3 ed. New York: Oxford University Press. Calisir, F., 2007. Factors affecting service companies ' satisfaction with ISO 9000. Managing Service Quality, 17(5), 579 - 593. Coughian, M., Cronin, P. & Frances, R., 2007. Step 'by-step guide to critiquing research. Part 1: quantitative research. Britishjournal of Nursing, 16(2), 658-663. Cronin, P., Ryan, F. & Coughlan, M., 2008. Undertaking a literature review: a step-bystep approach. British Journal of Nursing, 17(1), 38-43. European Commission, 2003. Commission Recommendation (2003/361/EC) concerning the definition of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, of 6 May 2003. Official Journal of the European Union. L 124, 36-41. Brussels: European Commission [Online] Available at: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2003:124:0036:0041:en:PDF [Accessed 2 June 2012]. Fotopoulos, C., Kafetzopoulos, D. & Psomas, E., 2009. Assessing the critical factors and their impact on the effective implementation of a food safety management system. International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, 26(9), 850-932. Goetsch, D. & Stanley, D., 2010. Quality Management for Organizational Excellence. 7 ed. New Jersey: Pearson Education. Ingham-Broomfield, R., 2008. A nurses ' guide to the critical reading of research. Australian Journal of Advanced Nursing: An international peer reviewed journal of nursing, 26(1), 102-109. Psomas, E., Fotopoulos, C. & Kafetzopoulos, D., 2010. Critical factors for effective implementation of ISO 9001 in SME service companies. Managing Service Quality: An International Journal, 15(1), 440 - 457. Psomas, E., Fotopoulos, C. & Kafetzopoulos, D., 2011a. Core process management practices, quality tools and quality improvement in ISO 9001 certified manufacturing companies. Business Process Management Journal, 17(3), 437 – 460. Psomas, E., Fotopoulos, C. & Kafetzopoulos, D., 2011b. Motives, difficulties and benefits in implementing the ISO 14001 Environmental Management System. Management of Environmental Quality: An International Journal, 22(4), 502 - 521. Quazi, H. & Padibjo, S., 1998. A journey toward total quality management through ISO. International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, 15(5), 489 - 508. Rowley, J. & Slack, F., 2004. Conducting a literature review. Management Research News, 27(6), 31 - 39. Saunders, M., Lewis, P. & Thornhill, A., 2009. Research methods for business students. 5 ed. Harlow: Pitman Publishing. Singels, J., Ruël, G. & van de Water, H., 2001. ISO 9000 series - Certification and performance. International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, 18(1), 62 - 75. University of Ioannina, 2012. Department of Business Administration of Food and Agricultural Products. [Online] Available at: http://www.uoi.gr/en/nrem_agrinio1.php [Accessed 24 May 2012]. Yount, W., 2006. Synthesis of Related Literature. In: Research Design and Statistical Analysis for Christian Ministry. Fort Worth, Texas: W.R. Yount, 6.1-6.10. Zeng, S., Tian, P. & Tam, C., 2007. Overcoming barriers to sustainable implementation of the ISO 9001. Managerial Auditing Journal, 22(3), 244 - 254. Table of Figures Figure 1: Concept Map through bibliography synthesis .............................................. - 3 - Appendix: “It is apparent that the respondents considered all of the suggested factors to be of some importance (mean values ranging from 3.67 to 6.00), but that none of the factors was considered of great importance (no mean values approximating the highest value of the seven-point scale).” (Psomas, et al., 2010, p. 447) Error 1 on statistical elaboration with insignificant influence on the research question: The mentioned lowest mean value of “3.67” is not represented in the table. See red circle on table below showing “3.64” as the lowest value. Error 2 on statistical elaboration with insignificant influence on the research question: It is not a valid statement that none of the factors was considered of great importance as the highest value is 6.00 with a standard deviation of 0.98. In fact this would lead to many responses with the highest rating of “7” on the seven-point Likert-type scale. Therefore the statement would need to be revised that there are many factors considered of great importance, in fact the first half of the 22 factors of the table above.