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• Inquiring culture: managers and employees search for information to better understand the future and ways of changing what they do to align themselves with future trends/directions; and
• Discovery culture: managers and employees are open to new insights about crises and radical changes and seek ways to create competitive discontinuities (Douglas 2010:48).
62 information culture context and it is, therefore, imperative to understand the culture that produces the records.
Insofar as information behaviours are enacted by a social structure of roles, rules, and warrants, they are a manifestation of cultural norms and values (Alguliyev and Mahmudova 2015).
The stage of records creation and capture is the building block upon which the reliability and trustworthiness of electronic records are established. In the Records Continuum Model, the create dimension shows that different actors perform activities. However, the literature has failed to elucidate how the activities carried out in creating records are shaped by information culture.
Literature that addresses the creation and capture of records fails to address the influence of people in the processes. There is general agreement that the failure to create and capture records will render them inefficient because records management aims to ensure systematic control of an organisation’s records from creation through to their final disposition (Australian National Audit Office 2012). Read and Ginn (2015) and Odeyemi, Issa and Saka (2011) have attributed a sound records management programme to the successful creation and capture of records including the controlled generation of records or copies not needed to operate a business. Furthermore Ma, Abie, Skramstad and Nygard (2009) state that the inability to control the creation and generation of records may result in the duplication of information, the lack of uniform procedures for information processing, the lack of control over the standard presentation of information and the increased cost of information processing.
Records capture is an action taken to secure a record into an effective records management system where it can be maintained and made accessible for as long as it is needed (Shepherd and Yeo 2003). The process of records capturing ensures that records are accessible, controlled and managed according to policy procedures, and are secured against tampering, unauthorised access and unlawful deletion (Yusof and Chell 2002; Henriksen and Andersen 2008). The records capturing process also consists of the application of appropriate metadata. The entire process may shape people’s attitudes and behaviours towards records although this may not be the case as the issue has not been covered in the literature to any significant extent.
According to Keakopa et al. (2009), records systems are often introduced without vital processes and controls for capturing and long-term accessibility of the records being in place. The success of records creation and capture has been anchored on several records management system rules and processes. Davenport and Prusak (1997) and McDonald (2014) contend that technology itself is less important than the people who will use it and the business processes it will support. Implementing EDRM system software with the hope and expectation that technology
63 will change the organisational culture would be a mistake. How the culture is integrated into the creation and capture remains unknown to records practitioners and scholars hence the need for research that investigates this.
Studies such as those of Gunnlaugsdottir (2008), Lee and Lee (2009) and Baron and Thurston (2016) have expressed concern about the problems of capturing metadata (as some may be missing at the time of records creation) as well as identifying the right metadata. Capturing records’ metadata has been problematic in some instances. However, there has not been a comprehensive inquiry to determine whether employees’ views and the values they accord to records have any impact on their failure to capture records’ metadata. Oliver and Foscarini (2014) claim that employee attitudes can be determined by how they treat records. Keakopa et al. (2009) advise that in a case where an organisation does not know what to file or capture such a situation requires policy or regulations. Similar sentiments are advanced by Chirwa (2013) who stated that in the public service of Zambia there were no clear guidelines on which records to capture or create. The author further underscores the importance of policy in serving as a guide on what business transactions or business applications and systems to capture. McDonald (2014), however, argues that despite the many guidelines, regulations/policies and software that have been developed over time, the problems associated with the creation and capture of records persist. The current study presents an alternative view in that other factors, such as “people issues”, need to be considered with regard to their effect on the creation and capture of records. While it cannot be disputed that policies and other guidelines shape the culture of an organisation, people may nevertheless exhibit differences in the way they understand and respond to records management requirements (Oliver and Foscarini 2014).
3.10.1 Electronic records creation and capturing in Botswana
Parastatals create and capture records in their various formats. It is imperative for all records created and captured in these organisations to be full and accurate accounts of the activities to which they relate. The main purpose of creating records is to provide evidence of activities that have been carried out. The creation and capture of records are important to ensure records control. Ngulube (2006) points out that applying a control mechanism over the life of a record enables an organisation to establish its physical and intellectual control over the records that it creates and captures.
A study conducted by Thanye, Kalusopa and Bwalya (2015) revealed that there was no records keeping system managing the creation and capture of architectural records at the Gaborone City Council. The authors also reported a lack of policy on what records can be created and captured for sustaining the operations of the Council.
The authors further revealed a lack of systematic records classification systems that hinder proper records
64 capturing. Similar sentiments were shared by Tshotlo and Mnjama (2010) who also pointed out the poor classification scheme used for records at the Gaborone City Council. The lack of (or poor) classification system is, however, not unique to the Council but appears to be a problem across all government ministries and departments in Botswana (Tshotlo and Mnjama 2010; Ramokate and Moatlhodi 2010; Mampe and Kalusopa 2012). The lack of classification schemes implies that records are created and captured on an ad hoc basis without being informed by an analysis of organisational functions or business processes.
The problem of the creation and capture of records thus seems to be rampant among government bodies. In 2010, the Botswana Government sought to implement the National Archives and Records Management System. One of its objectives was to ensure the efficient and systematic control of the creation, receipt, maintenance, use and disposition of records through an electronic solution. Moatlhodi and Kalusopa (2016), in light of the System above, assessed electronic records’ readiness at the Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs. The author’s uncovered a lack of guidelines for the creation and capture of records and a lack of staff expertise and training. A similar situation prevailed in private companies. Moatshe (2014), for example, conducted a study on the Supreme Furniture business and discovered that it lacked policies for creating and capturing records. There was no indexing, description or classification of records thereby ensuring that their systematic organisation would be highly unlikely.