M ETHODS USED IN THE L ICENTIATE RESEARCH

The aim of the licentiate thesis was to study approaches to quality management system implementation, and to identify an approach, or approaches, that could lead to the development of a system of total quality environmental management within a company. The empirical research started when two companies became available in the Province of Gävleborg for a pre-study, already in late 1996. The pre-study was performed to sharpen the focus for the research questions for the main study, and to learn

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more about the interview techniques and the company processes in two different types of industries (Yin, 2003).

To increase the reliability of the interviews, in line with the recommendations of Silverman(1993),the interview schedule, as well as the lists of the prospective interviewees, were already in the planning stage at that time given to a scholar and an industry representative for comments, after which some changes were made. Based on the learning done during the interviews in a pre-study, the interview schedule was formed and adjusted only in a minor way after the first interviews in order to better correspond to the interview situation. Tape recording and transcribing all interviews that was undertaken in the first stages, however was not deemed necessary following the pre-study.

The interviews, lasting between 30-90 minutes, were recorded simultaneously, using a personal computer and the notes edited immediately following the interviews. In addition, during the first set of interviews an assistant made notes regarding the interview answers on paper.

Subsequently, the notes were compared with the computer transcript, which was complemented when necessary. This was later abandoned, since typing proved to be fast enough to record the answers with sufficient accuracy. All interviews were then printed in order to have a hard copy of the materials.

Omission of non-verbal messages, which cannot well be caught by tape-recording and normal notes, was not judged to be of great importance, due to the focus on facts and experiences expressed by the interviewees.

The interview records were coded and combined into “pictures” of the company’s situation as seen by the various actors at different levels of the organisation. These pictures, communicated by different individuals, were subsequently used to create a picture or a collection of pictures of the company as a whole. This resulted in some additional questions, which were discussed in the follow-up interviews with some key individuals in the studied companies.

During the pre-study, twelve interviews were made in the two companies in total. The main study consisted of 38 interviews in four companies.

Amongst the companies was included a company belonging to an international corporation and also a small family-run company. The choice of companies was based on availability rather than other criteria. However, in the experiences of the researcher, nothing (during the later stages of the study) indicates that the results are only relevant to these companies.

Kaisu Sammalisto, IIIEE, Lund University

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These companies had not yet implemented any EMS. Consequently, the questions were focused on the experiences they had regarding the implementation of quality management systems and the possibilities to connect a management system for health and safety to it. In addition to this, the possible working process as to the implementation of an EMS in an SME (in connection to these systems) was studied, as well as, the common values and relation between quality and environment. A further goal was to understand the connections between these systems, and to obtain results that could be of practical usage.

Some possible sources of bias in the interviews could potentially come from the following:

• Those responsible for the QMS implementation were bound to be proud of the work they had done and could primarily highlight the positive aspects of its functioning. This however, could be balanced by other employees who were not as directly involved, and perhaps remained more critical.

• The trade union representatives could, by tradition, be expected to be more critical to company management than other employees. The cases where this was apparent were either confirmed or contradicted by the others in the company.

• Since it was known that the study concerned environmental issues, EMS and its possible implementation, people could be expected to make more positive statements as to their interest and engagement in such issues to impress the interviewers. In ABB Nordkomponent, in which environmental issues were already emphasized, the staffs’ real knowledge of such issues was confirmed by the way they spoke. In other companies, poor knowledge was demonstrated by the interviewees, as well as their willingness (or hesitation) to do something to change the situation. How much of this willingness was ‘lip service’ is impossible to say.

• Some could see the opportunity to be heard and to convey a message that they may otherwise have difficulty in spreading. When these messages were primarily individual, they proved to be one of several disagreements in a company, and therefore were not isolated cases.

Triangulation was also used to increase the validity of the study in line with Silverman (1993) and Yin (1994).This included multiple case studies and interviews with several people at different levels in each company interviewed. They provided multiple forms of evidence of the same

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phenomenon. Those interviewed were asked not to discuss the content of the interviews with their colleagues. This was done in order for everyone interviewed to meet the questions with the same preconditions.

Other relevant data from the case companies were received by studying documents including organisation charts, initial environmental reviews and reports, business information and financial reports, as well as doing observations and having informal discussions during the visits. There was also an opportunity to attend an environmental training for management, an environmental pre-audit and a certification audit in one of the companies, and the presentation of an initial environmental review in another company.

The reliability of the study was gained through the audit trail. That is, by ensuring, to the greatest possible extent, that the findings reflect an authentic understanding of people’s experiences of the inquiry itself, rather than being the product of bias and prejudice on the part of the researcher. The fact that someone could make another interpretation of the material does not necessarily disqualify the first interpretation, as long as it is based on the same material.