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The purpose of this paper is to identifying, discussing and analyzing the existing education and training programs related to quality management system (QMS) in Spain.

Exhaustive search of the education system database was used to map the multifaceted of Spanish education system and professional training in addition to their relationships with the labor market. Thereafter, a thorough scan of the existing training related to management system standards was used to classify them into different subgroups as well as identifying possible education and the professional trainings related to QMS.

The overall results showed that general education in Spain and in particular related to QMS can be classified into four different groups including: official university, unofficial university, official non-university and unofficial non-university. Moreover, this study observed that the general concern about the employment and earnings in Spain has led the local, autonomous communities and national government to launch specific measures designed to both continue to increase the quality of the workforce with the QMS backgrounds and to ease the difficulties encountered when entering the labor market.

This study is the first to analyze and map the multifaceted character of Spanish education system and professional training related to QMS. The findings of this study may be useful for organizations trying to evaluate their QMS efforts, thus, engage their people in order to face the competitive challenges that lie ahead.

To analyze the changes in the perceived benefits of ISO 9000 with the passage of time.

An empirical survey of 399 companies conducted in 2002 in Catalonia (region of Spain).

ISO 9001: 2000 registered organizations report benefits to a lesser extent than their ISO 9001/2/3: 1994 registered counterparts across all studied benefit categories. Considering that the new standard is supposed to be a much improved version of the old one, these findings are then contrasted with the results of an almost identical survey performed in 1998. The discussion demonstrates that the perceived benefits of the ISO 9001/2/3: 1994 implementation have also decreased over time.

These findings may indicate that ISO 9000 will eventually fade away due to the lack of short‐term reasons to implement yet another version in the future, unless substantial long‐term benefits are proven. In July 2002, when this survey was conducted, the number of ISO 9001: 2000 registered companies was still small, constraining more in‐depth research in this field.

This is one of the first papers trying to analyze the benefits and the implications of ISO 9001: 2000. On the other hand, it is probably the first paper that evaluates the evolution of such benefits over time.

Management system standards (MSSs) have spread in an unprecedented manner in the last few years. Thus, there are now many companies that rely on more than one such standard to establish the criteria for organizational management systems (MSs). The objective of this article is to analyze the existence of possible synergies in the application of a wide range of MSSs through an examination of the benefits obtained from the implementation of one particular MSS, namely ISO 9001.

The starting point is a set of results from an empirical survey of more than 500 Spanish companies. Specifically, the differences between the benefits recognized by companies implementing a single MSS, namely ISO 9001:2000 for quality MSs, and those that implemented a second standard, in this case ISO 14001:2004 for environmental MSs, are discussed. An additional comparison is made between those organizations that have integrated the two MSSs into a single MS and those organizations that have developed separate quality and environmental MSs.

The results show that organizations with multiple MSSs actually perceive more benefits from the implementation of ISO 9001 than those that implemented that standard only. Furthermore, organizations with integrated management systems (IMSs) also report higher levels of ISO 9001 benefits compared to those organizations with the ISO 9001 certificate only, but generally not when compared to their counterparts with separate standardized MSs.

Relatively little is known about the synergies yielded by the use of multiple MSSs or by integrating standardized MSs in organizations. Using the benefits obtained from the implementation of ISO 9001 as a measure, this paper contributes empirical results from a large number of organizations to the study of both of these issues. Therefore, it is of value to researchers and practitioners in quality, environmental, safety, security and other such MSs, but also specifically in the area of IMSs.

This paper aims to analyse and show the influence on European companies' performance of the two most important models for quality management (QM) practice popularised in recent years: the ISO 9000 and the European Foundation for Quality Management models.

The methodology is a qualitative survey carried out in Spain using the Delphi method, based on previous research work. The results of this research were analysed and triangulated with the results of other surveys carried out previously, as well as with information gathered during several in‐depth interviews of the experts that participated in the Delphi panel.

In the opinion of the panel of experts, the implementation of QM models in the studied region has had a positive influence on company results, mainly through the improvement of operations, efficiency and the costs of companies' internal activities.

This is one of the first papers that show us the different impact of this kind of QM model in Europe.

The difficulties in the integration of management systems (MSs) and their relationship with innovation and customer satisfaction are explored by proposing a model that links these three concepts together. Integration, innovation and customer satisfaction are relevant issues for the competitiveness of companies, especially for the ones that have implemented several MS standards. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Data for the study derives from a survey carried out in 76 Spanish organizations registered to at least both ISO 9001:2008 and ISO 14001:2004 standards for quality MSs and environmental MSs, respectively. An exploratory factor analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM) are utilized to assess and confirm the proposed scales validity and the relationships of the conceptual model.

Based on the empirical study, the second-order SEM shows that the difficulties of integration are directly and negatively related to both of MS documentation and procedures. This level is also directly related to the innovation and satisfaction. Nevertheless, no relationships were found between the difficulties of integration and the integration level of MS human resources. Moreover, no direct relationships were found between the difficulties of integration and both the constructs of innovation and satisfaction. Also, the results showed the integration level of MS procedures was not related to the construct of innovation.

This is one of the first studies to relate integration difficulties with innovation and customer satisfaction, with a conclusion that an organization should give more importance to the difficulties of integrated MSs that have been uncovered to have a relationship with innovation and customer satisfaction.

As the process of standardisation in all aspects of business management has accelerated in recent years in an environment characterised by economic globalisation and integration, two series of standards issued by the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) stand out: the ISO 9000 series, related to the implementation of quality systems; and the ISO 14000 series, related to the implementation of environmental management systems. The purpose of this paper is to analyse and compare the evolution of both standards in the leading countries in these certifications.

It is noteworthy that the same few nations consistently occupy the highest rankings in both the number of ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 series certifications. These countries are also those with highest growth rates in certifications. The present study examines these phenomena in terms of: a proposed new index for measuring the “certification intensity”; and a proposed model to analyse how standards are disseminated in a given country.

The leading nations in ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 series certifications have a common spreading pattern. All of them are increasing in both standards, not only in absolute number of certifications, but also in its certification intensity. On the other hand, the logistic curve is a good pattern to forecast the trend of these intensities.

The paper concludes with some forecasts and trends for the immediate future in the most successful countries. Some suggestions are also made for future research.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze whether the order or the strategy of management system standards (MSSs) implementation in an organization determines the level of integration of its standardized MSSs.

Groups of organizations that follow different implementation sequences have been obtained descriptively using a sample of 435 Spanish organizations, registered to two MSSs (ISO 9001 and ISO 14001) at the minimum. Differences with respect to the size of the organizations are also studied.

The results obtained show six different groups of organizations that follow different sequences of implementation and that have different levels of integration of their MSSs. Among the more interesting findings, organizations that had implemented quality and environmental MSSs simultaneously and have 50 employees or less achieve higher levels of integration compared to other organizations in the sample.

The paper analyses those sequences of management systems implementation that allow organizations to achieve higher levels of integration and presents a possible pattern for the companies initiating the integration process.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze how the order of management system standards (MSSs) implementation in an organization and its level of integration are changed during the time of the standard implementation.

Survey was send to 885 organizations located in Poland which registered at least two MSSs selected from popular international standards, e.g.: ISO 9001, ISO 14001, OHSAS 18001, ISO/IEC 27001, ISO 22000 or other international management standard. There were 81 valid questioners obtained. Studied organizations where classify into a three different groups with similar level of MS integration.

Different standards can be implemented simultaneously, and this tendency is more popular nowadays than few years ago. In most cases time of implementation of MSSs in second and further round of implementation is shorter than during the implementation of first standards. The group of organizations with a higher level of MSSs integration is the group where the integrated systems operates for a shorter period of time, than in the other groups. While in a group of organizations where MSSs are on the lowest level of integration, the average period of time of MSS operating is the longest.

The paper analyses order and time of systems implementation that allow organizations to achieve higher levels of integration and presents a possible pattern for the companies initiating the integration process.

The purpose of this paper is to present the Gironacel^® project. The aim of this tool is to make it easier for companies to implement ISO 9001:2000 standard in a very practical and non‐interruptive way.

By means of creating a fictitious virtual company, called Gironacel, to be used as an example, it aims to provide companies using the tool with all kinds of information concerning the challenges that the Gironacel company faces and all the difficulties and consequences that come with them.

The paper give companies a clear and highly practical reference regarding the implications of any new project, such as, for example, implementing a quality management system, which is the first of the objectives chosen for the virtual company and the challenge that is dealt with in this paper.

This paper explains how this new tool was designed and implemented, along with the results expected of it.

In recent years, the number of management systems (MSs) has sharply increased. These MSs can be certified with, for example, the quality standard ISO 9001 or the environmental standard ISO 14001 and they can subsequently be integrated into one single, jointly managed system. The main purpose of this research is to study the relationships between the level of system integration, on one hand, and the difficulties encountered in the integration process, as well as the related benefits, on the other.

Data for this study derive from a survey carried out in 76 organizations registered to, at a minimum, both ISO 14001:2004 and ISO 9001:2008 standards for quality and environmental MSs. A descriptive and an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) are provided. Additionally, structural equation modelling (SEM) is applied to the responses of these organizations to a mailed survey.

From the results, the paper proposes a model of the difficulties related to systems integration that have an effect on the level of integration of several specific items of the MSs involved. A model related to the effect of the integration level on the benefits is also provided.

The study provides an original contribution to the understanding of how difficulties and benefits of MSs integration relate to the level of integration achieved in the participating companies.