Implementing international standards: first, know your organisation

The Authors

Gillian Oliver, Archives New Zealand, Wellington, New Zealand

Acknowledgements

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.

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.

Article Type:

Research paper

Keyword(s):

Standards; Records management; ISO 9000 series.

Journal:

Records Management Journal

Volume:

Number:

Year:

2007

pp:

82-93

Copyright ©

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

ISSN:

0956-5698

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 these organisations. The article concludes by proposing three key factors for organisations to take into account when implementing international standards.

Organisational culture

“Organisational culture” is a term widely used, normally signifying cultural characteristics unique to a particular organisation (see, for instance, Curry and Moore (2003)). In this article “organisational culture” is used as a comprehensive term, encompassing national, occupational and corporate culture. “Corporate culture” is used to indicate cultural characteristics that are unique to a specific institution.

When considering national characteristics, the renowned Dutch researcher Geert Hofstede has been one of the leading contributors to existing knowledge concerning national and organisational culture. He developed a model consisting of five cultural dimensions, namely power distance (the distance between individuals at different levels in a hierarchy, or the accessibility of power-holders); uncertainty avoidance (need to avoid uncertainty about the future); individualism/collectivism (integration of individuals into groups); masculinity/femininity (division of emotional roles between men and women); and long-term/short-term orientation (choice of focus for people's effort) (Hofstede, 2001). Possible implications of these cultural dimensions have been explored in an earlier article (Oliver, 2003). Of particular relevance here though is Hofstede's (2001, p. 212) association of the individualism/collectivism dimension with communication styles and preferences.

Hofstede (2001, p. 140) suggests that national cultural dimensions influence the “models of organisations that are implicit in people's minds”, and therefore are directly implicated in organisational culture and affect the way in which problems in organisations are tackled. Organisational types are linked to correlations between the power distance and uncertainty avoidance dimensions and are described as follows:

Full bureaucracy (wide power distance, strong need to avoid uncertainty, “pyramid” model).
Implicitly structured (narrow power distance, weak need to avoid uncertainty, “market” model).
Workflow bureaucracy (narrow power distance, strong need to avoid uncertainty, “well-oiled machine” model).
Personnel bureaucracy (wide power difference/low need to avoid uncertainty, “family” model).

In subsequent research, Hofstede et al. (1990) suggested that there are three layers of culture that can be identified in an organisation. The initial layer consists of national culture then occupational culture and the top layer consists of characteristics unique to the organisation, the corporate culture. This means that the sector or industry that the organisation is engaged in will be significant, as will the occupational groupings working inside the organisation. The relationship or extent of influence between national and corporate cultural dimensions within an organisation is unclear, with differing opinions as to which is the more significant (Groeschl and Doherty, 2000, p. 15).

Of particular interest to records managers is the concept of an information culture, that is, the values accorded to information, and attitudes towards it, within organisational contexts (Curry and Moore, 2003; Davenport et al., 1992; Davenport and Prusak, 1997; Ginman, 1987; Grimshaw, 1995; Jarvenpaa and Staples, 2000, 2001). These studies, however, have not explored the role of national cultural characteristics.

Background to the organisational studies

In the course of doctoral research, case studies were conducted of three universities carrying out similar functions but located in regions of the world likely to have distinct differences in terms of cultural dimensions: Australia, Germany and Hong Kong. In terms of Hofstede's dimensions, particular features of interest are as follows.

Australia and Germany both have relatively low rankings on the Power Distance Index, in contrast to Hong Kong. Germany has a particularly high uncertainty avoidance ranking, indicating a strong need to avoid uncertainty about the future. Hong Kong and Australia are at the opposite ends of the individualism/collectivism index. This indicates that collectivist values are more likely to be dominant in Hong Kong, whereas in Australia individualist values are more likely to predominate.

The next section presents a snapshot of the state of recordkeeping at each university, prefaced by a description of the standards and legislative framework of the country concerned. Reference is made to the dimensions of the records continuum model (Upward, 2000) as the model was used as an analytical tool to assist in the interpretation of the findings (Oliver, 2004). The scope of the dimensions, as described by McKemmish (1997), is as follows:

First dimension. The actors who carry out the act (decisions, communications, acts), the acts themselves, the documents that record the acts, and the trace, the representation of the acts.
Second dimension. The personal and corporate records systems which capture documents in context in ways which support their capacity to act as evidence of the social and business activities of the units responsible for the activities.
Third dimension. The organisation of recordkeeping processes. It is concerned with the manner in which a corporate body or individual defines its recordkeeping regime and in so doing constitutes/forms the archive as memory of its business or social functions.
Fourth dimension. The manner in which the archives are brought into an encompassing (ambient) framework in order to provide a collective social, historical and cultural memory of the institutionalised social purposes and roles of individuals and corporate bodies.

The importance of the records continuum model is in the clear illumination of the unifying purposes of records managers and archivists. This is in contrast to the alternative paradigm, the records lifecycle model, which compartmentalises the recordkeeping responsibilities of records managers and archivists according to the stage a record is at in a lifecycle, from creation to disposal or archiving. The focus of activity for records managers is current records; the focus of activity for archivists is inactive records of long-term value. Continuum thinking rejects this lifecycle approach and associates three phenomena with it:

the “historical shunt”, which saw archivists mainly concerned with managing collections for historical research purposes;
the essentially paraprofessional nature of the records management community; and
the narrow client bases of traditional records management and archival services – corporate operational staff and historians respectively (McKemmish, 1997, p. 8).

As Upward (1996) explained, the foreground to the model has four continua, or axes, crossing each dimension, representing:

Recordkeeping (with co-ordinates of the document, the record, the archive and the archives).
Evidence (trace of actions, the evidence records can provide, and their role in corporate and collective memory).
Transactions (with co-ordinates of the act, activities, functions and purposes).
Identity (representing the actor, the work unit, the organisation and the way in which the identity of these are institionalised by broader societal recognition).

In each case study organisation staff working in information management roles and selected users were interviewed. The aim of the interviews was to gain an overall view of information management at the university, and most importantly to gain a sense of the “ideal” information management environment from the perspective of the interviewees.

Australia

Australia is the home of key theoretical advances in records management. In the early 1990s Royal Commissions were set up to investigate instances of public and private sector mismanagement and corruption documented failures in recordkeeping accountability (McKemmish, 1993). This was the environment in which the records continuum and related information continuum models were developed.

Australia was responsible for the world's first standard in records management (Standards Australia, 1996) which led to the creation of the international standard, ISO 15489 (International Standards Organization, 2001). ISO 15489 has since been adopted as the Australian standard, so is known in Australia as AS ISO 15489 (Standards Australia, 2001).

Australia has privacy and freedom of information legislation at both Federal and State levels. Similarly there is Federal and State archival legislation. State archival legislation followed the development of archival activity within State library systems, often slowly and inadequately, with an initial focus on managing the disposal of records (Australian Law Reform Commission, 1998). Now however archival authorities play a key role in recordkeeping in Australia and changes to archival legislation reflect this (see Hurley (1998) for a review of recordkeeping provisions in legislation).

The university

The Australian university had an entrepreneurial reputation and interviewees referred to a disjuncture between academic and corporate cultures. The library at this university had a very high profile and its responsibilities were quite far-reaching in terms of teaching and learning. Consequently it was viewed as the prime focus of information management. Despite this, the Australian university was the only organisation out of the three studied to have established a records and archival functional unit and employed specialist staff. However, the benefits of that investment were not clearly realised and recordkeeping appeared to be perceived from a lifecycle perspective.

The archives/records unit was viewed by respondents as a place for dead records, and records management policy at the university made explicit reference to managing records through their lifecycle. Although organisationally there was awareness of the need to take steps to ensure that electronic records were made available across the organisation and a digital object management system had been suggested as the repository, there was no evidence of recognition of a need for specific recordkeeping functionality in the system requirements documentation. The records unit at this university was perceived as only being relevant to a specific client base (student and university administration), which precludes any academic functions, i.e. activities related to teaching and learning, the core business of a university.

This university showed evidence of third dimensional continuum thinking in that the records unit had developed an organisational classification scheme, and were at the time of the research engaging with defining workgroup access requirements for a document management system that would be eventually implemented across the enterprise. At this university the management of information had tended to take place on a localised or functional basis rather than holistically. Among staff members there appeared to be little individual awareness of responsibilities as regards recordkeeping, and little trust in organisational recordkeeping systems. Staff tended to keep their own files rather than add them to the central system (“It's been a battle to get anyone to put anything in the central filing system”).

Hong Kong

Hong Kong does not have its own national standards body. It is represented by the Information and Technology Commission (www.itc.gov.hk/), which is a correspondent member of the International Organization for Standardization (www.iso.org). There was no involvement by Hong Kong (or indeed by the People's Republic of China) in the drafting of ISO 15489 (International Standards Organization, 2001).

British sovereignty in Hong Kong was handed over to the People's Republic of China in 1997. It had been agreed that the laws already in force in Hong Kong would be maintained so long as they did not contravene the Basic Law (Conner, 1997, p. 94), so much of Hong Kong's legislative framework is based on British principles. The pre-handover period in the 1990s saw the introduction of many new ordinances including the personal data protection ordinance.

Hong Kong does not have legislation to ensure freedom of information, but instead has a code on access to information, which sets out the scope of information to be provided by government departments either routinely or in response to requests from the public. The code authorises and requires civil servants to provide information unless there are specific reasons for not doing so. Accompanying guidelines state that the approach to the release of information should be positive (Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, n.d.). No statistics are available at the government web site to indicate how many requests for information are received or actioned.

Hong Kong, unlike the other overseas Chinese territories in the region (Macao and Taiwan), does not have any archival legislation.

The university

Out of the three universities studied, the Hong Kong university was the most reliant on the income from tuition fees rather than government funding. This impacted on the priorities accorded to operational requirements. Information management here was not viewed as the province of one particular occupational group, but rather diffused across the whole organisation. Records management as such was not identified as a necessary function, although awareness of records in terms of information as evidence for accountability was demonstrated by concerns about appropriate access restrictions being in place. The need to improve management of documents and records was manifest by concerns primarily about storage (“We're running out of space to keep everything!”) and second, about retrieval (“It's like looking for a needle in a haystack”), and most interviewees mentioned their use of technology to improve the situation.

The Hong Kong university did not appear to be equipped to extend beyond the second continuum dimension with respect to the management of records. Members of the same workgroup appeared to share information with colleagues, there was no indication of individuals hoarding information. However, if access was required by a staff member outside that particular workgroup, permission would have to be negotiated via management. It had been seen as necessary to establish the reporting line for the university webmaster's position directly to top management in order to demonstrate that there would be no particular loyalties to any one work unit.

There was no evidence of any awareness of the necessity of strategies or frameworks to use to ensure that continued access to digital documents was possible. The focus both within the university and externally within the broader Hong Kong environment appeared to be on the custodial role of an archival repository.

Germany

Germany has a long and distinguished history of involvement in the creation of standards and is where the DIN series of paper sizes (A4 etc.) (Deutsches Institut fuer Normung eV, 2004) that has had a worldwide impact on office procedures and consequently records management was issued. More recently, a standard for document management and electronic archiving of records applicable to federal, local and state government has been defined (Engel and Wettengel, 2003). Germany was an active participant in the formation of ISO 15489. A German mirror committee was established to provide input into the standard. This committee consisted of representatives from archives, local authorities, educational institutes and businesses, and was financed by the German ministry of the interior (Wettengel, 2003, p. 307). ISO 15489 has been translated into German, and published as a German standard DIN ISO 15489 (Deutsches Institut fuer Normung eV, 2002). Germany already had, and continues to have, many procedures and guidelines relating to the management of records in the public sector. These procedures and guidelines were not in conflict with the standard because DIN ISO 15489 is at a higher level (Wettengel, 2003, p. 309).

Archival legislation exists at both state and federal levels. The development of archival legislation during the 1980s and 1990s in Germany was subsequent to the privacy legislation enacted in 1976 (Bruebach, 2000).

Archival legislation ensures freedom of access to information after a given time period (generally 30 years), but there is no freedom of information legislation applying to current government records. However, all public service files have to be in principle available for access for official use. In other words, freedom of access has to be made available to officials, but not to the public (Vismann, 2000, p. 301). German data protection legislation has been described as one of the strictest in the world and provides for full national government intervention in regulation and enforcement (Walczuch and Steeghs, 2001).

The university

This university showed the most awareness of international standards in information management, and were using Dublin Core metadata for their web site pages and IEEE Learning Objects Metadata for e-learning resources. This was also the only organisation where there was any evidence of fourth dimensional records continuum thinking. A project to establish a distance education archive had been initiated, and the discussion of this showed awareness of the need to put in place storage and migration strategies for electronic records to enable them to be carried on beyond the life of the organisation that had created them. In addition, there was recognition by staff of the need for the public to be able to access current records of the university (“I am paid by the government and as long as the government pays me and it is the public service I am in, why should it be restricted to get the information?”).

Information management at this university was influenced by the needs of all stakeholders in the organisation. A representative user group consisting of staff and students was driving the development of a virtual university, which in effect was a re-structuring of the existing university. Their requirements for information impacted on the management of that information. Systems to share and disseminate information seemed to be very effective, and textual information was regarded as authentic and trustworthy. There seemed to be a holistic approach to managing information, with collaboration between work units as well as with the external environment, especially in terms of co-operation with other agencies. Although no formal records and/or archival function existed, there was evidence of awareness of recordkeeping procedures such as maintenance of formal files, and there was also a strong sense of the need to show accountability. However, despite awareness of legislative requirements, especially in the areas of copyright and Internet accessibility, not everybody followed the rules just because there were rules. The principle of academic freedom was cited as a feature of the organisational culture that often took precedence over policy. Privacy, however, seemed to be universally respected and adhered to, and procedures established to protect personal data were not questioned.

Consideration of an axis of the records continuum sheds light on aspects of organisational culture affecting recordkeeping. Transactionality, recognition of records as evidence of organisational activities, was apparent in the comments of staff at the Australian and German universities, but was not noticeable at the Hong Kong university. Furthermore a pattern emerged from interviews of staff members at the German university in that all respondents prefaced their replies with contextual information describing their relationship with work unit, department, university and if relevant, external agencies as well. This demonstrated awareness of the importance accorded to the context in which a record is created. This recognition of context must surely be manifest in the management of those records.

Strategies for the implementation of ISO 15489

What approaches can be taken for the successful implementation of ISO 15489 in each university?

The Australian university

In the entrepreneurial setting of the Australian university, where the language and norms of business were notably present in interviewees' discussion of organisational culture, the implementation of the standard should be driven by emphasis on a concept readily understood in this environment, risk management. It would need to be led by senior management, from a position recognised by both academic and administrative staff, but could not be imposed. Care would have to be taken that staff were fully aware and convinced of benefits, otherwise co-operation might be withheld. The leader of the implementation should act as champion, providing transformational leadership.

An emphasis on the Australian origins of ISO 15489 will underline the standard's relevance to this university and the environment in which it operates. The library is a powerful and influential force in information management within the organisation and so would be a key area to target for an initial pilot implementation.

A combination of face-to-face sessions, online delivery and supporting written documentation for training should provide the flexibility needed to allow for a range of communication preferences and approaches.

The Hong Kong university

Given the absence of a formal framework for the development of standards within Hong Kong, and the lack of involvement of either Hong Kong or China in the development of ISO154879, the implementation of the standard would present particular challenges in the Hong Kong organisation. Respect for the authority of an international standard could not be taken for granted. A focus on tangible benefits that would demonstrate direct cost savings such as improved storage space, and emphasising the definition of controls on accessing information, including specifying authorised access, would assist with enhancing the likelihood of acceptability of this standard at the university. Risk management is not currently viewed as a high priority, (there are no organisation-wide back-up facilities), so this is unlikely to prove a compelling argument for adoption of the standard. Similarly, improved access to information across the organisation did not appear to be viewed as necessary or desirable. It would be essential for the initiative to be led by a senior manager, and not seen as belonging to one particular work unit. The role of senior management would be that of a figurehead, rather than a promoter and/or enabler of change.

Despite little recognition of the need for records management, implementation of ISO 15489 is conceivable if emphasis was placed on efficiency gains, and on establishing appropriate controls to ensure authorised access to records.

Training and promotion of the standard would be best carried out on a workgroup basis, primarily via contact sessions.

The German university

In contrast to the other two organisations, the particular challenge in implementing ISO 15489 at this German university does not lie primarily in convincing management or staff of the value of records management, except in terms of space utilisation (see below). In the German environment, where recordkeeping is embedded in working procedures, the challenge would be to explain why an international standard is necessary for something that is accepted as a part of daily life. In the case of the university, an emphasis on the international nature of this standard should assist in providing justification for its implementation. Staff were familiar with the need for international metadata standards for learning objects and websites, and with European Union requirements for standardisation. A key factor to emphasise is that the standard will help provide reliable parameters for the further development of information technological infrastructure (Wettengel, 2003, p. 309). The benefits of records management with respect to efficient and cost-effective use of space should be made explicit – this is an area where the university has already experienced difficulties.

The respect for standards in German society provides a firm basis on which to base implementation. When delivering training and promoting the standard, it would be useful to provide the context to standard development, and emphasise the key input and the continuous involvement of the German delegation, and therefore its relevance to German norms. Embedding the standard in university policy and providing full supporting documentation and written guidelines will be essential. Implementation of ISO 15489 could be accomplished if the benefits of standardisation, and the potential for space savings, were identified.

Discussion

It can be seen that different strategies for the implementation of ISO 15489 would have to be devised in order to take into account the differing information or organisational cultures. The characteristics of the information cultures of the case study organisations will affect choices made as to leadership of the implementation, selection of motivators to promote acceptance by staff as well as management and communication strategies. A suggested set of key factors to be taken into account is provided below.

It is clear that the same motivators to adopt standards would not apply to each university. The rich understandings derived from these particular case studies indicate a range of motivators and cultural influences that should be taken into account in framing implementation strategies, and these findings are transferable in that they will help inform similar analyses in other organisations.

One point that emerges very clearly is that the challenges for records managers in multi-national enterprises are very great indeed, and a sensitivity to the complexity of organisational culture will be a significant pre-requisite for successful implementation of ISO 15489 in those organisations.

The relative influence of national, occupational and corporate cultures will vary, but we can at least be prepared for the existence of those dimensions when devising implementation strategies. Although the examples used here illustrate difference in approach that can be linked to national cultural dimensions, the same principles apply to organisations with different corporate or occupational cultures. For instance, it will be necessary to devise different strategies for successful implementation of ISO 15489 in public and private sector organisations within the same country. Then drilling down further one can speculate about the different approaches needed in, for example, a law firm and a software development company. The principles of best practice records management will be exactly the same, but the values and attitudes of employees relating to information are likely to be very different.

These values and attitudes will be apparent in the way that records are stored, how they are accessed and retrieved, the extent to which information is shared with colleagues, whether there is any pre-existing understanding of “records” as a concept. Understanding what these values and attitudes are is key to determining the drivers that will motivate acceptance of, and compliance with, records management best practice principles.

Conclusions

The key factors to consider when introducing a global standard, and managing the change associated with it are as follows:

Leadership of the implementation. Consideration will have to be given to whether or not it is appropriate for a particular functional unit to lead the initiative, or whether respect for hierarchies and workgroup loyalties mean that success is more likely to be achieved if leadership comes from a neutral but senior management role. Another aspect to be considered is the type of leadership required – whether there is a need for a crusader-type leader to drive the change, or whether a figurehead is all that is required.
Identification of benefits appropriate to the values prevalent in the specific organisational environment. Values will be influenced by national, occupational and corporate cultures; identifying relevant values will enable appropriate prioritising of benefits. The ISO 15489 benefits to be emphasised will include the risk management advantages, greater accountability, demonstrating possibilities for increased controls to guard against unauthorised access, or highlighting potentials for more effective space utilisation. The prioritisation of these will vary according to organisation.
Language and communication issues. The use of different character sets may mean that so-called international standards are inappropriate. Good translation of international standards from English is a key factor in facilitating their acceptability in non-English-speaking countries. High or low context communication requirements mean that appropriate format and style will vary. Also, preferences for high or low context communication will need to be taken into account when developing communications strategy – for instance, the extent to which written guidelines should be supplemented with face-to-face training sessions.

So, when reading or hearing about successful implementations of ISO 15489, consider whether the strategies used are replicable, or transferable, in organisations in different environments. Careful analysis of individual organisations will help ensure that cultural values and attitudes to information assist, rather than hinder, best practice in records management.

References

Australian Law Reform Commission (1998), Australia's Federal Record: A Review of the Archives Act 1983, No. ALRC 85, Australian Government Public Service, Canberra, .

Implementing international standards: first, know your organisation

The Authors

Gillian Oliver, Archives New Zealand, Wellington, New Zealand

Acknowledgements

Abstract

Article Type:

Keyword(s):

Journal:

Volume:

Number:

Year:

pp:

Copyright ©

ISSN:

Introduction

Organisational culture

Background to the organisational studies

Australia

The university

Hong Kong

The university

Germany

The university

Strategies for the implementation of ISO 15489

The Australian university

The Hong Kong university

The German university

Discussion

Conclusions

References

Further Reading

About the author