ISO 14001 implementation: translation process and organizational change

Thomas Reverdy ()
Additional contact information
Thomas Reverdy: PACTE - Pacte, Laboratoire de sciences sociales - UPMF - Université Pierre Mendès France - Grenoble 2 - UJF - Université Joseph Fourier - Grenoble 1 - IEPG - Sciences Po Grenoble - Institut d'études politiques de Grenoble - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

Post-Print from HAL

Abstract: The purpose of this study is to find out how local translations of a generic management system reduce organizational uncertainties, produce technical and organizational knowledge, and introduce cooperative relations, cross-functional learning and problem identification and solving. The study uses the organizational dynamics associated with the implementation of an environmental management system (EMS), according to ISO 14001, in a chemical plant to answer those questions. Based on an ethnographic study the article unravels the way in which ISO 14001 requirements are interpreted by environmental managers and production teams and, then, translated to fit their organizational context, i.e. the specific industrial managerial cultures and organizational issues. The article conclude that the production and circulation of artifacts embodying extensive knowledge about the production activity and its impacts on the environment counterbalances dependency of company's environment departments on other departments and increases environment department ability to mobilize teams around the environmental stakes.

Keywords: translation; environmental management; quality management; organizational learning; power; strategic exchange; traduction; management de la qualité; apprentissage organisationnel; pouvoir; échange stratégique (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2006
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-00134707v1
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published in International Studies of Management and Organization, 2006, 36 (2), pp.9-30

Downloads: (external link)
https://shs.hal.science/halshs-00134707v1/document (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-00134707

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Post-Print from HAL
Bibliographic data for series maintained by CCSD ().