This article records the empirical research that investigates the reasons behind, practices and effects of ISO 9000 certification and Total Quality Management (TQM) implementation in small and medium-sized (SME) and large manufacturing companies. The research is based on a survey of 180 Norwegian manufacturing companies. The main findings are (1) the SMEs implement ISO 9000 standards and TQM ma...

There has been a major emphasis for manufacturing firms in Australia and New Zealand to seek certification to the International Quality Standards ISO 9000. These have been rapidly accepted as a standard for documenting processes and procedures. ISO 9000 is a process that typically shifts an organisation’s culture to allow successful Total Quality Management (TQM) implementation. Researchers fou...

The ISO 9000 experiences of the same sample of organisations over a five year time period is examined in this paper. The responses to a questionnaire sent out at the end of 1999 to companies which had a reasonably long term experience with the ISO 9000 series quality system are analysed. These companies were ISO 9000 series certified before 1994 when the authors conducted their first survey on ...

Presents the key findings of a study into quality practices of a number of organisations in one of the Arab countries, Qatar, which is recognised as one of the leading liquefied natural gas-exporting regions since its reserves of gas represent about 7.4 per cent of the world total. The purposes of the study were to assess: the awareness, the understanding, the progress of, and reasons for the i...

An experimental pedagogical approach has been used at Agder College for the TQM lectures. The lecture syllabus has been redesigned as a project oriented task. The students are engaged in the project task of preparing a quality system after ISO 9000, using their own college as a model. Positive reactions have been noted. The method benefits first the students and their understanding of TQM and I...

The ISO 9000 experiences of the same sample of organisations over a five year time period is examined in this paper. The responses to a questionnaire sent out at the end of 1999 to companies which had a reasonably long term experience with the ISO 9000 series quality system are analysed. These companies were ISO 9000 series certified before 1994 when the authors conducted their first survey on ...