Integrated management systems: Barrier assessment through Grey Incidence Analysis and contributions to quality management

Abstract

This article addresses the growing need for effectively managing multiple concurrent management systems to enhance organizational competitiveness. It focuses on investigating the barriers hindering the integration of these systems within companies, emphasizing the influence of these difficulties on quality management. A survey involving 86 Brazilian experts who had experience with management system integration in their respective organizations was conducted. Grey Incidence Analysis was employed to assess the survey results, allowing for a comprehensive analysis of the barriers and identification of the most critical. The results of this study highlight critical factors that impede management system integration. In terms of qualitative characteristics, employee engagement emerged as a significant barrier. Quantitatively, several key obstacles were identified, including the need to reduce inconsistencies between documents, processes, and procedures, consideration of organizational culture aspects, standardization of terms and concepts, experiences in waste mapping, and the promotion of communication and interaction with stakeholders. By harmonizing processes, reducing conflicts and developing a culture of collaboration and communication, organizations can address the main barriers related to integrated management systems and enhance quality management practices. This research contributes to shedding light on the challenges of integrating management systems, an area that has received limited attention in existing literature. By employing Grey Incidence Analysis in this context, we offer a novel approach to understanding and prioritizing the barriers to integration and their potential impact in quality management.

Keywords:

• Grey incidence analysis
• grey systems
• integrated management systems
• ISO standards
• management standards

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico [303924/2021-7 304145/2021-1].

Notes on contributors

Gilberto Cassoli de Oliveira Júnior

Gilberto Cassoli de Oliveira Júnior is a research at the State University of Campinas, Department of Manufacturing and Materials Engineering, Brazil. He holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from this university. He has experience in the field of Project Management, Budgeting, and expertise in Mechatronics and Automation, conducting research in the areas of Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, process optimization, and mechanical project development. He has been involved in various research projects, the results of which have been published in journals such as Total Quality Management & Business Excellence and Production Planning & Control.

Tiago F. A. C. Sigahi

Tiago F. A. C. Sigahi is a Professor at the Institute of Science and Technology at the Federal University of Alfenas, Brazil. He holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in Production Engineering from the Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar), with a sandwich period in Industrial Systems Engineering at the University of Regina, Canada (2013–2014). He earned his Ph.D. in Production Engineering from the University of São Paulo (USP). He was a collaborating researcher (2021–2022) and conducted post-doctoral research (2022–2023) at the State University of Campinas (Unicamp). He serves as a Guest Editor for Ergonomics (Taylor Francis) and Coordinator of the Technical Committee “Human Factors and Sustainable Development” for the International Ergonomics Association (IEA, 2021–2024). He has received the CREA-SP Awards (2016), Honorable Mention from ABEPRO (2019), three Top Cited Article awards, and one Top Downloaded Author recognition from Clarivate/Web of Science (2022 and 2023), as well as Outstanding Awards for Excellence in Manuscript Reviews from Sustainability/MDPI (2023). He is an associate researcher at CPTEn – Center for Studies in Energy Transition of São Paulo (Unicamp/FAPESP). His research has been published in journals such as Journal of Cleaner Production, IEEE Transaction on Engineering, International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management and Benchmarking.

Izabela Simon Rampasso

Izabela Simon Rampasso is a Professor at Departamento de Ingeniería Industrial, Universidad Católica del Norte (UCN), Chile, and Directora, Magíster en Ciencias de la Ingeniería Industrial, in this university. Izabela holds a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the State University of Campinas, Brazil. She has published over 100 articles in high-impact journals such as Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, Production Planning & Control, Journal of Cleaner Production and Technological Forecasting and Social Change. He serves on the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education.

Lucas Gabriel Zanon

Lucas Gabriel Zanon is a Professor at the University of São Paulo (USP), in the Department of Production Engineering (SEP) at the School of Engineering in São Carlos (EESC), Brazil. He holds a degree in Mechanical Production Engineering from EESC-USP, where he completed his Master’s (2020) and Doctorate (2022) in Production Engineering with a focus on Process and Operations Management. He also served as a visiting researcher in the Department of Information Engineering at the University of Pisa in Italy (2019). His research has been published in high impact journals such International Journal of Production Economics, Production Planning & Control, and Expert Systems with Applications. He is a member of the International Association of Grey Systems and Uncertainty Analysis (GSUA) and serves on the Editorial Advisory Board of the journal Grey Systems: Theory and Application (2023–2028).

Jefferson de Souza Pinto

Jefferson de Souza Pinto is a Professor at Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of São Paulo (IFSP) and School of Mechanical Engineering, State University of Campinas (Unicamp), Brazil. He is currently the Coordinator of the Control and Automation Engineering program at IFSP. He completed his previous postdoctoral research in Mechanical Engineering at Unicamp in 2014, 2016, 2018, 2020 and 2022. He holds a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Unicamp with research in the field of Project Management (2012). He holds a specialization in Industrial Process Management from Unicamp and undergraduate degree in Business Administration with a focus on Foreign Trade from the University São Francisco (1999). He has held various roles, including Educational Manager, Coordinator of the Computer Science Department, Coordinator of the Technology Program in Systems Analysis and Development, and Coordinator of the Specialization Program in Strategic Information Technology Management at the IFSP. His areas of research focus on Production and Operations Management, Logistics, Quality Management, Entrepreneurship, Statistics, and Project Management. He has published over 70 articles in international journals and has participated as a guest professor on master’s and Ph.D. thesis committees at several higher education institutions.

Walter Leal Filho

Walter Leal Filho is a Professor at Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (Germany) and Professor at Manchester Metropolitan University (UK). Over the course of his career, he has coordinated, co-coordinated or acted as a partner in a large number of projects, whose combined budget is in excess of Euro 84 million. He has in excess of 600 publications to his credit. He holds various doctoral degrees, including PhD, DSc, DPhil, DEd, DL and DTech. He directs the Research and Transfer Center “Sustainability Development and Climate Change Management”. He is also editor of the World Sustainability Series with Springer. In addition, founding editor of the International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education (Emerald), and editor of the Discover Sustainability (Elsevier). Professor Leal has supervised to date well in excess of 100 BSc students, as well as 54 MSc and 22 PhD and post-doctoral (“Habilitation”) students.

Gustavo Hermínio Salati Marcondes de Moraes

Gustavo Hermínio Salati Marcondes de Moraes is a Professor at the School of Applied Sciences, State University of Campinas, Brazil. He currently serves as the Coordinator of the Post-Graduate Program in Administration and served as the Extension Coordinator in this university. He also coordinates the MBA in Strategic People Management. He works as an Associate Researcher at North-West University in South Africa since 2022 and as a Research Collaborator at the Higher School of Economics at the National Research University in Moscow, Russia, since 2023. He is an Associate Editor for the Revista de Administração Mackenzie (RAM) and the Revista de Administração, Sociedade e Inovação (RASI). He participated in extension courses on Entrepreneurship at Renmin University of China (2013), Social Innovation at the University of Cape Town in South Africa (2015), and Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) at NIT in Germany (2017). He serves as a scientific advisor and reviewer for FAPESP, FACEPE, and CNPq. His research has received awards from institutions such as Emerald Publishing (Emerald/ANPAD 2018 and Emerald Literati Awards 2019 and 2023), ANPAD (EnANPAD 2014, 2018, 2021, and 2023), FEA-USP (SemeAD 2019, 2020, and 2021), and ANEGEPE (EGEPE 2020). He is the leader of the Data Science and Analytical Intelligence theme in the IT field of SemeAd since 2018. He has published over 80 articles in high-impact journals such as Technological Forecasting and Social Change, International Journal of Sustainable Development & World Ecology, Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, and Gender in Management.

Jiju Antony

Jiju Antony is recognized worldwide as a leader in Lean Six Sigma methodology for achieving and sustaining process excellence. He is currently serving as the Vice President of Research for the International Academy for Quality and Professor of Quality and Operational Excellence in Newcastle Business School at Northumbria University, England, UK. He is a Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society (UK), Fellow of the Chartered Quality Institute (CQI), Fellow of the Institute of Operations Management (FIOM), Fellow of the American Society for Quality (ASQ), Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, Fellow of the International Lean Six Sigma Institute, Fellow of the Institute of the Six Sigma Professionals (ISSP) and an Academician of the International Academy of Quality (IAQ). Professor Antony has authored over 600 journal, conference and white articles and 14 textbooks with over 36000 citations and an H-index of 98. He has won the outstanding contribution to Quality Management Practice Award in 2019 from the Chartered Quality Institute (UK); Life time Achievement Award for his contribution to Lean Six Sigma from the International Lean Six Sigma Institute (UK) in 2020 and Outstanding Contribution to Six Sigma Practice award from the Institute of Six Sigma Professionals, UK in 2021. His book on Ten Commandments of Lean Six Sigma: a practical guide for senior managers has won Walter Mazing Book Price in 2021 (International Academy of Quality, USA) and Crosby Medal (American Society of Quality, USA) in 2022. He is currently serving as the Editor of the International Journal of Lean Six Sigma, Editor of the International Journal of Quality and Reliability Management and Associate Editor of the TQM and Business Excellence Journal He has worked as a strategic advisor for several companies in the UK and abroad especially on their journey of Operational Excellence.

Rosley Anholon

Rosley Anholon is a Professor at School of Mechanical Engineering of the State University of Campinas, Brazil. Professor Anholon is the leader of the Research Laboratory in Engineering and Management Teaching at State University of Campinas. He has worked in several fields of operations, sustainability management and technology, involving research and applications in industries. He has published over 170 articles in high-impact journals such as Journal of Cleaner Production, Production Planning and Control, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, and TQM & Business Excellence. He has supervised over 30 PhD and master students. He has also served as a guest professor on master’s and Ph.D. thesis committees at the University of São Paulo (USP), Federal Fluminense University (UFF), and São Paulo State University (UNESP). He is involved in Educational Technologies as part of the Educational Technologies Management Group (GGTE) and currently serves as the Deputy Coordinator of UNICAMP in the Universidade Aberta System – CAPES/MEC. He is a member of the editorial board of the International Journal of Sustainable Development World Ecology and the Editorial Advisory Board of the International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education.