The EMS style of management is rooted in statistical process control and a course of continuous incremental improvement. It is remarkably similar to the management philosophy and approach developed by W. Edwards Deming, an American industrial manager who began Japan's industrial love affair with quality control. He was a pioneer in advocating the setting of goals, measuring performance, and acting to correct and improve performance. An EMS is used to control environmental performance through continuous process improvement. The traditional approach discourages exploration to find new and better ways to get the job done.
Permitted practices are black and white and inflexible.
An EMS makes room for innovation while continually holding the permittee responsible for environmental performance. The basic foundation of an EMS is a written plan, which includes a description of responsibilities for managers, production workers, temporary workers and the regulators. The environmental policy lays out the various components and goals of an operation's EMS, an important investment in time and energy for a facility operator. It also requires some commitment from the regulators to respond in a defined and predictable manner. In fact, the stakeholders go beyond the employees and regulators and encompass the stockholders, the local community, purchasers of the company's products, etc.