ISO 9000 has been widely adopted as a quality management system for improving competitiveness around the world, but with mixed success. As most competitors in the industries that require ISO registration are already registered, companies are now looking for tangible internal benefits from the standards. This study utilises a survey instrument directly tied to MBNQA criteria, frequently used to represent the various views of the constructs associated with TQM, to examine the effectiveness of ISO 9000 implementations towards Total Quality Management practices and operational performance from employees' perspective. Two observations are concluded: (1) ISO certifications significantly improve the effectiveness of quality management practices. Small divisions claim more improvement than large ones. Service experienced better improvement than manufacturing in five out of six areas investigated. Experienced divisions enjoy more improvement than novice ones. (2) ISO certification does bring significant benefits to improve the level of quality performance. While the effect of size is mixed, neither the years of registration nor the nature of operations has an effect on quality performance.

Volume 20

Numbers 11-12