Advantages and Disadvantages of Integrated Management System (IMS) (2024)

For organization wishing to have control over more than one aspect of risk management, e.g operational safety, environment and quality, it may be possible to implement an integrated management system also known as IMS rather than individual systems. Though it may make sense in theory, implementing an IMS is not an easy task, and there are varieties of factors must be taken into account.

In addition to quality, environmental and occupational health and safety, an integrated management system of an organization can include many other different management systems, such as a financial management system, an information security management system, a business continuity management system or a social responsibility management system. An integrated management system is an effective organizational approach to simplify the work, to avoid conflicts and to reduce duplication of documents. Integrating management systems may possibly lead to cost savings and efficient utilization of resources within an organization. Some of the advantages of the intregrated management system include;

• A well-planned IMS is likely to operate more cost effectively than separate management systems, and facilitate decision-making that best reflects the overall needs of the organization.
• An IMS offers the prospect of more rewarding career opportunities for specialists post holders in each discipline.
• The objectives and processes of management system are essentially the same.
• Integration should lead to the avoidance of duplication, e.g. in personnel, meetings, electronic record keeping software, audits and paperwork.
• Integration should reduce the possibility of resolving problems in one area at the expense of creating new difficulties in other disciplines.
• An IMS should involve timely overall system reviews where momentum in one element of an IMS may drive forward other elements that might otherwise stagnate. In contrast, independent systems could develop without regard to other management system elements, leading to increased incompatibility.
• A positive culture in one discipline may be carried over to others.

Disadvantages of Integration:

In certain organizations the seperate management system in each department might be functioning properly and its results could be considered acceptable however, once the integrated management system gets introduced and implemented many departments fail to catch up and the following occurs as a result of the integrated management system process;

• Existing system may work well already. Integration may threaten the coherence and consistency of current arrangements that have the support of everyone involved.
• Relevant specialists may continue to concentrate on the area of their core expertise and further specialist training may not be needed.
• Uncertainties regarding key terms already a problem in occupational health and safety would be exacerbated in an IMS.
• System requirements may vary across topics covered, e.g. an organization may require a simply quality system, but a more complex health and safety or environmental performance system. An IMS could introduce unreasonable bureaucracy into, in this case, quality management.
• Health, safety and environment performance are underpinned by legislation and standards, but quality management system requirements are largely determined by customer specification.
• Regulator and single topic auditor may have difficulty evaluating their part of the IMS when it is interwoven with other parts of no concern to the evaluator.
• A powerful, integrated team may reduce the ownership of the topics by line management.
• A negative culture in one topic may unwittingly be carried over the others.

Due to integration , probability of lengthy document reviews and team meetings is usually unavoidable. Lengthy documents practically never seen by anyone. If integration process is not planned and implemented correctly, significance aspects of individual standard can be absent and finally, if all concerns raised by workforce is not addressed by the management team then probably the benefits of IMS certification will not be achieved within the organization and more worst it could lead to management system stagnation.