Olivier Boiral

Tacit Knowledge and Environmental Management

Abstract This article demonstrates tacit knowledge’s relevance in environmental management and explores how organisations can manage this knowledge. Through case studies it reveals how taking the tacit knowledge of employees into account can be particularly useful in three key areas of environmental management: the identification of pollution sources, the management of emergency situations and the development of preventive solutions. In order to take tacit environmental knowledge into account, firms must challenge the predominance of formal knowledge in the management of environmental problems and promote a climate of learning that encourages the recognition and sharing of employees’ experiences. The paper also presents a framework for the analysis of the creation, transfer and retention of tacit knowledge that is not limited to environmental knowledge management.

ISO 9001 and ISO 14001: Towards a Research Agenda on Management System Standards

Management system standards, also called meta‐standards, have been adopted by an increasing number of organizations across the world. Although these management system standards are based on the same type of management principles and institutional arrangements, the literature remains scattered, with diverse studies focused on specific standards and published in various journals. The main objective of this paper is to analyse the academic research on meta‐standards through an integrative review intended to shed light on the main conclusions and substantial advances made in this area. This integrative review focuses more specifically on the two main meta‐standards which have been adopted by more than 1.3 million organizations worldwide: ISO 14001 and ISO 9001. The paper contributes insights into the main streams of the literature and current knowledge gaps to be addressed in future research on the various issues related to meta‐standards: global governance, diffusion processes, motivations, benefits of adoption and impacts on performance, internalization, integration, consultancy and auditing.

ISO 9000: integration rationales and organizational impacts

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present the results of an empirical study of the impact of motivational factors underlying ISO 9000 certification on several aspects of organizational performance.Design/methodology/approach – An extension of a typology based on motivational factors is proposed and four integration rationales (quality enthusiasts, ISO integrators, ritual integrators, and dissidents) are exposed. The paper then evaluates how each of these four rationales related to potential organizational problems and benefits. Various statistical analyses were conducted on data obtained from a sample of 872 certified Canadian firms. A factor analysis was completed to develop an instrument allowing to develop a typology distinguishing between the four integration rationales.Findings – The results demonstrate that the nature and intensity of motivations behind a decision to adopt the ISO 9000 standard play a key role in the success of the implementation process and the emergence of organizational p...

Modelling the impact of ISO 14001 on environmental performance: a comparative approach.

Studies analyzing the effects of ISO 14001 certification and determinants of environmental performance tend to be based on a traditional and instrumental model of efficiency. Using structural equation modelling developed through a survey of 303 organizations, this paper compares the validity of this instrumental model with two alternatives models: the legitimacy-based model and the hybrid model. The findings question the efficiency of ISO 14001 and show that the traditional model does not explain the environmental performance of the surveyed organizations. Study results show that the legitimacy-based model, which questions the efficiency of ISO 14001 certification, is more pertinent in explaining the environmental performance but leads to a rather critical view of management practices. The development of a hybrid model based on the principal hypotheses of the legitimacy-based model, but integrating certain managerial and operational practices distinct from ISO 14001 certification, results in a less critical and more pertinent view of the determinants of environmental performance. Study results suggest that this hybrid model provides the best data fit.

ISO Certificates as Organizational Degrees? Beyond the Rational Myths of the Certification Process

This paper explores both the concrete and symbolic aspects of how ISO 9000 certification audits are prepared for and passed. Based on interviews with 60 respondents employed in certified organizations, this study analyzes the process of preparing for and passing an ISO certification audit through the lens of the degree-purchasing syndrome (DPS) in education, which refers to the disconnect between the acquisition of academic degrees and the learning process they should entail. This perspective makes it possible to go beyond the neo-institutional approach to shed light on the scholastic, ethical and contradictory aspects of the ISO certification process, which remain largely unexplored in the literature. The findings debunk the rhetoric of impartiality, objectivity and rigor surrounding the ISO certification process. They also reveal the tendency to acquire ISO certification as a sort of “organizational degree” after passing a quite predictable exam, with all the pitfalls that entails, such as rote preparation, procrastination, short-term focus and cheating.

Linking environmental management practices and organizational citizenship behaviour for the environment: a social exchange perspective

This paper reports a field study on the relationship between environmental management practices and organizational citizenship behaviour for the environment via exchange process (i.e. perceived superior support, perceived organizational support and employee commitment). Results from a survey conducted with 407 employees from several organizations suggest that employee is more likely to make extra environmental efforts if he/she perceives that the organization supports his/her supervisor by granting him/her the decision-making latitude and necessary resources to engage in pro-environmental behaviour.

ISO 9000 and Organizational Effectiveness: A Systematic Review

Despite the many studies on the ISO 9000 standard and the growing number of certified organizations around the world, the impacts of this quality management system remain controversial. The objective of this paper is to conduct a systematic review of the best available empirical studies on the impacts of the ISO 9000 standard published between 1994 and 2008 in peer-reviewed journals. The systematic review of the 111 empirical papers selected was based on a categorization framework comprising 46 variables. Most of these papers were focused on potential benefits rather than problems, and shed light on positive impacts. Nevertheless, similarities in terms of objectives, approaches, and methods tended to produce quite predictable, homogeneous, and optimistic results. Through the overall mapping of the literature on ISO 9000 effectiveness, this systematic review highlights the need for more critical and diversified approaches likely to challenge dominant and optimistic discourses on the standard impacts. This systematic review also sheds light on the practical implications of ISO 9000 for managers based on a large array of empirical studies.

Paradoxes of ISO 9000 Performance - A Configurational Approach

This article explores different performance configurations resulting from the implementation of an ISO 9000 system in 872 certified organizations. The configurations drawn up here are based on the crossing of traditional performance criteria related to the implementation of ISO 9000 and organizational problems stemming from the implementation of the standard. This crossing leads to the definition of four effectiveness configurations that reflect the paradoxes and degrees of success of ISO 9000 implementation. The logistic regression model developed here sheds light on variables that explain the occurrence of these four effectiveness configurations. The results of the quantitative study show that internal and managerial motivation to adopt ISO 9000 often positively affects the likelihood of a certified organization to achieve a better-performing effectiveness configuration. These results also suggest that the implementation of ISO 9000 frequently remains fairly superficial and often corresponds to a kind of “rational myth” (Meyer and Rowan 1977) or “system of structures somewhat distinct from internal practices and designed instead to project a rational and legitimate image of the organization in question.”

Pursuing quality and environmental performance: Initiatives and supporting processes

Purpose – The aim of this study is to focus on manufacturing small to medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) that are simultaneously pursuing quality and environmental objectives. Specifically, the paper examines: the specific motivations and resources of SMEs that have chosen to pursue both priorities, the types of initiatives these SMEs have implemented, and whether pursuing both priorities is correlated with various facets of organizational performance.Design/methodology/approach – This study gathered data from a sample of 254 ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 certified Canadian SMEs. Data collection was based on a survey questionnaire sent to a random sample of 1,514 companies.Findings – The results highlighted significant differences between the SMEs holding both the ISO 9000 and 14000 certifications and those holding only the 9000 ISO certification. Each group was shown to have distinct motivations and resources and to have implemented different types of initiatives to address environmental concerns. Each group was p...

Symbolic adoption of ISO 9000 in small and medium-sized enterprises: The role of internal contingencies

This article explores the decoupling between the rhetoric and practice of ISO 9000, an internationally disseminated standard in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Extensive fieldwork based on 65 in-depth interviews of general managers, middle managers and employees was undertaken in eight Spanish SMEs which adopted the standard over a long period of time. Contrary to common belief and the dominant neo-institutional approach to ISO certification, the findings indicate that firms tend to adopt ISO 9000 symbolically in response to various internal organisational contingencies, rather than as part of their adaptation to external pressures. ISO 9000 certification in SMEs can be compared to the acquisition of an organisational degree whose optimistic rhetoric and similar institutional pressures mask the considerable heterogeneity of certified organisations and elasticity of the standard when integrated into daily activities.