Journal of Cleaner Production

Volume 19, Issues 17–18, November–December 2011, Pages 2057-2065
Journal of Cleaner Production

Integration of standardized environmental and quality management systems audits

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2011.06.028Get rights and content

Abstract

In the last few years, many organizations have chosen to implement standardized Management Systems (MSs), such as the ones based on ISO 14001 and ISO 9001. However, few studies exist on how firms carry out the process of auditing these MSs.
Our goal is to study how companies with more than one standardized MSs conduct the audits and to which extent they integrate the audit elements in order to benefit from the advantages of having a sole, integrated audit system.
We provide four case studies and confirm the idea that firms with more than one MS integrate their audits. However, the degree and specific characteristics of this integration vary in the different companies analyzed.
This paper contains one of the first qualitative empirical studies regarding the integration of MSs audits. The study provides an original contribution to the understanding of whether and how the four case study organizations have integrated certain aspects of the audit systems, for instance, the human resources, time, and audit inputs and outputs.

Highlights

► Based on Management Systems (MS) integration literature, we explore how companies conduct their audits. ► The case analysis detailed in this paper shows that MS audits have reached a very high level of integration. ► It uncovers some of the benefits of having integrated audit systems. ► Some challenges regarding the process of audit integration are also outlined.

Introduction

The implementation of Management System Standards (MSSs), for example ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 (see ISO, 2010), has increased in recent years. The proliferation of new MSSs, such as the ones for occupational health and safety (e.g., OHSAS 18001 and CSA Z1000), for corporate social responsibility and accountability (e.g., SA 8000 and AA 1000), for security of information systems (ISO 27001) or for supply chains (ISO 28000), gives the option that firms integrate the corresponding Management Systems (MSs) into a single system (Labodová, 2004, Zutshi and Sohal, 2005).
Many studies exist about the integration of standardized MSs. These studies focus on different topics, such as the integration advantages, methodologies, and degrees (see, for example, Karapetrovic and Willborn, 1998a, Karapetrovic, 2003, Zeng et al., 2007, Bernardo et al., 2009, Khanna et al., 2010, López-Fresno, 2010, Asif et al., 2010, Leopoulos et al., 2010). However, little empirical research has been done on how organizations that integrated their standardized MSs actually carry out their audit process.
Organizations with more than one implemented MS can integrate the audits against the corresponding MSSs (Karapetrovic and Willborn, 2001, Karapetrovic and Jonker, 2003, Power and Terziovski, 2005, Kraus and Grosskopf, 2008, Bernardo et al., 2010). Guidance on the process of MS auditing is currently provided by ISO 19011 (ISO, 2002). The standard explains “the principles of management system auditing and offers advice on evaluating auditors and assessing their competence, guidance on managing audit programs, and guidance on conducting internal and external audits” (Kraus and Grosskopf, 2008). This standard is currently under revision in order to provide more generic guidance and allow auditing of all standardized MSs (ISO, 2008).
There are a limited number of empirical studies regarding the integration of MS audits (e.g., Karapetrovic et al., 2006, Salomone, 2008, Kraus and Grosskopf, 2008, Bernardo et al., 2010). Therefore, the objective of this research is to study how firms with more than one standardized MS conduct the audits and to which extent they integrate the audit elements in order to profit from the advantages of having a sole, integrated audit system.

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Section snippets

Literature review and propositions development

Since audit integration is the main topic of this paper, it is important to define some relevant concepts related to the auditing of standardized MSs. An ‘audit’ is defined in ISO 19011: 2002 and in the ISO 9000: 2005 vocabulary standard as a ‘systematic, independent and documented process for obtaining audit evidence and evaluating it objectively to determine the extent to which audit criteria are fulfilled’ (ISO, 2002, ISO, 2005).
It is also important to explain what an integrated audit means.

Methodology

This research involves detailed case studies of four specific organizations. The objective is to study how these companies conduct their audits and to which extent they integrate specific elements of their MS audits.
This qualitative approach is often used in the analysis of processes within organizations, because the main goal is to know what the managers’ point of view is (Eisenhardt, 1989).
A case study approach has been adopted “to allow causes, processes and consequences of behavior to be

Findings

The data analysis reveals responses regarding the conduct of internal and external audits, and it is particularly focused on the main elements of the audit system, i.e., audit processes, including the corresponding input (audit plan) and output (audit report), and audit resources (Karapetrovic and Willborn, 2000).
This study also reveals different combinations of audit elements, such as the people, the processes involved or the audit plans and reports, which can lead to different levels of

Conclusions

This research has addressed, in an exploratory way, the question of how firms with more than one standardized MS conduct the audits and to which extent they integrate the audit elements in order to profit from the advantages of having a sole, integrated audit system. In order to answer this question, one of the first empirical studies on the integration of MSs audits was undertaken, with four detailed case studies.
In the first place, this research confirms the notion that firms with more than

Acknowledgements

This article has been written as part of a project entitled ‘‘Mejora de la satisfacción de los clientes en las empresas españolas mediante modelos y estándares de gestión de la calidad’’ (ECO2009-12754-C02-01) financed by the Ministry of Science and Innovation within the aid program for R & D and as a part of the aid Program for the Formation of University Researchers.

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