Organizational Readiness as an Approach to Implementing the ISO 9001 Quality Management System: Evaluation of a Proposed Model from the Perspective of Experts at Al-Naseem Food Industries Company – A Case Study

Abstract

The successful implementation of the ISO 9001 quality management system depends on an organization’s ability to prepare its managerial, organizational, human, and knowledge-based structures to effectively absorb the system before its implementation, rather than merely satisfying the formal requirements of the standard. Accordingly, this study aimed to evaluate a proposed organizational readiness model preceding ISO 9001 implementation in terms of its components, outcome dimensions, recommendations, realism, suitability to the Libyan context, and acceptance for application, from the perspective of experts at Al-Naseem Food Industries Company, as a case study. The study adopted a descriptive-analytical approach and employed a 35-item questionnaire distributed across five evaluation dimensions. The questionnaire was administered to nine experts using a comprehensive enumeration approach covering all available and eligible experts. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, including means and standard deviations, in addition to a one-sample t-test, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), and LSD post-hoc comparisons. The results indicated that the mean scores across the five dimensions ranged from 3.73 to 4.08, all exceeding the neutral midpoint of 3 and reaching statistical significance, reflecting an overall positive evaluation of the proposed model. Statistically significant differences were also found in some dimensions according to age, years of experience, and sector, whereas no statistically significant differences were observed according to job position or prior participation in training programs. These differences were interpreted cautiously given the small sample size and the limited representation of some categories. The study concludes that the proposed model received preliminary acceptance from the participating experts and that its principal contribution lies not in identifying the importance of individual readiness factors, which is already well established in the quality management literature, but in reorganizing these factors into a phased framework preceding ISO 9001 implementation and relating them to the Libyan context. The findings do not establish the model’s effectiveness following actual implementation; rather, they provide an initial basis for further refinement and broader empirical validation.