Implementing international standards: first, know your organisation
| Date | 19 June 2007 |
| Published date | 19 June 2007 |
| Pages | 82-93 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/09565690710757887 |
| Author | Gillian Oliver |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management |
ARTICLES
Implementing international
standards: first, know your
organisation
Gillian Oliver
Archives New Zealand, Wellington, New Zealand
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that implementation strategies for ISO 15489
need to be tailored to suit organisations, taking into account their unique features as well as the
broader cultural environment, including societal legislative and standards frameworks.
Design/methodology/approach – Three different organisational settings are described and
compared in the paper.
Findings – The paper finds that strategies for implementation of international standards should be
devised accordingly to suit different information cultures.
Practical implications – Successful implementation of international standards is more likely if the
cultural characteristics of the organisation are understood.
Originality/value – This research will assist in promoting best practice in records management.
Keywords Standards, Recordsmanagement, ISO 9000 series
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Worldwide, extensive effort has gone into the creation and implementation of
international standards for information management such as ISO 15489 records
management (International Standards Organization, 2001) (see, for example, Carlisle,
2004; McLeod, 2004). For an organisation to successfully implement ISO 15489 it is
essential that all staff participate, not just those employed to carry out the records
management function. This article proposes, therefore, that organisational culture is a
key factor to be taken into account when considering the implementation of standards,
and furthermore that national as well as corporate characteristics of organisational
culture are significant.
It begins with a brief discussion of the concept of organisational culture, then
presents three examples of contrasting organisational environments – snapshots of
organisational settings in Australia, Hong Kong and Germany. These snapshots are
derived from case studies of three universities undertaken in the course of doctoral
research (for a detailed account of the methodology, see Oliver (2004)). This is followed
by suggestions of strategies for the successful implementation of ISO 15489 in each of
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/0956-5698.htm
The author would like to give grateful thanks to Professor Sue McKemmish, Associate Professor
Graeme Johanson and Professor Eric Ketelaar of the Faculty of Information Technology, Monash
University for their help and support in the shaping of the ideas in this article.
The views expressed here are those of the author and not of Archives New Zealand.
RMJ
17,2
82
Records Management Journal
Vol. 17 No. 2, 2007
pp. 82-93
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
0956-5698
DOI 10.1108/09565690710757887
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