The effects of ISO 9001:2000 certification on the internal organisational processes in the local government - the Malaysian context

The number of organisations worldwide certified with the ISO 9001:2000 QMS hasincreased dramatically in the last decade. Malaysia, as many other developing nations,had also experienced a rapid growth in the number of ISO 9000 certified organisationsin the late 1990s. The growth of ISO 9000 certifications worldwide suggests that thereis a widespread belief in the benefits gained from the certification. However, thebenefits achieved from the QMS are surrounded by many controversies anddisagreements. There were also serious doubts and reservations again concerning thedegree to which the ISO 9001:2000 will really boost companies' performance morethan the previous one. The analysis of the literature showed that the effect of the QMSon an organisation's internal practices and performance seem uncertain.The research aim of this study is to investigate the effects of the ISO 9001:2000certification on the internal organisational processes within the Malaysian LocalGovernment. Although the experiences of the QMS implementation in differentcountries have been explored, limited empirical research has been carried out indeveloping country. Most of the research have been conducted on the private sectororganisations and very limited research focused on the public sector organisations.And to date, no research on investigating the effects of the ISO 9001:2000 on theinternal organisational processes within the local government in Malaysia has beenconducted.Based on the nature of this research. Interpret!vism philosophy. Qualitative approachand the Case Study strategy, the multiple case design and the use of interview as themain tool for data collection in this research. Semi-structured interviews have beenadopted to gain an in depth understanding, and this was triangulated with other sourcesof relevant data such as documents review, archival records and direct observation.Finally, the data gathered have been analysed using the Grounded theory and theExplanation Building method.The primary contribution of this research is to present an in-depth understanding of theeffects of the ISO 9001:2000 certification on the internal organisational processeswithin the Malaysian Local Government. Amongst the major findings of this researchare new effects of the QMS certification on the internal organisational processes. Theresearcher has also found that organisations can effectively use ISO certification as ameans of promoting and facilitating a quality culture, where the Top Management is theimportant player in the implementation and certification process.This research has found that organisations decided to implement ISO 9001:2000 andthis is motivated only by external causes had gained most of the benefits andimprovements achieved by organisations which implemented the QMS based oninternal motives. This finding contradicts with findings by many authors who foundthat companies decide to implement ISO 9000 motivated only by external motives willget fewer results than companies that implement them motivated by internal motives.This is a contribution to the body of knowledge regarding the ISO 9001:2000 QMS.Another contribution is that the findings of the research also confirmed that ISO9001:2000 QMS has been effective in not only manufacturing organisations but also inthe public service organisation i.e. the local government organisations.

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

Doctoral (Level 8)

Year dc:date.issued

2012

Author dc:creator

• Wahab, AA

Language dc:language

en

Identifier

oai:salford-repository.worktribe.com:1338367

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:salford-repository.worktribe.com:1338367