M.Ing. / The management of quality in companies has become more and more strategically important over recent years. The emphasis on quality is vital to managing projects and achieving excellence in today’s global economy. Modern petrochemical construction project management has incorporated quality management principles and initiatives in their activities. The Quality Management System is used to ensure that the project will satisfy the requirements for which it was undertaken. Improving project quality in construction requires consideration of culture within the project environment that is often associated with miscommunication and fragmentation. The focus of the thesis is to examine how quality culture can improve the quality in organisation and influence the implementation of Quality Management System in construction industry. The dissertation will comprise of extensive survey of the local academic literature and South African press reports concerning state of construction industry. A questionnaire conducted amongst professionals working in petrochemical industry is aimed to determine the impact of organisational culture on the successful implementation of quality management systems. The objective of this dissertation is to identify inefficiencies and possible improvements that can be achieved in current quality management systems. The dissertation concluded that an improvement in the quality management and quality of construction can only be achieved if quality is embedded in the entire operational and managerial processes of its organizations. The thesis recommends that the South African construction industry would benefit from the development of quality culture that fosters deeper human relationships to improve quality management.

Ces dernières décennies ont vu l'émergence et le développement de plusieurs pratiques managériales ayant rapport à la qualité et à l'environnement. Néanmoins, l'analyse des raisons de l'adoption de ces pratiques managériales par les entreprises et de leurs effets sur les entreprises et les salariés a été assez peu étudiée par les économistes. Cette thèse contribue à la littérature empirique sur les pratiques managériales liées à la qualité et à l'environnement dans les entreprises en France. Elle est construite autour de trois thèmes majeurs : (1) l'analyse des déterminants d'adoption de ces pratiques managériales, (2) l'étude de leur impact sur des indicateurs de performance d'entreprises et (3) l'étude de leur impact sur des mesures liées aux salariés. La thèse s'articule autour de ces trois axes de recherche en trois parties.Dans la première partie de la thèse, nous présentons les pratiques managériales de qualité et d'environnement, en se concentrant plus particulièrement sur les normes de qualité ISO 9000 et les normes environnementales ISO 14000. Nous étudions les déterminants de l'adoption des ces normes de qualité et d'environnement. Nous montrons dans un premier temps que les déterminants de l'adoption des normes de qualité sont différents dans les secteurs de l'industrie et des services, plus précisément du point de vue de la stratégie interne de ces entreprises (amélioration de la qualité, réduction des coûts et innovation). En revanche, certaines caractéristiques d'entreprises (taille, appartenance à un groupe financier, expérience avec d'autres normes) et des caractéristiques décrivant la stratégie externe des entreprises (niveau d'exportation et satisfaction des clients) ont le même effet dans l'adoption de ces normes dans les deux secteurs. Dans un second temps, nous analysons les déterminants de l'adoption de la norme ISO 14001 et de l'Engagement de Progrès dans des entreprises de l'industrie chimique. Nous montrons que les deux systèmes analysés ont des déterminants différents : d'un côté, les principaux déterminants de l'adoption de la norme ISO 14001 sont la taille de l'entreprise, l'expérience avec d'autres normes, obligations d'information et la localisation géographique des clients et d'un autre côté, les principaux déterminants de l'Engagement de Progrès sont la pression réglementaire, avoir rencontré des problèmes environnementaux dans le passé et prévoir des risques environnementaux futurs.Dans la deuxième partie de la thèse, nous analysons si les normes de qualité et d'environnement conduisent les entreprises à de meilleures performances, en utilisant une palette riche d'indicateurs de performance d'entreprises. Nous montrons que les normes de qualité ont un impact positif sur le chiffre d'affaires et certains indicateurs de performance d'innovation et de productivité. En revanche, elle n'ont pas d'effet sur le profit et sur d'autres mesures de performance d'innovation. Concernant les normes environnementales, nous montrons qu'elles améliorent le chiffre d'affaires et les pratiques de recrutement des personnels qualifiés et des personnels non qualifiés, mais n'ont pas d'impact sur le profit des entreprises. Enfin, notre investigation montre que le fait de mettre en place simultanément des normes de qualité et d'environnement améliore plus fortement les performances des entreprises par rapport à l'adoption séparée de ces normes.La troisième partie de la thèse étudie les effets des normes de qualité et d'environnement sur des mesures liées aux salariés. Les normes de qualité augmentent les risques d'accident, mais n'ont pas d'effet sur les accidents de travail entraînant un arrêt. Concernant les normes environnementales, nous montrons qu'elles améliorent significativement les conditions de travail à travers la diminution des accidents. De plus, les salariés qui travaillent dans des entreprises qui adoptent des normes environnementales considèrent que leur travail est davantage utile pour la société et ils ressentent une meilleure reconnaissance de leur travail. Ainsi, les normes environnementales augmentent le sentiment de bien-être des salariés.Nous montrons également que les salariés travaillant dans des entreprises ayant adopté des normes environnementales ne se déclarent pas plus impliqués dans leur travail et pourtant font davantage d'heures supplémentaires non rémunérées que les salariés d'entreprises n'ayant pas pris d'engagements similaires en matière de protection de l'environnement. / The scope and magnitude of changes occurring in business today has led to great interest in and widespread adoption of Quality and Environmental Management approaches. However, despite their prevalence, efforts at understanding the motives for their adoption, as well as their effects on firm and employee outcomes, are still in their infancy. This PhD dissertation provides useful theoretical and empirical contributions to three research topics dealing with Quality and Environmental Management approaches in the French institutional framework: (1) the determinants of their adoption, (2) their impact on firm outcomes and (3) their impact on employee outcomes. These three aspects make up the three parts of this PhD thesis.In part I, we define and characterise quality and environmental approaches with a special focus on ISO 9000 Quality Management standards and ISO 14000 Environmental Management standards. Furthermore, we empirically examine the determinants of quality and environmental standards adoption. Our findings reveal that the determinants of quality standards significantly differ between manufacturing and service firms, particularly when we examine features of the internal strategy of those firms (quality improvement, cost reduction and innovation). However, we have also obtained evidence which indicates that the characteristics of firms (firm size, corporate status and previous experience with similar standards) and features of their external strategy (export levels and customer satisfaction) play a significant role in quality standards adoption across both the manufacturing and service sectors. Moreover, we empirically investigate the determinants of chemical firms' registration for the ISO 14001 standard or the Responsible Care program. We show that most determinants are different for the two systems analysed: while firm size, previous experience with similar standards, information disclosure requirements and customer location are major determinants of ISO 14001 standard registration, regulatory pressure, past environmental problems and future risks are the main drivers of Responsible Care registration.In part II, we empirically investigate whether quality and environmental standards are related to better firm performance using various sets of performance measures. The evidence indicates that quality standards positively influence turnover and specific indicators of innovation performance and productivity, but have no impact on profit and some other innovation performance measures. Based on our empirical findings, we conclude that while environmental standards improve turnover and recruitment of both professional and non professional employees, they have no effect on profit. Moreover, the research shows that implementing both quality and environmental standards is likely to better enhance firm outcomes than implementing only one standard.Part III is focused on the effect of quality and environmental standards on employee outcomes. The estimation results show that quality standards increase the risk of employee accidents although more specifically they are ineffective on working accidents that lead to sick leave. On the other hand, our results lead to the conclusion that environmental standards add significantly to the enhancement of working conditions, via the reduction of accidents. Furthermore, the obtained evidence shows that environmental standards seem to improve employee well-being. More precisely, employees working for firms that are certified for an environmental standard report greater feelings of usefulness about their job and declare that they are more often fairly valued in their jobs. The evidence also shows that employees working for environmentally certified firms do not claim to be significantly more involved in their job but they are more likely, ceteris paribus, to work uncompensated for sup plementary work hours than “non green workers”.

Foi descrita e analisada a implantação de um processo de gestão da qualidade total na Divisão de Laboratório Central entre 1996 e 97. O sistema de garantia da qualidade com descrição e análise efetuadas, apoiou-se na Norma ISO 9002. Seu desempenho foi monitorizado por indicadores, tendo as suas repercussões discutidas. Os resultados indicaram que processos similares são viáveis em laboratórios clínicos públicos. Demonstrando-se um envolvimento dos funcionários, com diminuição do absenteísmo e do número de licenças do trabalho. A produtividade e o faturamento aumentaram, mantendo-se o custo médio por exame. As pesquisas de opinião apontaram mudanças no conceito dos médicos sobre o laboratório e mais satisfaçào dos pacientes com os serviços prestados. Este sistema obteve reconhecimento externo em 1997 / The implementing process of a total quality management system in the DLC was described and analyzed from 1996-97. A quality assurance system was established base don the rules of the ISO 9002. The steps of the establishing process were described, analyzed and a set of the indicators were used in order to monitor the performance of the introduced system, through the analysis of its follow-up. The results demonstrated that employees´ commitment resulted in a decrease in absenteeism, leave of absence and accidents related to work. There was an increase in productivity and billing with the upkeep of the cost per exam. Public opinion polls disclosed a better concept of the laboratory by the clinical staff and the patients. This system got external certification in 1997

Foi descrita e analisada a implantação de um processo de gestão da qualidade total na Divisão de Laboratório Central entre 1996 e 97. O sistema de garantia da qualidade com descrição e análise efetuadas, apoiou-se na Norma ISO 9002. Seu desempenho foi monitorizado por indicadores, tendo as suas repercussões discutidas. Os resultados indicaram que processos similares são viáveis em laboratórios clínicos públicos. Demonstrando-se um envolvimento dos funcionários, com diminuição do absenteísmo e do número de licenças do trabalho. A produtividade e o faturamento aumentaram, mantendo-se o custo médio por exame. As pesquisas de opinião apontaram mudanças no conceito dos médicos sobre o laboratório e mais satisfaçào dos pacientes com os serviços prestados. Este sistema obteve reconhecimento externo em 1997 / The implementing process of a total quality management system in the DLC was described and analyzed from 1996-97. A quality assurance system was established base don the rules of the ISO 9002. The steps of the establishing process were described, analyzed and a set of the indicators were used in order to monitor the performance of the introduced system, through the analysis of its follow-up. The results demonstrated that employees´ commitment resulted in a decrease in absenteeism, leave of absence and accidents related to work. There was an increase in productivity and billing with the upkeep of the cost per exam. Public opinion polls disclosed a better concept of the laboratory by the clinical staff and the patients. This system got external certification in 1997