The order and level of management standards implementation : Changes during the time

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze how the order of management system standards (MSSs) implementation in an organization and its level of integration are changed during the time of the standard implementation. Design/methodology/approach – Survey was send to 885 organizations located in Poland which registered at least two MSSs selected from popular international standards, e.g.: ISO 9001, ISO 14001, OHSAS 18001, ISO/IEC 27001, ISO 22000 or other international management standard. There were 81 valid questioners obtained. Studied organizations where classify into a three different groups with similar level of MS integration. Findings – Different standards can be implemented simultaneously, and this tendency is more popular nowadays than few years ago. In most cases time of implementation of MSSs in second and further round of implementation is shorter than during the implementation of first standards. The group of organizations with a higher level of MSSs integration is the group where the integrated systems operates for a shorter period of time, than in the other groups. While in a group of organizations where MSSs are on the lowest level of integration, the average period of time of MSS operating is the longest. Originality/value – The paper analyses order and time of systems implementation that allow organizations to achieve higher levels of integration and presents a possible pattern for the companies initiating the integration process.