IMS 9001/14001/18001 integrated management

The Integrated Management Concept, or IMC is an approach to structure management challenges by applying a “system-theoretical perspective that sees organisations as complex systems consisting of sub-systems, interrelations, and functions”. The most characteristic aspect of the IMC is its distinction between three particular management dimensions: normative, strategic, and operational management, which are held together by different integration mechanisms.  The normative management dimension determines the general aim of the organization, the strategic dimension directs the plans, basic structures, systems, and the problem-solving behaviour of the staff for achieving it, and the operative level translates the normative missions and strategic programs into day-to-day organizational processes.

The IMC was developed by Knut Bleicher and his colleagues originally as an element of the St. Gallen Management Model, introduced in the 1970s by Hans Ulrich and Walter Krieg at the Swiss University of St. Gallen. Thereafter, the IMC has been revised several times (e.g. with respect to its application within SMEs sectors ) and further developed by research institutions and management scholars, such as Johannes Rüegg-Stürm.

Dimensions of management

Normative management

The normative management dimension deals with principles, norms, and strategies which are aimed to ensure the surviving capabilities of a company through the preservation of its identity. Bleicher states that “because of its constitutive role, normative management functions as the basis for all activities of management”. Through vision, mission, and purpose statements, normative management codifies the norms, principles, and strategies that fulfill the company’s general aim