Quality Management (Knowles) Chapter 5 – pp. 38-50, Chapter 14 – pp. 167-176 http://asq.org/learn-about-quality/iso-9000/overview/overview.html Back to Basics: ISO 9001 Made Easy ISO 9000: Is it Worth

ISO 9000 is built on eigh t quality m anagem ent princip les: 1. Custom er focus 2. Leadersh ip 3. Involvem ent of people 4. Process app roach 5. System approach to m anagem ent 6. Continual improvem ent 2 7. Factual approach to decision m aking 8. Mutually be nef icial sup plie r re latio nships (ISO 9000 Basics, 2007).

These prin ciples are used by leaders to guide organizations toward im proved perform ance. The benefits of ISO 9000 are not co nfined to the business s ector alone, but benefit society as a whole, including custom ers, governm ents, trad e officials, developing countries, consum ers, and the environm ent. Standardization allows bus inesses the opportunity to com pete in m arkets around the world. This enables m ore com petitio n, wh ich res ults in m ore choices for custom ers. Standards also help developing countries com pete in international m arkets without investing scarce resources on research and developm ent. Consum ers benefit from pr oducts or services consistently m anufactured to agreed-upon levels of safety and quality. And the environm ent benefits through the establishm ent of controls to insure the quality of air, water, soil, and em issions (ISO 9000 Ba sics, 2007). ISO: A Broad Look at its Importance The m ost general justif ication f or IS O is the f act that it is an intern ationally developed set of standards (Nelson and Daniels, 2007). This in dicates broad inputs and ap plications suitable for enterp ris es across th e glo be. The stan dards are rigid by nature, given the long consensus process needed to create o r m odi fy them . With th e increasing globalization of world m arkets, international standards becom e more appropriate. Rao, Ragu-Nath an, and Solis (1997) noted the increased global in terest a decade ag o. Martín ez-Costa and Martínez-Lo rente (2003), who 3 focused on Spanish co mpanies, m ore recently n oted the global nature of certifications and growth in registrations is becom ing increas ingly non-European. And Quazi et al. (2002) recognized the sam e trend in increasi ng registrations by Asian com panies. The process for becom ing certified is long, a nd requires total introspe ction on the part of the applican t. Com panies are required to com prehensively docum ent, and strictly comply with, the quality system in place (Reim an and Henry, 1996; Quazi et al., 2002 ). Therefore, the focus of becom ing registered is to assure the o rganiz ation ’s inte rnal co nfor mity with its own docum ented procedures. The beauty of the ISO 9000 concept is its objec tivity. The registration process culm inates in a th ird-p arty aud it of interna tiona l standard s that lend s cred ibility to the certif ication . An independent organization, called a registrar, m easures the company against the ISO 9000 standard that is accepted globally as the defining set of quality m anagem ent system requirem ents. As a result, what could otherwis e be viewed as a self-serving m arketing claim becom es a third-party endorsem ent th at is respected in the m arketpl ace as being tota lly objective. This independent evaluation assures existing and respective custom ers that an effectiv e quality manage ment system is in place (Hutchins, 1997). What Scholars Say Som e scholars (McAdam and McKeown, 1999; Martínez-Costa and Martínez-Lorente, 2003) have suggested that the m otivations for im plem enting ISO 9000 are an im portant factor in effectiveness. Externally driv en ISO 9000 pursuits are frequen tly done as a requirem ent for getting business. W hen initiate d internally, however, rather than as a response to external pressures, com panies tend to view ISO 9000 regi stration as just the beginning of a quality 4 journey (McAda m and McKeown, 1999; Renuka and Venkateshwara, 2006). Seeing ISO certification as a beginning is consistent with the observation by Rao et al. (1997) that other nationa lly a nd inte rnatio nally rec ognized standards, such as BS I, Kitermark, and Underwriters Laborato ries, use ISO 9000 as a baseline requ irem ent. ISO 9000 is therefore effective b ecause it serves can be a foundation for other certifications. Quazi et al. (2002) noted that proponents of ISO 9000 certifica tion cite benefits such as “having the ability to improve pr oduct or service quality, effici ency and productivity, custom er conf idence, and com petitive adv anta ge” as well as “better co ntrol of business, inc reas ed sales/business, reduced costs, increased produc tivity and fewer custom er com plaints” (p. 54). McAdam and McKeown (1999) sim ilarly stresse d better control, lower costs, and fewer custom er complaints. Elmuti and Kathawala (1 997, as cited in Renuka and Venkateshwara, 2006) echoed the them e of higher productivity and asserted that ISO 9000 certification sparks increased export sales as well. Rao et al. (1997) concurred, and also discussed “consistency” as a benefit, and highlighted the com prehensive nature of the standards, which cover everything from initial product design to post-de livery custom er service. Quazi and Padibjo (1998, as cited in Renuka and Venkateshwara, 2006) reported other, m ore intrinsic effects of certification, such as “im proved quality of work lif e … im proved company im age and com petitivene ss in the marketplace, stream lined procedures and doc umentation; and increased consciousness for preventive and correc tive actions” (p. 45). Chow-Chua, Goh and Wan (2003) noted that most com panies have experienced an increase in overall sales after ISO 9000 certifica tion. They further noted that ISO 9000-certified com panies attained better rates of return a nd the additional benefits of better docum entation, 5 greater quality awareness am ong employees, better internal co mm unication, and an increase in operational awareness. All of these f act ors sha rpen a com pany’s com petitiv e edge. ISO 9000 certification allows a com pany to have better internal proc esses through clearer working procedures, better bottom line profitabil ity, and stronger exports from expansion into international m arkets. Fu ller & Vertinsky ( 2006) reached a sim ilar conclu sion that IS O 9000- certified co mpanies eng aged in software engi neering achieved incr eased profitability. Effectiveness Based on Si ze There’s a well-docum ented differen ce in IS O 9000 certification benefits reaped by small and large companies (McAda m and McKeown, 1999; Martínez-Costa and Martínez-Lorente, 2003; Renuka and Venkateshwara, 2006). Large com panies, for exam ple, tend to enjoy a boost in stock price upon announcing they are pursuing certification. The m arketplace believes that such an announcem ent is a harbinger of im prove d future revenues for the com panies involved due to im proved quality, which leads to reduced fi xed costs, reduced vari able-support costs that increase as sales volum e increases, and incr eased revenues from sales. (Fuller & Vertinsky, 2006). Sm aller com panies a re le ss like ly to a utom atically reap th ese b enef its. I t’s more dif ficult for custom ers in the business-to-business m arket to ascertain if a s mall company is well-run. But while sm aller com panies m ay not get the autom atic bioost in status from ISO 9000 certfifiation enjoyed by larger com panies, they can still levera ge certifrication to prove to the world they have greater control of their business. Renuka and Ve nkateshwara (2006) specif ically cited benefits to sm all com panies which have achieved certificatio n: They were m ore technologically advanced 6 than their peers, and were m ore likely to have im plem ented standard training/developm ent and hum an resource m anagem ent practices. “Standing Out” While Conformin g W hile stand ardiz ation is im portant f or com pan ies, so is product differentiation -- m aking a product that stands out from th e crowd. W hile external standards, such as those described by ISO 9000, are rigid, internal com pany standards need to be flex ible and dynam ic. Companies that a re m ost succes sful at creating a nd sustain ing com petitiv e advantag e are thos e tha t m aintain continuously renewing internal standards. But it’s not enough m erely to have these advantages: Com panies m ust comm unicate their advantages to other bus inesses, or th e com pany will not p ros per. Standardization th rough the ISO certification process allows an organizatio n to comm uni cate with other businesses, through a “comm on language,” even as its own internal processes are changing. Improvements Across The Board Ultim ately, results are w hat m atter. Does be ing ISO 9000-certified actually result in im proved product quality? Rao, et al. (1997) studied com panies in four count ries to test the link between IS O 9000 registration and quality; th e study found that certified com panies had significantly higher scores on m easures of the ei ght quality constructs: leadership, inf orm ation and analysis, strategic quality planning, hum an re source developm ent, quality assurance, supplier relationships, custom er orient ation, and quality results. Our Conclusion: ISO 9000 is Effective 7 For these reasons, we conclude that ISO 9000 appears to be an effective m eans of identifying com panies th at tr uly em brace quality standard s. *** References: 1. Chow-Chua. C., Goh, M., & W an, T. (2003) . Does ISO 9000 certification im prove business perfor mance? The International Journal of Q uality & Reliability Management, 20(8/9) , 936-953. 2. Conti, T. (2004). From infancy to maturity : Rethinking the role of ISO 9000 standards. TQM, and business excellence m ode ls, Quality Congress, 58, 1-7. 3. Foster, S. (2004). Managing quality: An integrative approach (2nd ed.) . Upper Saddle River, New Jersey : Pren tice Hall. 4. Fuller, G., & Vertinsky, I. (2006). Market response to ISO 9000 certification of software engineering processes, International Journal of IT Standards and Standardization Research, 4(2) , 43-54. 5. Hutchins, G. (1997). ISO 9000: A comprehensive guide to registration, audit guidelines and successful certification. New York: John W iley & Sons, Inc. 6. ISO 9000 Basics. (2007). In ISO 9000: Understand the basics . Retrieved from the W eb site of the In terna tiona l Organiza tio n f or Standardiza tion : http://www.iso.org/iso/en/iso9000-14000/understand/qm p.htm l 7. ISO Figures. (2007). In ISO in Figures . Retrieved from the Web s ite of the In terna tional Organization for Standardization:

http://www.iso.org/iso/en/aboutiso/ isoinfigures/January2007-p4.htm l 8 8. Martínez-Costa, M., & Martínez -Lorente, A. (2003). Effects of ISO 9000 certification on firm s' perfor mance: a vision from the m arket. Total Quality Management & Business Excellence , 14 (10), 1179 -1191. 9. McAdam , R., & McKeown, M. (1999). Life after ISO 9000: An analysis of the im pac t of ISO 9000 and total quality m anagem ent on sm all businesses in Northern Ireland. Total Quality Man agement , 10 (2), 229-241. 10. Nelsen, D., Daniels, S.E . (2007). Quality glossary. Quality P rogress, 40 (6), 39-59. 11. Quazi, H., Hong, C., & Meng, C. (2002). Im pact of ISO 9000 certification on quality manage ment practices: A com parative study. Total Quality Management , 13 (1), 53-67. 12. Rao, S., Ragu-Nathan, T., & Solis, L. (1997). Does ISO 9000 have an effect on quality manage ment practices? An international em pirical study. Total Quality Management , 8(6), 333-346. 13. Reim an, C., & Hertz, H. (1996). The Ba ldrige A ward and IS O 9000 registration com pared. Journal for Q uality & Par tic ipation , 19 (1), 12-19. 14. Renuka, S.D., Venkateshwara, B.A. (2006). A comparative study of hum an resource manage ment practices and advanced technol ogy adoption of SMEs with and without IS O certification. Singapore Management Review, 28 (1), 41-61. 9 ISO 9000: An Ineffective Quality System by Chris Heffner, Steven C. “Swede” Larson, Barney “Tim” Lowder and Patti Stites ISO 9000 was created as a family of models in 1987, based on a wartime British manufacturing standard, as the answer to perceived manufacturing problems with quality and safety. The program was originally published in 1987 by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), which is a specialized international agency that focuses on the standardization of organizational processes. Th e organization is composed of standards from organizations representing 90 countries. ISO 9000 was quickly adopted as the premier standard to ensure uniform manufacturi ng and auditing processes. The program went through a major revision in 2000 and now includes ISO 9000:2000 (definitions), ISO 9001:2000 (requirements) and ISO 9004:2000 (continuous improvement). But even after these major revisions, the program is often criticized as ineffective for a wide variety of reasons. We agree. Overemphasis on Inspection First, many researchers believe ISO 9000 is ineffective because it is based on conservatism, overemphasizes inspections and aud its, and fails to encourage real improvement.

Barnes (2000), for example, said that the current commercial certification process results in a “pursuit of quality certificates , as opposed to a pursuit of quality.” Johannsen (1995) also asserted th at the ISO con cept does no t inco rpor ate the advances of Total Quality Managem ent because it is “narrow, static and em phasize[s] co nfor mance to specifications” (p. 234 ). After overseeing more than 50 ISO registrations, Bill Robinson (cited in Cli fford, 2005), argued that ISO is not one of the better system s that can be used for process im provem ent. Clifford (2005) added that the ISO certification p rogram can assist in ra isin g a com pany’s quality, but because of the stringent regulations and sp ecifications, the p rocesses eventu ally stifle long-run quality im prove ment. Quazi, Hong, and Meng (2002) agreed that the focus on standardization reduces creativity and continuous quality im provem ent efforts. In other words, a plateau of quality can be reached through certifica tion, b ut this p lateau cannot be surpassed. Karon (1996). Quazi, Hong, and Meng (2002) also supported the prem ise that the ISO program is not designed as a quality-enhancem ent program , and has not significantly im proved the quality of products and services in firm s where it has been im ple mented. Questions o f Safety Significant evidence also exists that imple mentation of ISO 9000 does not m aintain quality, or even safety, for the custom er. Chinese com panies lead the world in ISO 9000 certifications (ISO Survey of Certifications, 2005, cited in S mith, 2007), and held more than three tim es as m any certifications as U.S. fir ms in 2007. Yet Chinese companies have frequently made headlines due to dangerous pet food, lead-b ased paint on children’s toys, im properly fed fish exported for consumption, poisoned toothp aste, cancer-causing ducks, and tainted cough syrup, to cite only a few exam ples (Bristow, M, 2007). Chinese com panies are also known for 2 producing very cheap, low-quality products for e xport throughout the world. The correlation here seem s to be pointing in the wrong direction and does not serve the ISO 9000 initiative well. Another event that casts ISO 9000 in a bad ligh t: the notorious Bridge stone/Firestone tire case, in which tire treads separated f rom sidewa lls, causing rollovers in F ord Explorers (Daniels, Arter, Bajaria, & Ono, 2000). Both Bridgestone and Firestone were ISO and QS 9000 certified. These quality program s failed to prevent thes e tragedies, ostensibly, because ISO 9000 is focused on being a quality audit program , and does n’t look for field failures or failures in design, which is where m any quality issues reside (Daniels et al., 2000). In shor t, inte rnal aud it scopes such as thos e perform ed by ISO auditors have limited reach an d value, and this results in products pas sing quality requirem ents but later fa iling when u sed by real-world custo mers. Many product designs do not factor in human behavior, which leads to many quality problem s that ISO 9000 cannot detect or im prove (Daniels et al., p. 39). “Not a True Quality P rogram” According to Krajewski and Ritzm an (1999) , ISO 9000 is a set of standards governing the docum entation of a quality program , not a true quality program as m any organizations are led to believe. An effective quality program should be able to detect quality issues in products, and ensure the safety of consum ers that use th e products. Sim ply put, ISO 9000 does not. These em pirical findings are significant because IS O 9000 certification is highly dependent on docum entation that f ocu ses on intern al and ex ter nal audits. If an organiza tion’s ability to docum ent, monitor, and enforce certification guide lines can be called into question, the entire quality program becom es suspect. 3 Skrabec, Jr., Nathan, Rao and Bhatt (1997) demonstrated, based on a Dun and Bradstreet survey, that the only true intern al ben efits afforded by ISO 9000 were quality awareness, better docum entation, and enhanced communications. Extern al benefits – such as im proved perceived quality, im proved com petitive advantage, and redu ced quality audits – were not realized in the study (Skrabec Jr., Ragu-Nathan, Rao, & Bhatt, 1997).

Administration and Control Another m ajor grouping of com plaints about ISO 9000 concerns the extensive adm inistration, control, and reco rding requirem ents. Johannsen (1995) docum ented claim s that the technically written manufacturing standards “straitjacket” the inform ation sectors, d rain creativity an d m otivation to em brace quality from em ployees charged with the respon sibility, and crea te a n illus ion th at the standa rds will “ac t as a bar rier” to the achievem ent of quality standards and custom er satisfaction in thes e sectors (p. 232). Joha nnsen said the ISO 9000 standard was better-suited to industrial m anufacturi ng than, for exam ple, to professional services. That because ISO 9000 is focused on routin e task s and programmed activities, as oppo sed to fields where considerable skill a nd com plex judgm ent are required. According to Boiral (2003), conform ance w ith the standard takes on a cerem onial and mythical asp ect. This cerem onial aspect, with a g oal of projecting a rati onal and in stitution ally approved im age, was particularly visible during certif ication a udits: Th e c ompany’s motiva tion often was the ISO certificate, rather than the sy stem atic im pr ovem ent of com pany pr actices. The docum entation required by ISO 9000, the statem ents , and accom panying publicity were, hence, part of rhetoric and language gam es, with sym bolic than pra ctica l valu e. 4 What’s m ore, ISO 9000 is not inflexible, and according to Moatazed -Keivani, Ghanbari- Parsa, and K agaya (1999), the standard can be extensively rewritte n, greatly varying the scheduling and detail of audits in order to re duce detail and paperwork. This leads to som e concern abo ut the un iver sal app licab ility of the st andard with regards to q uality and sa fety, as a result of this unique custom izab ility. According to Moatazed-Kei vani et al. (1999), the greatest potential failure, though, is in the standard’s br oad nature and potential for m isinterpretation. Required for Basic Survival Many of the world’s largest organizations , including m any branches of the U.S. governm ent, require ISO certification (Cliffor d, 2005; Karon, 1996; Valenti, 1993). Thus, the incentive to confor m to the certification pro cess, f or m any companies, is not increased profitability or long-term , con tinuous im prove ment, but rather basic survival. Karapetrovic, Rajam ani, and W illborn (1997) docum ented that the standard is not friendly to sm all businesses, and that those businesses m ostly participated in th e standard or adopted po rtions of the standard because they were coerced by their large co rporat e cus tom ers, or becaus e they needed to m ove into th e glob al m arket to rem ain competitive. The authors also pointed out several additional obstacles confronting sm all businesses, includi ng inadequate funding available to im plem ent these program s, lack of hum an resources to admi nister the program s, lack of knowledge and/or training, too m uch paperwork, and prohibitive costs that m ight never be justified. Tsiotras and Gotsam ani (1996) added that sele cting a registrar can be challenging; there are num erous certification bodies available, but not all registrars are widely respected or recognized. They added that m any com panies view the registration as an end in itself: Often com panies address the requirem ents of the sta ndard with only the m inimum a mount of effort 5 required and never really realize the full bene fits. These com panies seek registration for “registration’s sake,” not for the right reasons. Barnes (2000) stated that cer tif ica tio n can be exp ensive as we ll. W hile cos ts vary depending on the size of the com pany, the num ber and types of products and the existing quality manage ment system , the average cost of certification was $245,200. W ayhan, Kirche, and Khum awala (2002) said further that ISO 9000 certif ication has very little impact on financial perform ance, and that any financial impact actually dissipates over tim e. Employee a nd Customer Impacts Despite the m ajor revision to ISO 9000 in 2000, there are still m any observations in the literature of continued employ ee and custom er impacts. Mezher, Ajam , and Shehab (2004) researched and verified that the extensive 2000 update to the ISO 9000 standard did result in som e improvem ents for Lebanese firm s that had already im plem ented the 1994 version, for exam ple, but found that em ployees had even le ss control or participa tion in decision-m aking, adversely impacting organizationa l learning and em ployee motivation. They also observed that there we re still s ever al cu stom er satisf action crit eria that we re not addres sed. Boiral (20 03) conducted extensive interviews and found highly c ontrasting attitudes that were frequently critical of the ISO 9000 system , whi ch wa s often given only superficial support. Through a qualitative analysis of the data, Boiral identife d three types of respondents, grouped according to their opinions and attitudes about the impl em entation of this standard: cerem onial integrators, quality enthusiasts, and dissidents (p. 720). Cerem onial integrators m ost closely resembled those individual s and firm s coerced by either ci rcum stance or relationship to im ple ment the ISO 9000 standard. Q uality enth usiasts’ responses reflected m anagem ent 6 “rheto ric of success” ab out the im plem entation of total quality progr am s, a tra it no t s hared by th e other respondent categories. Di ssident responses were anti-con trol, anti-standardization, and against program s that removed employee participation in proce ss. Boiral’s research project contributes to a better unde rstanding of how institutiona l pres sures create “isom orphic” organizations, by leading them to adopt identical manage ment m odels in the nam e of r ationality, control, quality, and safety. Relationship w ith Quality Aw ard Programs The ISO 9000 standard does not relate we ll to quality awards around the world. Ghobadian and W oo (1996) com pared and highli ghted four m ajor quality awards: the De ming Application Prize, the E uropean Quality Awar d, the Ma lcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, and the Australian Quality Award. Each of th ese awards provides a fram ework for evaluating managem ent practice, in cludi ng the deploym ent of quality plans. The awards prov ide a fram ework for im plem enting qua lity program s, an area that h as been id en tif ied em pirically as one of the struggles for som e com panies that are ISO 9000-certified (Chow-Chua et al., 2003). However Ghobadian and W oo pointed out that ISO certification and the requirem ents for the awards were extremely different. The certifi cation process focuses more on audits, whereas the award requirem ents focus on wider issu es, su ch as leaders hip and resu lts. Perhaps the most inte res ting f inding is tha t both certification and aw ards are not based on custom er satisfaction fro m the custo mer’s pe rspectiv e. The custom er or a consum er-like comm ittee does not gran t cer tif ica tio n, nor does the custom er nom ina te organizations to receive quality awards (applicants nom inate them selv es). The questio n becom es, then: Does th e 7 organization that receives ISO certification, or receives a m ajor award, really have satisfy custom ers? Lack of Management Support Many researchers hav e emphasized that the success of any quality program depends on the organization’s m anagem ent and culture. Quantit ative research on the perceived benefits of ISO 9000, which looked at 146 organizations partic ipated, found that firm s acknowledged som e advantages of ISO 9000 certificat ion, but that they also noted significant problem s (Chow-Chua, Goh, & W an, 2003). This investigation provide d reasonable evidence that even though organiz ation s with ISO c ertif ication experien ced s ome benefits, these com panies exp erienced failures in establishing adequate m onitoring prog ram s, installing strict co mpliance sy stem s, and conducting regular m anagem ent reviews. Othe r studies previously found that very few com panies ever reap the rewards of the progr am s, due to unsuccessful im plem entation (Karon, 1996; Valenti, 1993). The ISO certification program is rigorous, dem anding, com plex, and time-consum ing (Dale, 2002; Valenti, 1993). Unsuccessful im plem entation is often the result of a lack of long- term comm itment by top m anagem ent, becaus e managers und erestim ate the tim e, res ources, finances, and scope required (Bennis, 1977; Chatterjee & Yilm az, 1993; Geri, 2005). The ISO 9000 program requirem ents m ay appear, to a m anager, to be m anageable in the beginning, but as program implem entation progresses, m any new factor s th at were prev iously unaddressed rise to the surface and im pede progre ss (Rastetter, 1985 ; W idmer, 1979) . Tsiotras and Gotsamani (1996) went so far as to assert that the greatest reason for the failure of ISO 9000 program s is a lack of m anagem ent commit ment throughout the organization. 8 Conclusion Though ostensibly proposed and required by m any firm s as a quality and safety manage ment program , ISO 9000 has failed in m any cases to achieve any long-term impact on custom er interpretation of quality, or to guarantee safety for eith er em ployees or cus tomers. It has sim ilarly failed to achieve quality im provem ent for m any firm s, or the increased profitability which has been claim ed. It does not support th e growing trend for rapid custom ization, and seem s to inhibit adaptab ility and resp onse to rap id change in prof essional f ields whic h requir e less rou tin ized process es and think ing. W hat’s more, m anagem ent freque ntly lacks commit ment to the program, beyond pursuing because the com pany is required to do so for business reasons. For these reasons and the others discu ssed above, we believe ISO 9000 program is largely ineffective as a quality and safety m anage ment standard. References 1. Barnes, F. (2000). Good business sense is the key to confronting ISO 9000. The Review of Business , 21 (1/2), 11-15. 2. Bennis, W . G. (1977). Where have all the leaders gone? McKinsey Quarterly (3), 32. 3. Boiral, O. (2003). ISO 9000: outside the iron cage. Organization Science, 14 (6), 720-737. 4. Bristow, M. (2007). China tackles tainted food crisis. BBC News Web service: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/a sia-pacif ic/6288096.stm . 5. Chatterjee, S., & Yilm az, M. (1993). Quality co nfusion: Too m any gurus, not enoug h discip les. Business Horizons, 36 (3), 15. 9 6. Chow-Chua, C., Goh, M., & W an, T. (2003) . Does ISO 9000 certification im prove business perfor mance? . The International Journal of Quality and Reliability Management, 20 (8/9), 936. 7. Clifford, S. (2005, May). So m any standards to f ollow, so little payoff. 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(1996). Confronting ISO 9000. InfoWorld, 18 (31), 61. 15. Krajewski, L., & Ritzman, L. (1999). Operations management: Strategy and analysis . Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley. 10 16. Mezher, T., Ajam , M., & Shehab, M. (2004) . The historical im pact of ISO 9000 on Lebanese firm s. Quality Assurance, 11 (1), 25-42. 17. Moatazed-K eivani, R., G hanbari-Parsa, A., & Kagaya, S. (1999). ISO 9000 standards: perceptions and experiences in the UK construction industry. Construction Management and Economics, 17, 107-119. 18. Quazi, H. A., Hong, C. W., & Meng, C. T. ( 2002). Im pact of ISO 9000 certification on quality m anagem ent prac tices: A comparative study. Total Quality Management , 13 (1), 53-67. 19. Rastetter, A. L., III. (198 5). Managerial activity analysis via Mintzberg's role theory: The effects of person and organization variables. Un published d octora l the sis subm itted to Florida State University . 20. Skrabec Jr., Q., Ragu-Nathan, T., Rao, S., & Bh att, B. (1997). ISO 9000: Do the benefits outweigh the costs? . Industrial Management, 39 (6), 26. 21. Sm ith, L. (2007, May). The hidden costs of cheap certification. Quality Digest We b service: http://www.qualitydigest.com /may07/articles/02_article.shtm l. 22. Tsiotras, G. & Gotzam ani, K. (1996). ISO 9000 as an entry key to TQM : The case of Greek industry. International Journal of Qual ity and Reliability Management, 13 (4), 64- 76. 23. Valenti, M. (1993). In search of quali ty ... Am erican firm s turn to ISO 9000. Mechanical Engineering, 115 (4), 42. 24. Wayhan, V. B., Kirche. E. T., & Khum awala, B. M. (2002, March). ISO 9000 certification: The financial perform ance im plications. Total Quality Man agement , 13 (2), 217-231. 11 25. W idmer, H. (1979). Chance, change, and strategy. McKinsey Quarterly (2), 36. 12 Team 1 Rebuttal ISO-9000: An Effective Quality System by Chris Amponsah, Anne DeClouette, Dwight Dew, Elizabeth Pogue and Clint Wilson Our Team 2 colleagues argue that the ISO 9000 family of certification standards is ineffective in today's business environment. We disagree, for the reasons explained below. In brief: The first step in deciding if anything is effective is to consider what it’s actually trying to do, the goals it’s trying to achieve, and the objectives it’s trying to satisfy. Once this is established, we can proceed to decide if a ventur e was successful: Did it actually succeed in what it set out to do? (Rushmer, 1997). The purpose of ISO 9000 is to provide custom ers with confidence that a supplier has a documented, effective and independently verified management system. The arguments presented by our Team 2 colleagues primarily deal with management and implementation problems, rather than with the certification standards themselves. ISO 9000 is a global certifica tion system. The certification standards are intentionally broad, so they can be applied to companies acro ss many industries. As a result, ISO 9000 leaves the interpretation of many of its requirements to the judgment of the managers closest to a particular company’s processes. The human im plementation of these standards relies on the managers’ ethics to fully ach ieve the intended policies. Furthermore, ISO 9000 was not designed for, nor should it be confused with, the purpose of the country-specific quality awards pr ograms cited by our Team 2 colleagues. Point 1: Overemphasis on Certification Achievement Our Team 2 colleagues state that in the pur suit of ISO 9000 certification, businesses often em phasize the num ber of quality ce rtif icate s they ’ve attain ed, rathe r than f ocusing on im proving the quality in the com pany and its products or serv ices. They also say that quality certification program s stif le crea tivity by crea ting a m indset in which a m inim um level of quality is the goal, beyond which process improvem ent is never rea lized (Larson, Lowder, Matthews, & Stites, 2007). These problem s are not the fault of the ISO 9000 certification program . Rather, manage ment is responsible for poor results, by on ly requiring the m inimum ISO standards to be met. The default m essage given to the organiza tion, as a result, is th at continuous quality im provem ent is not im portan t. The ex ecutiv e lead ership of any com pany s ets the tone on issues of ethics, quality, safety, and other cultural attributes. They, not ISO 9000, are also responsible for setting the tone for continuous quality im provem ent. Our Team 2 colleagues reference som e serious lapses in safety and quality in Chinese products as evidence that ISO 9000 is ineffective. They note that as of 2007, China led the world in the num ber of ISO 9000 certifications. But they fail to m ention that th e large com panies that hold those certifications are gene rally not the companies whose pr oducts have m ade such tragic headlines. Many Chinese consum er goods are produ ced by very sm all fam ily businesses that have no interest in m eeting, or abilit y to m eet, global safety standards. Meanwhile, the larger companies who pr oduced unsafe products obviously were not following the ISO quality standards : Sim ply m eet ing m inimum qualifications once does not autom atically m ean that a com pany will con tinu e to m eet saf ety standard s. ISO stand ards sim ply provide a benchm ark by which other com panies a nd consum ers can judge the probable level of quality standards in th e certified company. 2 Quality design and inspection m ust also be com pleted in an ethical and res ponsible manner. Again, this is m anagem ent’s responsib ility. The cited exam ple of tire failures at Bridgestone and Firestone involve d, in both cases, poor ethical judgm ents m ade by m anagem ent. Point 2 – Administration and Control The check-the-box m entality suggested by our Te am 2 colleagues can be seen not only in the ISO m odel, but also within m any other standa rd-setting bodies. Tax law, financial statem ent audits, com pliance audits, and quali ty audits that a re written in checklist fo rm ats leave room for users to find the loopholes that invariably exis t. A principle-based form at, in which ethical managers voluntarily comply with the underlying concepts of the m odel, is a stronger model for written standards. Much of Europe, for exam ple, uses principle-base d financial reporting, in which a company is expected to disclose any a nd all f inanc ial inf orm ation that would assist readers of th e financial statem en ts in m aking investm ent and cred it decisions. However, this method of st andard-setting has its own unique se t of problem s, and historically m ost US standard-setting bodies have used the checklist m ethod. Our Team 2 colle agues write that the broad and custom izable nature of the ISO standards is a fault. Yet, these general gu idelines allow use by com pani es in m any industries, not just those involved in m anufacturing. Having more specific, detailed guidelin es would serve as even m ore of a “stra itja cket” to cre ativity (La rso n, et al., 2007). As written, th e standards allow for creativity and process improvem ent, which ar e among the program ’s greatest strengths. The success of the program depends on the use and in terpretation of the general guidelines by all em ployees responsible for product safety and improvem ent. 3 Point 3 – Required for Basic Survival Com plying with basic ISO 9000 standards is a hugely popular benchm arking activity. Rather th an being a wea kness, the sp read of the c ertif ication a cross th e world a ttes ts to its trem endous value. The supposed weakness of cost can also be easily explained. Conti nuous im prove ment of any sort is e xpensive. Still, com panies conti nually engage in it to expand their strateg ic com petitive advantage. The cost of quality f ailu re is gen erally consid ere d to be m uch higher tha n the cost of quality im provem ent. One of the argum ents posed by our T eam 2 colleagues is the negative im pact on em ployees during the decision-m aking process: that em ployees had less control and less involvem ent in the decision-m aking process be cause of standardization. W e would believe, conversely, that ISO 9000 positiv ely im pacts em ployees. Zuck erm an (1999), for exam ple, discussed IS O 9000 as a communication tool that is docum entation-based. She asserted that when all em ployees are highly involved in the do cum entation of work pro cedures, th ey are better prepared to “perform other tasks that involve gathering, sorting, and culling inform ation. They will be ab le to better m onitor information flow th roughout a com pany' s supply chain, provide strategic analysis to aid a m arketing or sales departm ent, and, in the long run, m axim ize technology use” (p. 35). In other words, em ploy ees working in an ISO 9000 organization are better prep ared to contrib ute to strategic plann ing and to the d ecis ion-m aking proces s, because they’re better equipped with information a bout business processes and work flows. Zuckerm an went on to describe “the right way” f or em ploy ees to practice ISO 9000: This includes docum enting procedures , storing them for referen ce, proposing changes, and 4 dissem inating inform ation. These employees are “extraordinarily prepared to assist their com panies in gathering any type of infor mation that would be of strategic value,” she said. Our Team 2 colleagues also asse rt th at ce rtif ication is an expensive process, basing their argum ent on research by Barnes (200 0). A m ore recent a rticle by Casadesú s and & Karapetrov ic (2005) suggested that the cost s of IS O 9000 i mplem entation and m aintenance substantially decreased between 1998 and 2002. On the surface, the co sts m ay still ap pear to b e excessive. Ho wever, comparing the benef its r ece ived to the c ost of im plem entati on brings to light a m uch diffe rent picture. Casadesús and & Karapetrovic (200 5) noted “a perception that ove rall b enef its of ce rtif ication outweigh the costs” (p. 584). Using survey data, they further descri bed the perceived benefits of ISO 9000, including: • A decrease in nonconform ities, increase in cus tomer satisfaction, im provem ent of relationships with suppliers and a d ecreas e in co mplaints. • Im provem ents in cus tomer serv ice, a decr ea se in custom er complaints, an d bette r access to new markets. • Im prove ments in delivery targets and supplier relationships. • Very few companies (les s than 2 percen t) with an unfavorable view of the benefits from ISO 9000 im ple mentation. Our Team 2 colleagues argue that IS O 9000 resu lts in poorly perceive d benefits and the stifling of lo ng-term quality im provem ent. On the contrary: The Lloyd’s Quality Ass urance Register perfor med a study investigating percepti ons of ISO 9000 benefits over tim e. This study of 400 organizations showed “that the com panies which had been registered for m ore than five years reported greater benefits than the com panies that h ad just com pleted the pro cess. The 5 study also suggested that com panie s should realize that benefits from registration m ay not com e imm ediately; therefore they should look at IS O 9000 certification as a lo ng-term investm ent” (ibid, p. 583). In other words: ISO 9000 is not a “quick fix” way to becom e a quality organization. It is a process that takes tim e to change an orga nization into a company based on documented work procedures. While ISO certification is m ore difficult for sm aller com panies to achieve, Renuka and Venkateshwara (2006) cited the un ique benefits sm aller com panies gain. In India, sm all ISO- certified co mpanies are more techno logica lly advanced, im plem ent m ore standard training/developm ent, and have greater “em ployee-friendly” hum an resource m anagem ent practices than their counterpart s that have not obtained ISO ce rtification. Certification also distinguishes sm all companies as serious entities am ong an inconsistent group, and often leads to business op portunities that the sm all com pany would otherwise not have received. The overwhelm ing support and expansion of the ISO 9000 program shows that businesses want to voluntarily com ply. As far as the cost is concerned, what could be m ore expensive than going out of business? Point 4 – Connections to Quality Aw ard Programs Team 2 points out that the ISO 9000 program does not m esh perfectly with quality awards around the world. That’s because they’re not supposed to m esh. They do not duplicate each other. Because IS O 9000 is global in nature and is app lied to m any different ind ustries, it has a very different purpose than the country-specific quality awards cited by our Team 2 c olleagues. 6 These awards look to identify best practices, lead ership, and results. These aspects of a business are fluid, since organizational l eadership and business results can and do change from year to year. That’s why it m ake s sense to recognize these aspects with an award. On the other hand, docum enting processes and the developm ent a nd ongoing implem entatio n of quality program , as ISO calls for, are m ore static, and lend them selv es m ore to certification. (The certification is not entirely inflexible, though, sin ce the standards docum ented can be updated.) This accounts for the re lian ce on audits. The fact that com panies are not nom inated by cus tom ers for certification is inconsequential. Com panies pur su e certif ication to build inte rnal quality awareness and program s. Custom ers generally do not care about cer tif ica tio n: They jus t want a prod uct tha t works as promoted. Besides, before the widesp read use of the Intern et, it was often nearly im possible for a com pany’s custom ers to organize in such a way. Suppliers and dow nstream business-to-business cu stom ers, on the other h and, do care ab out certification, because they want assuranc e th at the com pany has a qua lity p rogram . Point 5 – Lack of Management Su pport Team 2 states the “unsuccessful im plem entation is often the result of a lack of long-term comm itment by top m anagem ent because of an underestim ation of requirem ents that include tim e, resources, finances, and scope” (Larson, et al., 2007, p. 8). W e reiterate that this is not a fault in th e s tandards the mselves, but speaks ins tead to the integrity and ethics of the m anagers who supposedly lead the quality im provem ent pro cesses. If m anage ment is not m otivated to com ply with the spirit of the ISO fa mily, then how m uch m otivation would they have to support 7 a different quality im provem ent program , especially if the alte rnative prog ram were not so well- structured ? Com panies that “plateau ” often do so because th ey view certification as the end of a process, rath er than the b eginning. ISO certification is m ost successful when it is part of a larger quality initia tive. M any o f the exam ples cited by Team 2 illustra te th is point: Many S ingaporean com panies did experience post-certification issues with m onitoring program s, compliance system s, and m anagem ent reviews, but those problem s were caused by managem ent seeing ISO certification as the m eans to an end, and not fully integrating quality. Si milarly, it’s true that Bridgeston e/Fireston e an d som e Chinese com panies experienced horrendous quality problem s despite being ISO 9000 certified, but the problems can be traced to bad im plem entation of quality, not bad standards. W ith a ny program , there will be companie s that seek to circum vent its true nature, rather than embr acing the benefits. L ong-term executive m anagem ent support is vital for any continuous im provem ent pro cess, not just ISO certification. Conclusion The purpose of ISO 9000 is to provide custom ers with confidence th at a supplier has a docum ented, effective and independently verifi ed m anagem ent system . The ISO 9001 standard, for exam ple, has 20 elem ents describing the m inimum requirem ents of sound business practice, and the validity of any of the requirem ents is rarely disputed: They include such clearly sound practices as a custom er com plaint res olution p rocess, form al design reviews, testing of all deliverables, reviews of requirem ents before accep ting con tracts, and regu lar aud its to verify com pliance and the effectiven ess of procedures. (Am ita, 2006). 8 The success of any tool is directly dependent on the skill of its users. Organizations failing to gain value from their ISO 9000 regi stration have used the tools incorrectly. What’s m ore, the ISO 9000 standards sim ply state the m andatory elem ents required to assure quality in deliverables; they do not specify how to achieve com pliance. W hen ISO 9000 critics po int to m assive overhea d, bureaucratic procedures, unn ecessary processes, s low cycle tim es, etc., they are describing ex amples of ineffectiv e applicati ons of the standard, not flaws within th e standard itse lf. We rem ind r eaders, and our Team 2 colleagues, that a four-country study testing the link between IS O registration and quality resulted in st atistica lly signif ican t s cores in the eight qua lity constructs of Leadership, Inform ation and anal ysis, Strategic quality planning, Hum an resource developm ent, Quality assurance, Supplier relation ship, Custom er orientation, and Quality results (Rao, Ragu-Nathan & S olis, 1997). Considering th ese results, as well as other consequential benefits noted by the scholars, we rem ain convi nced that IS O 9000 appears to be an effective means of identifying co mpanies that em brace quality stand ards. References: 1. Am ita.com . Amita’s approach to ensuring customer satisfaction : http://www.am ita.co m/ISO9000/Custom erSatisfaction.aspx 2. Barnes, F. (2000). Good business sense is the key to confronting ISO 9000. The Review of Business , 21 (1/2), 11-15. 3. Casadesús, M., & Karapetrovic, S. (2005). Has ISO 9000 lost som e of its luster? A longitudinal im pact study. International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 25(5/6) , 580-596. 9 4. Chow-Chua. C., Goh, M. & W an, T. ( 2003). Does ISO 9000 certification improve business perfor mance? The International Journal of Q uality & Reliability Management, 20(8/9) , 936-953. 5. Rao, S., Ragu-Nathan, T., & Solis, L. (1997). Does ISO 9000 have an effect on quality manage ment practices? An international em pirical study. Total Quality Management , 8(6), 333-346. 6. Renuka, S. & Venkateshwara, B. (2006). A comparative study of hum an resource manage ment practices and advanced technol ogy adoption of SMEs with and without IS O certification. Singapore Management Review, 28 (1), 41-61. 7. Rushm er, R. (1997). How do we m easure the e ffectiveness of team building? Is it good enough? T eam Managem ent System a - case study. Journal of Management Developmen t, 16(2/3) , 93-110. 8. Zuckerm an, A. (1999). ISO 9000 revisions are key to knowledge age excellence. Quality Progress, 32(7) , 35-39. 10 Team 2 Rebuttal ISO 9000 - An Ineffective Quality System by Chris Heffner, Steven C. “Swede” Larson, Barney “Tim” Lowder, Michael Matthews and Patti Stites Team 1’s premise is that ISO 9000 certification is beneficial for an organization because it provides significant rewards. We believe, howev er, that the ISO program is neither a panacea nor an effective tool for ensuring quality th roughout an organization, especially continuous quality improvement. In this rebuttal, we will address Team’s 1’s positions on ISO 9000’s importance, the views of scholars, and ISO 9000’s effectiveness related to Total Quality Management, profitability, and competitive advantage.

ISO: A Broad Look at its Importance Team one justifies ISO 9000, in part, by stating that ISO is an internationally developed set of standards, and thus consists of broad inputs and applications for enterprises across the globe, which can be adapted to meet a specific organization’s needs. In reality, the standards were developed, and are still overseen, by a technical committee, ISO/TC 176, which includes experts from limited fields in the industrial, technological, and business sectors. Johannsen (1995) asserted that the standards are bette r-suited to industrial manufacturing than to professional services or services in general. Th e technical sectors for the standards alone would seem to preclude many smaller businesses, and even developing countries with limited infrastructure, limited and technology and difficu lty with agriculture, food, and the distribution of goods. I mplem entation of ISO Program s is diff icult at best, and prohi bitively costly in countries such as New Zealand, where 87% of bus inesses have fewer than five em ployees and 92% have fewer than tw enty. The vast m ajority of New Zealand’s industry seem s to be left out by both the cost and rigidity of these standards (Mann & Grigg, 2004). Team 1 also says a strength of the IS O 9000 concept is its objectiv ity, and the credibility associated w ith having an independent third-party registrar issue a certific ate of endorsem ent. On the contrary: Tsiotras and Gotsam ani (1996) noted that selecting a registrar can be challenging. There are nu merous certification bod ies available, but not all registrars ar e widely respected or recognized. Therefore, the third-party audit syst em m ay not provide the objectivity that is claim ed by proponents of the program . Som e anecdotal evidence: A search of an online, inform al Google chat forum on “m iscellaneous industry quality” in March 2003 revealed comments from QMS auditors suggesting that “bad ISO certificates” could m islead customer thinking. One participant, who claim ed to be an auditor from China, said he has been shown ISO 9000 certificates for system s that had not yet been established. His comm ents : “If som eone shows you a certificate, don’t trust it. ISO is a good m anagem ent standard but it doesn’t m ean that all the system s behind the certificates are good too.” W e think it’s significant that this obse rvation was m ade well after the ISO 9000 standard revision of 2000.

What Scholars Say About ISO Team 1 offe rs a substantial list of scholarly references th at are purported to support the various m otivations, drivers and benefits of ISO 9000 certification. But m ost of the research 2 cited by the team predates the 2000 revis ion. Add ition ally, m any of these sam e researchers also pointed out severe flaw s in the ISO 9000 program. For instance, Dick (2000), listed as a source in support of ISO 9000, reviewed several studies, and while he acknowledged that som e co mpanies report increased perform ance, his overall conclusion was that ISO certification “has little or no explanatory power in terms of organisational [sic] perform ance.” He also conc luded that “there does appear to be som e evidence that accreditation can be achieved too easily by those who just want the badge.” And, he said, com panies that did rea lize increased profits m ay have done so as a result of their motivation to seek im proved quality , not becaus e of the ISO certification itse lf. Tsiotras and Gotsam ani (1996), in another study included in defense of ISO 9000, agreed with other authors that m any comp anies se ek c ertif ication “ just f or the sake of it.” T hey added that the real value in any quality im provem ent program is continuous im provem ent itself, not necessarily the initial certification, and they listed a num ber of problem s with ISO 9000, including: • Low flexibility and slow response to change. • Lack of correlation betw een certification and high quali ty or increased custom er satisfaction. • An excessive obedience to docum ented pr ocedu res, which may discourag e critical thinking. • A lack of focus on continuous im provem ent beyond the achievem ent of certification. A report by Vloeberghs and Belle ns (1996) is also listed as a source in support of ISO 9000, yet the authors argued that the ISO 9000 system does not put enough em phasis on process 3 im prove ment, and does not address the strategic managem ent fram eworks that should be the basis f or qua lity m anagem ent. In their survey, a la rge pe rcentage of m anagers stated that they would like to see ISO 9000 m ove more toward Total Quality Management and focus m ore attention on results, as oppos ed to docum entation. Am ong 30 % of their respondents, the com pany’s hum an-resources departm ent played no role in the ISO certification, even though 81% said th ey believed that the involvem ent of HR was a necessary com ponent. Furth er, 61% of the respondents said that the bi ggest disadvantage of ISO 9000 wa s the enorm ous adm inistrative burden. Second to this was lost fl exibility, reported by 12% of the respondents. Interestingly, the two top-rated external advantages cited for ISO related to having certification, as opposed to im proving quality or custom er satisfaction. Num erous researchers have shown that IS O 9000 has few implications for im prove ment in leadership (for examples, see Tsiotras & Gotzam ani, 1996; Karon, 1996; Valenti, 1993; Chatterjee & Yilm az, 1993; and Geri, 2005). Th e necessity o f culture ch ange initiated by leadership in order to achieve an effectiv e qua lity program is also well-docum ented in the literature (for exam ples, see Claver, Gasco, Llopis, & Gonzalez, 2001, and Savolainen, 2000). If a program aim ed at i mproving quality is too cum bersom e or difficult, and does not address issues such as leadership and culture change, it m ay not be the m ost effective pro gram available. Finally, Mo and Chan (1997), cited by Team 1 as a source for the ISO benefit of increased profitability, noted that businesses m ust be ISO certified in order to do business with European industries. Thus the argum ent that ce rtification increases opp ortunities for export and expansion to the in terna tional m arket m ay have no thing to do with the a ctual benef its of quality im prove ment, but m ay merely be a reflection of the com pany’s secu ring o f the certification 4 docum ent itself. The res earchers als o adm itte d that m any companies find ISO 9000 certification too tim e-consum ing and overly formalized and impersonal. Team 1’s point that the standards create d by ISO 9000 are detaile d in 620,768 pages is actually a testam ent to the tim e and burdens th at certification places on com panies wishing to com pete. Return on Investment? Team 1 supports th e idea that ISO certi fication enhances profitability. But W ayhan, Kirche, and Khum awala (2002) obs erved that certification has ve ry little impact on financial profitability, and that any profitabi lity that is im proved dissipates over tim e. In a survey of m ore than 600 firm s in the United Kingdom , Batchelor (1992) found that 85% gained no increase in profitability due to quality certi fication. Likewise, Terz iovski et al. (1997) surveyed 1000 firm s in Australia and New Zealand and found no pos itive relationship betw een certification and business perfor mance. Seddon (1997, cited in Dick, 2000) even goes so far as to suggest any im pact from im ple mentation of ISO 9000 is actually negative . One comm ent m ade by a participant of the study seem s to sum up Seddon’s view: “Our printe r announced that he could no longer supply us with quotations over the telephone. He had becom e registered to ISO 9000 and this m eant that paperwork had to go between us. Even using the fax, we found that quotations now took at least four days. We changed printers.” 5 Relationship to TQM and Competitive Advantage Does ISO implem entation really le ad to f urther incorporation of th e quality practices of TQM within an organization? Johannsen (1995) a sserted just the opposite, saying that the ISO concept does not inco rporate the ad vances of TQ M because it is “narro w, static and em phasized confor mance to specifications.” Quazi, Hong, a nd Meng (2002) agreed that the ISO focus on standardization reduces creativit y and continuous quality im provem ent efforts. After overseeing more than 50 ISO registrations , Bill Robinson (cited in Cliffo rd, 2005), argued that ISO is not one of the better systems that can be used for process im provem ent. Cliffo rd added that the ISO Certification Program can assis t in raising a com pany’s quality, but becau se of the stringent regulations and specifications, th e processes eventually stifle long-term quality im provem ent. There is also m uch discu ssion in the lite ratu re of the high levels of hum an and financial resources required for implem entation. Accordi ng to Barnes (2000) certification can be expensive. While costs do vary with organiza tion size and com plexity, the average cost of certification is estim ated at $245,000, which is ou t of reach of m any s maller com panies. Mo and Chan (1997) found in their survey of sm all a nd medium sized businesses that cost was the num ber one reason som e chose not to seek cer tification. Tsiotras and Gotzam ani (1996) also found that the costs of becom ing certified were too great for m any s mall com panies to afford. Sim ilarly, the ISO 9000 program does not offer the opportunity to com pete without investing resources: Com panies m ust adopt the st andard before being allowed to participate. Since m any sm all businesses canno t afford the cost of certification, ev en if they are co mmitted to quality, competition is thus act ually decreased by ISO 9000, allowing the larger corporations to com pete with each othe r while pushing out sm aller com petito rs. 6 Conclusion ISO 9000 may have served its purpose in the 1980s, but it has since becom e bogged down by docum entation and a failure to adapt to the changing needs of industry. The w\ orld has moved on – communications and technology availabl e today were hardly im agined a m ere 20 years ago -- and the need for fl exibility and rapid change runs counter to ISO’s reliance on standardization and detailed docum entation. Furt her, ISO has kept sm aller com panies from com peting in m any industries and for m any gove rnm ent contracts. While Team 1 argues that ISO 9000 provides co mpanies with advantages, even after 20 years th e res earch rem ains inconclus ive, at b est, regarding the benefits of the program. W hile businesses n eed TQM and continuou s quality im provem ent to successfully com pete, ISO 9000 may no longer be an answer. -- References 1. Barnes, F. (2000). Good business sense is the key to confronting ISO 9000. The Review of Business , 21 (1/2), 11-15. 2. Chatterjee, S., & Yilm az, M. (1993). Quality co nfusion: Too m any gurus, not enoug h discip les. Business Horizons, 36 (3), 15. 3. Chow-Chua, C., Goh, M., & W an, T. (2003) . Does ISO 9000 certification im prove business perfor mance? . The International Journal of Quality and Reliability Management, 20 (8/9), 936. 4. Claver, E., Gasco, J. L., Llopis, J., and Gon zalez, R. (2001). The strategic process of a culture change to im plem ent total quality m ana gem ent: A case study. Total Quality Management, 12 (4), 469-482. 7 5. Clifford, S. (2005, May). So m any standards to f ollow, so little payoff. Inc.com Web service: http://www.inc.com /magazine/20050501/m anage ment.htm l. 6. Dick, G. P. M. (2000). ISO 9000 certification benefits, reality or m yth? The TQM Magazine, 12 (6). 7. Geri, N., and Ronen, B. (2005). Relevance lo st: The rise and fa ll of activity-based costing. Human Systems Management, 24 (2), 133-144. 8. Google group “m isc.industry.quality” (3 Ma rch 2003). “Maybe we should say ISO9000 certification have [sic] died?”:

http://g roups .google.com/group/m isc. industry.qu ality /browse_ thread /th read/95d1ebf1fc7 c4aa4/f7fc4f533b3cfd4a. 9. Johannsen, C. (1995). Application of the IS O 9000 standard s of quality managem ent in professional services: an inform ation sector case. Total Quality Management, 6 (3), 231- 242. 10. Karapetrovic, S., & Rajam ani, D. (1997). ISO 9000 for s mall business: do it yourself. Industrial Management, 39 (3), 24-31. 11. Karon, P. (1996). Confronting ISO 9000. InfoWorld, 18 (31), 61. 12. Mann, R., & Grigg, N. (2004). Helping the Kiwi to fly. Total Quality Man agement & Business Excellence, 15 (5/6), 707-718. 13. Mo, J. P. T., & Chan, A. M. S. (1997). Strategy for the successful im ple mentation of ISO 9000 in sm all and m edium m anufact urers. The T QM Magazine, 9 (2), 135-145. 14. Quazi, H. A., Hong, C. W., & Meng, C. T. ( 2002). Im pact of ISO 9000 certification on quality m anagem ent prac tices: A comparative study. Total Quality Management , 13 (1), 53-67. 8 15. Savolainen, T. (2000). Towards a new workpl ace cultu re: D evelopm ent strategies for em ployer-employee relations. Journal of Workplace Learning , 12(8), 318. 16. Seddon, J. (1997). Ten argum ents against ISO 9000. Managing Service Quality, 7 (4), 162-168. 17. Tsiotras, G., & Gotzam ani, K. (1996). ISO 9000 as an entry key to TQM : The case of Greek industry. International Journal of Qual ity and Reliability Management, 13 (4), 64- 76. 18. Valenti, M. (1993). In search of quali ty ... Am erican firm s turn to ISO 9000. Mechanical Engineering, 115 (4), 42. 19. Vloeberghs, D., & Bellens, J. (1996). Im ple menting the ISO 9000 standards in Belgium . Quality Pro gress, 29(6 ), 43-48. 20. Wayhan, V. B., Kirche. E. T., & Khum awala, B. M. (2002, March). ISO 9000 certification: The financial perform ance im plications. Total Quality Man agement , 13 (2), 217-231. 9 Meet the Teams Team 1 Christian Tabi Amponsah is a senior associate with PricewaterhouseCoopers’ corporate advisory and restructuring practice in Vancouver, BC, Canada. He is a civil engineer, and holds an MBA from the University of Lei cester, England. He is currently a doctoral student in organization and mana gement at Capella University.

Anshila “Anne” DeClouette is an instructor at Antelope Valley College in Lancaster, CA, teaching accounting and general business cour ses. She previously held business and financial analyst posit ions with several Fortune 200 companies. She earned an MBA from The University of Tulsa in Oklahoma, and is currently a doctoral student in organization and management at Capella University.

Dwight Dew is a retired U.S. Navy captain w ho is a principal analyst with the Northrop Grumman Corporation in Virginia Beach, VA. He is a mechanical engineer, and holds a MSME degree from the U.S. Naval Post graduate School and an MBA from Auburn University. He is currently a doctoral student in organization and management at Capella University.

Elizabeth A. Pogue, CPA, CMA, is an assistant professor of accounting at St. Ambrose University in Davenport, IA. She holds a master’s degree in accounting from St.

Ambrose, and is currently a doctora l student at Capella University Clint Wilson is a manager with EPB, a munici pally owned electric utility in Chattanooga, TN. He is an electrical engineer and ho lds a BSECE degree from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and an MBA from the Un iversity of Chattanooga. He is currently a doctoral student in organization and management at Capella University.

-- Team 2 Christopher Heffner is a core faculty member at Capella University’s Harold Abel School of Psychology, where he teaches courses rela ted to research, statistics and outcome measurement. He holds a bachelor’s degree with a dual major in psychology and business administration, a master’s degree in psychol ogy and a doctorate in clinical psychology.

He is currently a doctoral student in organization and manage ment at Capella University.

Steven "Swede" Larson is a 30-year veteran of the U.S. Navy, working in support of the military’s air, land, surface, subsurface and special-operations communities. Formerly a defense contractor, he is now an executive with the U.S. Department of Defense. He holds a master’s degree in organizational lead ership from Chapman University in Orange, CA, and is currently a doctoral student in organization and management at Capella University Tim Lowder is a professor of management at Saint Leo University in Saint Leo, FL. He earned bachelor’s degrees in both business administration and economics from Pfeiffer University in North Carolina and an MBA fr om Winthrop University in Rock Hill, SC.

He is currently a doctoral student in organization and manage ment at Capella University.

Patricia Stites has worked for Alcatel-Lucent (formerly Lucent Technologies, Western Electric and AT&T) for 30 years. She has serv ed as a quality facilitator and quality trainer, and is currently a doctoral student in organization and management at Capella University. (Special thanks to Ronald Benson, an adjunct professor at Capella University, for organizing the debate project, and to James Bossert of Bank of America, for providing helpful reviews.)