Effective Records Management For Organizations: A Literature Review

Discussion

This report is based on the literature review of ten such cases which are related to managing records effectively with respect to an organization. In this case the analysis is based on the importance and relevance of the papers or case studies with the said topic. The strengths and weaknesses in these cases is discussed with respect to the topic being discussed. Further, the gaps in the literature of these papers is also discussed, if any such problem is detected at all. The topic of discussion in relation to all these cases is mainly the way management professionals can manage the records of an organization effectively.

This paper titled “Factors Influencing the Adoption of Electronic Records Management (ERM) for Decision Making Process at Higher Professional Education (HPE)’s Institutions” is based on the study of the factors influencing the use of electronic records management for decision making. The use of electronic records management in higher professional education institutions helps in making decisions regarding the functions of the business and support the decisions of the management. Electronic records management (ERM)  helps in the easy access of relevant data and further using them in making decisions. The study proves that the use of electronic records is useful for the students for help in their studies and also helps the management in taking decisions. The adoption of ERM is helpful for enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of the students as well as the management (Mukred & Yusof, 2015).

The paper is titled “Technology Drives Changes In Records Management Requirements”. In today’s environment, businesses are hugely dependent on technology for most of its operations. Nearly all information of a business are stored digitally. Managing and categorizing this information is necessary for proper use of this data in the proper place. Digitization helps in expanding the business easily. On the other hand, retaining this information properly is important. Information governance is another important factor in the business. Information governance aims to fill the gap between the traditional records and information management system and the ever changing technological business environment (Carlisle, 2015).

The paper titled “Embedding a records manager as a strategy for helping to positively influence an organization’s records management culture” written by the authors aims to find out the advantages of having a records manager or over a consultant in the University of Ottawa. It is further stated that recruiting a records and information manager is much more useful as compared to a consultant, the reason being that the manager will understand the organizational culture and a trusted relationship is therefore built between the manager and the organization. This in turn will increase the effectiveness of the entire team. The method used in this research was reports related to the needs of the organization (Bowker et al., 2017).

Conclusion

The authors of the paper titled “ Cultivating capability: The socio-technical challenges of integrating approaches to records and knowledge management” aim to examine the qualities required to implement effectively a system for the project of the development of technology at the Agricultural Section of the Victorian Governments Department of Economic Development. In this case the said department collaborated with another department which led to several years of working together with knowledge management staff, external consultants. The author in this case uses the results of the several actions that were performed in the department, with main emphasis on the new tool that was developed for record-centric knowledge generation (Jones et al., 2016).

The author of the paper titled “The impact of information culture on information/records management: A case study of a municipality in Belgium” named Svard analyzes the information culture related to a medium-sized local government agency which deals with public information access in Belgium. The three main points related to this topic are, the fundamental layer of the culture of the organization with respect to information, skills of the employees related to knowledge about Information Management and the Information Governance system in the organization. The method of this research is a case study on the employees of the organization (Svärd, 2014).

This paper is titled “Effective Records and Information Management as a Catalyst for Fighting Corruption”. This paper examines the need for effective management of records as a key element for fighting corruption. In this case, corruption is recognized as a disease and effective records management as a vaccine. Records and Information Management is an important part of a country’s records management process. A sound way of records and information management is necessary for government or organizations for smooth flow of operations. The reason being that corruption is on the rise in both private and public sectors (Okello-Obura, 2013).

This paper is titled “Digital Records Keeping to Information Governance in Estonian Local Governments”. This paper is based on the discussion of the connection of governance of information with the management of the organizations and digitalization. The digitalization of information is the recent trend in government organization as well. The information is stored digitally and can be managed easily for effective e-governance. This article mainly focuses on the implementation of e-government and its modules. The author concludes by stating the fact that implementation of e-government is effective for taking decisions based on information governance (Pappel, Pappel & Saarmann, 2012).

References

This paper is titled “E-Government: Challenges and Opportunities in Botswana”. The main aim of this paper is to examine the challenges that are faced in the process of implementation of e-government in Botswana. The opportunities are also discussed. The method used in this research is the detailed analysis and examination of the e-government strategy and vision published by Botswana. The results stated by the author imply that Botswana is still lagging behind in implementing e-government for records management and providing government services online (Nkwe, 2012).

This paper is titled “E-Mail Management in the Canadian Government: Overview of the Practices from a Records Management Perspective”. This study is based on the records management issue of the Canadian Government with the help of e-mails. This is mainly focused on the implementation of e-mails as a mode of communication in government organizations. The study explores the various issues related to this and the guidelines. The author concludes that the government needs to implement e-mail software and applications and should also give importance to long term storage of mails (Zwarich & Park, 2013).

This paper is titled “Records Management in the Public Service and its Impact on the Payment of Pension Benefits at the Public Service Pension Fund”. This paper is based on the study of effect the management of records in the Government ministries and departments have on the payment of pension benefits to retirees. The data sources used in this research includes journals and reports and many other documents from the internet. Questionnaires were also a source of information in this research. The author states that the records are not managed effectively in the government departments and this causes delays in the payment of pension to the retirees. One of the main problems detected in this case was the missing documents about the personal records of the employees. The problem can be solved by implementing records management policies and procedures (Phiri, 2012).

Conclusion

From the above discussion about the case studies, it can be derived that management of records is an important aspect for any type of information. The safety and security of the information and the categorization of the information is to be maintained by the records manager. The effective management of federal records is important in all departments of government agencies.

References

Bowker, L., Bowker, L., Villamizar, C., & Villamizar, C. (2017). Embedding a records manager as a strategy for helping to positively influence an organization’s records management culture. Records Management Journal, 27(1), 57-68.

Carlisle,D.K.(2015) Technology Drives Changes In Records Management Requirements Tecnologia Impulsiona Mudanças Nos Requisitos De Gerenciamento De Documentos.

Jones, M., Jones, M., Vines, R., & Vines, R. (2016). Cultivating capability: The socio-technical challenges of integrating approaches to records and knowledge management. Records Management Journal, 26(3), 242-258.

Mukred, M., & Yusof, Z. M.(2015). Factors Influencing the Adoption of Electronic Records Management (ERM) for Decision Making Process at Higher Professional Education (HPE)’s Institutions.

Nkwe, N. (2012). E-government: challenges and opportunities in Botswana. International journal of humanities and social science, 2(17), 39-48.

Okello-Obura, C. (2013). Effective records and information management as a catalyst for fighting corruption. Information Development, 29(2), 114-122.

Pappel, I., Pappel, I., & Saarmann, M. (2012, June). Digital records keeping to information governance in Estonian local governments. In Information Society (i-Society), 2012 International Conference on (pp. 199-204). IEEE.

Phiri, N. (2012). Records management in the public service and its impact on payment of pension benefits at the Public Service Pension Fund (Doctoral dissertation, Master of Business Administration (MBA); 2009).

Svärd, P. (2014). The impact of information culture on information/records management: A case study of a municipality in Belgium. Records Management Journal, 24(1), 5-21.

Zwarich, N., & Park, E. G. (2013, October). E-Mail Management in the Canadian Government: Overview of the Practices from a Records Management Perspective. In Proceedings of the Annual Conference of CAIS/Actes du congrès annuel de l’ACSI.