THE AUDIT OF MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLES FOR INTEGRATED MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS: AN EXPLORATORY RESEARCH ON MANAGERS' PERCEPTIONS IN SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED ENTERPRISES IN ROMANIA.

Management develops strategic advantages in the area of economic activity through the implementation of the Total Quality Management (TQM) principles into each management system. The purpose of this paper is to redefine the quality management principles and to develop an individualized questionnaire to measure the management perceptions when principles are implemented. We have studied the application of management principles in small and medium-sized enterprises in two Romanian regions on the basis of four hypotheses, in order to emphasize the differences that may appear depending on each location. The perceptions on management principles and performance differences have been identified through by means of an auditing process. We have suggested an original set of certain criteria to be used during the audit. The audit was conducted in order to identify how the management principles were implemented. The Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was used to process the results. Applied multivariate statistics show that there are differences in management systems in the two regions under consideration, both in terms of managers' perception and in terms of performance in implementing the principles of management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]