ISO 14001: Against the Tide of Modern Management?

Tibor T. , and Feldman I. , ISO 14000: A Guide to the New Environmental Management Standards, Chicago: Irwin, 1996.

The standards refer to ‘certification/registration’. As these terms may be considered as synonyms in most contexts, we have opted for the more common of the two, certification, in order to facilitate reader comprehension.

For a comparative analysis of ISO 14001 and ISO 90011, see Block M.R. , Implementing ISO 14001, Milwaukee: ASQC Quality Press books, 1997, pp. 123–133, and Tibor, T. and I. Feldman, ISO 14000: A Guide to the New Environmental Management Standards, Chicago: Irwin, 1996, pp. 203-208. The ISO 14001 also has a comparative diagram describing correspondences between the two systems (annexed).

International Organization for Standardization, ‘Environmental Management Systems: Specifications with Guidance for Use’, Oslo: June 1995, p. 7.

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Tibor T. , and Feldman I. , op. cit., p.8.

Ackerman R.W. , and Bauer R.A. , Corporate Social Responsiveness: The Modern Dilemma, Reston: Publishing Company, 1976.

For a more detailed discussion of this process of adapting to and anticipating environmental pressures, see Shrivastava P. , ‘The Role of Corporations in Achieving Ecological Sustainability’, Academy of Management Review, Vol. 20, No. 4, 1995, pp. 936–960; P. Winsemius and U. Guntram, ‘Responding to the Environmental Challenge’, Business Horizons, Vol. 35, No. 2, March-April 1992, pp. 12–20; and D. Smith et al., Business and the Environment: Implications of the New Environmentalism, New York: St. Martin's Press, 1993.

ISO 14001 and 9001'S main propositions (considered to be the standard of reference for the 9000 Series) are, in fact, similar. This allows for compatibility between both systems as well as for their joint implementation. The differences between both sets of norms are found in the object on which they focus and in certain technical specifications rather than in the general management principles which they promote. Therefore ISO 14001'S object of focus, environmental protection, is very broad while ISO 9001'S focuses on contractual relations and upgrading quality standards. Consequently some recommendations are specific to ISO 14001: keeping inventory of environnmental aspects of production which may have impact on the ecosystem, respecting environnmental rules and establishing measures with which to prevent or deal with emergency situations. ISO 14001 is also more specific and more demanding regarding the defining of environnmental policy and objectives which are then required to be communicated throughout the organization. On the other hand ISO 9001 is more demanding with regards to procedural and documentation aspects and quality driven operations require a ‘quality manual’.

As stipulated by the standard, ‘Although some improvement in environmental performance can be expected due to the adoption of a systematic approach, it should be understood that the environmental management system is a tool which enables the organization to achieve and systematically control the level of environmental performance that it sets itself. The establishment and operation of an environmental management system will not, in itself, necessarily result in an immediate reduction of adverse environmental impact’.

For reasons of concision, ISO management systems will be used in the remainder of the paper when speaking of both ISO 14001 environmental norms and ISO 9001 quality standards. By management systems we mean both the structure and the principles common to both series of norms, as discussed previously.

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See Mintzberg H. , The Nature of Managerial Work, New York: Harper and Row, 1973; and H. Mintzberg, ‘Grafting Strategy’, Harvard Business Review, June-July 1987, pp. 66-75.

See Mintzberg H. , ‘Strategy Formation: Schools of Thought’, in Perspectives on Strategic Management, Fredrickson J.W. (Ed.), New York: Harper and Row, 1990, pp. 105–235; and H. Mintzberg, The Rise and Fall of Strategic Planning: Reconciling Roles for Planning, Plans, Planners, New York: Free Press, 1993.

For more on the prescriptive approaches to strategy, see Ansoff H.I. , Corporate Strategy, New York: McGraw-Hill, 1965; K.R. Andrews, The Concept of Corporate Strategy, Homewood: Richard Irving, 1971; and C.R. Christensen, K.R. Andrews and J.L. Bower, Business Policy: Text and Cases (7th ed.), Homewood: Irwin, 1991.

On this debate, see H. Mintzberg, ‘Crafting Strategy’, op. cit.; H. Mintzberg, ‘The Design School: Reconsidering the Basic Premises of Strategic Management’, Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 11, 1991, pp. 171–195; and Ansoff H.I. , ‘Critique of Henry Mintzberg's ‘The Design School: Reconsidering the Basic Premises of Strategic Management’, Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 12, 1991, pp. 449–461.

Although a substantial portion of the standard focuses on operational aspects, the organization's strategic directions in the area of the environment also need to be taken into account (policy, objectives, anticipating regulatory standards, etc.). As stated in the standard, ‘Environmental management encompasses a full range of issues including those with strategic and competitive implications’.

For a critical analysis of technocracy in business and society, see Saul J. , Voltaire'S Bastards: The Dictatorship of Reason in the West, New York: Free Press, 1992. For analysis of perverse effects and characteristics of technocratic management, see P. Pitcher, The Drama of Leadership, John Wiley, 1997.

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It is interesting to note that ISO is derived from the Greek word isos, meaning ‘equal’.

See Boiral O. , and Sala J.M. , ‘Environmental Management: Should Industry Adopt ISO 14001?’, Business Horizons, January-February 1998, Vol. 41, No. 1, pp. 57–64.

One should nevertheless keep in mind that companies can use the ISO 14001 system without necessarily working toward certification.