Abstract
The implementation and certification of environmental, quality and occupational health & safety management systems have become strong managerial strategies for many organizations. This paper discusses the advantages as well as the disadvantages of IMS (Integrated Management Systems). First, after reviewing both national and international literatures, it defines the components of IMS, which include: 1) management commitment and leadership, 2) performance measurement, 3) resource management, 4) emphasis on stakeholders and 5) Integration of systems and processes. Second, the paper analyses the advantages and disadvantages of these integrated systems, as opposed to thosd of independent management systems. As a conclusion, it shows that the majority of factories within the material industry introduce IMS from the viewpoint of production process management while a few factories in the processing industry use it in the context of product chain management.
