Q21 Research Group: Quality, Operations Management & CSR
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News
Jye Ying Lu and Pavel Castka awarded the best paper award (April 5, 2008). Jye Ying Lu and Pavel Castka were awarded the Best Paper Award at the 13th International Conference on ISO 9000 and TQM, held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The paper entitled "CSR in Malaysia: Experts' Views and Perspectives" is a part of Jye's PhD research.
About Q21
Q21 Research Group, directed by Dr Pavel Castka (University of Canterbury) and Dr Michaela (Misha) Balzarova (Lincoln University), aims to conduct theoretical and practical research that investigates various aspects of operations management, corporate social responsibility and sustainability. Specifically, we focus on:
- the role of standards, self-regulation and certification in the current business environment
- global diffusion of organisational practices
- sustainable and CSR operations
Current Projects
ISO 14064 and the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS)
In 2007, NZ government has introduced the ETS that will force important sectors of NZ economy (forestry, liquid fossil fuels, stationary energy, industrial producers, agriculture and waste) to manage carbon emissions in their operations. Whereas a lot of academic and political debates were dedicated to issues related to the set-up of the ETS, so far little attention was given to organisational implications of the introduction of the ETS requirements. This project aims to investigate the structural and infrastructural implication of this process (i.e. implications on strategy, information and process technology, work planning and control systems, HR etc.) as well as to address the role of ISO 14064 in this area.
Looking into the Crystal Ball: future diffusion of ISO 26000
ISO 26000 and other ISO standards are developed for organisations to use them. As ISO 26000 is progressively reaching its final stages, our research team has started to investigate future scenarios of the diffusion of ISO 26000. In particular, the research project aims to understand which organisations will use ISO 26000, how will organisations go about it and why will organisations prefer ISO 26000 to other social responsibility standards.
Development of ISO 26000 through a multistakeholder dialogue
Development of global management standards (such as ISO) has been so far dominated by the industry representatives. This process of development is often criticised and industry has been accused of standards development that suits its needs as opposed to the pursuit of common societal and environmental benefits. For this reason a new approach has been adopted by ISO that aims to establish a wider stakeholder involvement for a development of international standards. This project investigates how rules are designed in this new regime specifically in relation to the development of the international guidance standard on social responsibility (ISO 26000).
Do external audits add value to certified organsiations?
Despite the global uptake of ISO 9000 certificates and its continual growth (16% in 2006), managers repeatedly question the value-added by external auditors. Do external auditors add any value? Are they merely a necessary evil in the process hence the value of ISO certificate remains in its signalling value to the market and/or the value that the organisation creates itself? This projects aims to answer these key questions.
Past Projects
ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 in New Zealand
New Zealand Organisation for Quality and University of Canterbury, College of Business and Economics partnered to conduct a survey of ISO 9000/ISO 14000 users in New Zealand. Our aim was to determine what drives New Zealand companies toward ISO 9000 certification and to what extent the organisations benefit from this. During August and September 2006, we sent 1774 questionnaires to quality professionals who have a leadership role, a co-ordination role or some level of responsibility for ISO 9000 in their respective organisation. This sample represents all NZ ISO 9000 certified companies according to Joint Accreditation System of Australia and New Zealand (JAS-ANZ). We have received 472 valid responses giving us 27% response rate. Download a report for ISO 9000 survey participants here.
Postgraduate Research
Postgraduate Research supervised by Q21 Academic staff:
Jye Ying Lu - Determinants of CSR Practices in Malaysia (PhD, UC)
Clare Ryan - Idea and Opportunity Generation by End-Users and Non-Professional Developers in New Product Development (MCom, UC)
Barbora Gabzdylova - Corporate Social Responsibility: Environmental Concerns in NZ wine industry (MCom, UC)
Jeska McNicol - Environmental Criteria for Suppliers and Contractors of ISO 14001:2004 certified businesses, (MPS, Lincoln University)
MBA Projects
MBA projects are consulting projects in the general area of strategy and operations management. Students provide a practical solution to a client. The following projects have been supervised or co-supervised by Dr Pavel Castka for UC MBA Program:
Rachel Stedman - The Accident Compensation Corporation: Creating Economic Incentives to Reduce Claimant Dependency; Client: ACC; 2007
Paul Donaldson - Pulling the Family into Line. Tackling Unmanaged Growth at Pegasus Bay Winery; Client: Pegasus Bay Winery; 2007
Debra Wilson - Organisational Improvement in Nursery Maude Association; Client: Nursery Maude Association; 2007
Michael Pearson - Toll Shipping: Developing and Implementing an Integrated Management System; Client: Toll Shipping; 2006
Brad Cabell - Bad Projects - preventing company losses; Client: Arrow International; 2006
Martin Dunn - Research and Recommendations for a high performance integrated management system; Client: Fulton Hogan; 2006
Recent Publications
(for the full list of publications please click here)
Balzarova, M.A. and Castka, P. (forthcoming) "Underlying Mechanism in the Maintenance of ISO 14001 Environmental Management System", Journal of Cleaner Production, doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2008.01.007
Castka, P. and Balzarova, M.A. (2008) "The impact of ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 on standardization of social responsibility - an inside perspective", International Journal of Production Economics, Vol.113 No.1, pp.74-87. doi:10.1016/j.ijpe.2007.02.048
Castka, P. and Balzarova, M.A. (2008) "Adoption of Social Responsibility through the Expansion of Existing Management Systems", Industrial Management + Data Systems, Vol. 108 No.3, pp 297-309.
Castka, P. and Balzarova, M.A. (2008) "ISO 26000 and supply chains - on the diffusion of the social responsibility standard", International Journal of Production Economics, Vol. 111 No 2, pp. 274-286. doi:10.1016/j.ijpe.2006.10.017Contact Us
For any enquiries please contact Pavel Castka at pavel.castka@canterbury.ac.nz or Misha Balzarova at balzarom@lincoln.ac.nz.