| COMMON BARRIERS AND RESOLUTIONS FOR IMPLEMENTING ISO 9000 STANDARDS: THE CASE OF MACAU NELSON SANTOS ANTONIO and TIFFANY K.P. LAM Issue 22 (Vol. 11 No. 2) pp. 81-94 An obvious negligence on barriers and their respective resolutions of the ISO 9000 implementation process has been found in the extant literature. The academic focus has been centered more on other ISO implementation aspects such as its costs and benefits (e.g. Douglas et al., 1999; Leung et al., 1999), its relationship with business performance (Simmons & White, 1999), and reasons to get ISO accreditation (Anderson et al., 1999). Taking the accredited firms in Macau as subjects, the study is aimed to fill this gap. In-depth interviews with the accredited firms revealed that lack of management commitment, staff resistance to change and need to handle large amount of paperwork were common barriers found in the early stage of quality implementation. Meanwhile, training, management encouragement and recognition, and their credibility were factors identified to be effective antidotes for indifferent attitudes and discouraging behaviors. At the same time, the installation of an IT system can solve the problem of heavy routine work and the creation of voluminous paperwork. |