Management systems - quo vadis?

On January 26, 2000, the German Institute for Standardization (DIN Deutsche s Institut fur Normung e.V.), Berlin, held a conference in Cologne on the f uture development of management systems. Quality management systems (QM sys tems) according to DIN EN ISO 9000 ff. and environmental management systems according to DIN EN ISO 14000 are widely known examples of management syst ems. The about 140 participants were provided a comprehensive picture of concept improvements for the application of management systems as well as current trends in the development of new systems. The topics of the event included the role of management systems for the national and global economy and soci ety, the need for standardizing such systems and ways to integrate several individual systems into one comprehensive management system.