Issues of the ISO 9001 implementation: improper praxes leading to bureaucracy

The ISO 9001 standard was developed to yield consistent processes and satisfied customers. Several benefits of its implementation, including better business and financial performance, are expected and reported through the research. However, the standard is often used simply for a marketing advantage. In such a case, the implementation does not provide an efficient quality management system and causes some side effects such as bureaucracy, etc. This paper deals with this issue and shows some of its drivers, through an analysis of the standard requirements, misunderstanding of these requirements and their improper implementation in the companies. Unfortunately, there has not yet been much empirical research available on this issue. The analysis shows that the roots of the problem do not lie in the standard itself but rather in its implementation. The standard says nothing about making business more complex or adding a great deal of unnecessary paperwork. Companies should consider it when implementing their quality management systems. They should develop and adjust their system documentation to suit the company’s needs instead of merely taking available common templates of ‘ISO documentation’. The system documentation and its management should give full support to the business processes. Companies should have internal motives and staff commitment to reach this goal. Moreover, understanding the standard requirements is vital to fight the problem of bureaucracy. The integration of some other compatible lean approaches (such as lean office) might also help. This paper might be interesting for practitioners and researchers as an explanation of the background of the most frequent problem related to ISO 9001 implementation. It also calls for some further research