Dear Luis,

A strong senior management committment is perhaps the most critical success factor.  If people perceive that their leader is committed in a QMS implementation based on ISO 9001, they will follow.  As well as in large organizations, there could be some kind of change resistance but, once again, a persisting senior management steering is crucial.

Learning to work under a process approach is perhaps one of the toughest concepts to learn and implement, especially in companies with a strong functional approach culture.  Hence, it is necessary that senior management makes people understand that under a process approach, only the sequence of activities matter, and  functional boundaries must be broken.  This doesn´t mean that organizational charts and functional areas will disappear.  The process approach is only another way of thinking and managing the organization, for quiality purposes.

I hope yo u find this first answer useful.

Kind regards,

Olá Luís,

I agree with Gerardo Mendonza, and also I think that is more ususal that in small organisations the management is not professional - so this can lead to a situation that reinforces the fact that management is unaware of these scenario. Also, in smal organisations, work is not so structured as in big and medium enterprises - so in the beginning is more difficult to identify processes and work flow.

Best regards.

Cumprimentos, um abraço.

http://www.produccioncientifica.luz.edu.ve/index.php/rvg/article/view/11119

http://www.aecit.org/jornal/index.php/AECIT/article/view/140

http://publicacoes.apq.pt/factores-de-exito-para-la-implantacion-de-la-norma-une-en-iso-90012008-estudio-regional/

Prezado Luis,

Realmente implementar os processos de ISO nas SMEs é muito mais difícil do que em grandes empresas. Além das razões já mencionadas pelos colegas da Rede, eu acrescentaria a ausência de rotinas e processos nestas empresas e o custo fixo da implantação e monitoramento da própria ISO. Atenciosamente,

Lia Hasenclever

Prezado Luis,

Concordo com a Lia, a implementação em SMEs torna-se mais complicada devido a ausência de padrões organizacionais; somado a este contexto, observa-se que em SMEs os gestores (figuras fundamentais para o sucesso da implantação) acabam assumindo diversos papéis que extrapolam seu nível de conhecimento. Com isso, a ISO pode tornar-se mais um desses papéis que acabará sobrecarregando suas atividades e dificultando sua implantação.

With the increase of the number of implemented quality management systems in small and medium organizations, the number of difficulties encountered in implementing the system is increasing. These difficulties are largely due to the specifics of small and medium-sized organizations. The companies representing this sector are characterized by certain limitations and barriers determining their way of functioning.