5.4 Qualitative data analysis
5.4.2 Themes and sub-themes
5.4.2.3 Trustworthiness of records
146 Respondent 004 made that point: “If they are a barrier, they can be a barrier for somebody who does not know how to use information well”.
Respondent 002 stated: “Not necessarily, it depends on the requirements they are, if records management is not the process but comes as a support process, they cannot be a barrier because records management is not the end but a means to an end”.
5.4.2.2.6 Circumvention of records management processes
Respondents were asked if they ever had a circumstance where members of staff circumvent the records management unit’s processes. The respondents all agreed that some members of staff do circumvent records management processes. The responses of two of the respondents are provided below:
Respondent 002: “We do have such cases though they are minimal where a person may try to bypass the system.
Even if they do it all catches up with them because we have defined how we should process our records, so if they continue to circumvent, how are they going to submit or access what they are doing? There are such cases but we can deal with them, there are always those that will not conform”.
Just as respondent 002 admitted that employees do circumvent processes, respondent 005 argued that: “It starts at the beginning when the records enter the organisation, we have set procedures that show how mail should be handled when it enters the organisation until the customer gets the response”.
5.4.2.2.7 Records management as everybody’s responsibility
The Information Culture Conceptual Framework indicates that everyone has a role to play in ensuring that records are created and captured in the records keeping system, hence employees must recognise their responsibilities in this regard. Respondents were asked what they thought of the statement “Records management is everybody’s responsibility”. All the respondents affirmed that the statement is true.
The response from respondent 004 reflects what the other four respondents stated: “Yes, its true records units are custodian units the rest are the users and creators”.
In addition, the respondents all agreed that because almost all employees have computers, the records management unit is more of a custodian while the rest of the employees are creators and users of records.
147 covered the following sub-themes; the trustworthiness of the records system, satisfaction with records usage, security measures and records management units and other departments.
It is evident from the responses given that trust in the records keeping systems in the three parastatals is not unequivocal. Respondents from organisation A stated that employees in their organisation do not have absolute trust in the records keeping system. In organisation B, the system was not trusted as employees sometimes encountered problems. In organisation C, as in organisation A, employees trusted the records but not a hundred per cent because sometimes the system fails to deliver the required work.
Thus, in the words of respondent 005: “They [employees] do trust but not 100% when somebody has not received notification it brings doubt whether the system is ok, in the case for pending records, the employees blame the system, those issues where he/she was supposed to have closed in the system they bring doubt.”
One can argue that the trustworthiness of the records keeping system will depend on its reliability. Therefore, the responses will differ to some extent because of the differences in the technology employed and bad experiences encountered.
Usage is important to drive trust and, in this regard, the respondents were asked if they were satisfied with the usage of the records system in their organisations. In organisation A, the respondents were not satisfied with the usage, citing that the system was not properly deployed because it dictates to the business how the business should work. In organisation B, there was satisfaction with usage. In organisation C, while the respondent answered in the affirmative, he seemed to have some reservations as evident in his response below:
Respondent 005: “Yes, but 50% because the system doesn’t come cheap, you buy the system and then licenses and those licenses are billed on their own. So, it takes the organisation’s financial capability to determine how many can be bought. The licenses are not enough for everybody to use the system. So those who are not using it rely on the physical records. So later, those who have access become lazy and resort to the physical records [which] causes drawbacks in encouraging people to use the system. So, it creates imbalance”.
148 5.4.2.3.1 Availability of information
To establish the foundation of the trust that did exist, the respondents were asked what guarantees the availability of information year after year. In organisation A, the respondents pointed out that there is a retention policy, scheduled back up and cloud-based storage. Respondents from organisations B and C stated that they have offsite storage provided by commercial entities.
5.4.2.3.2 Policies on records and information systems
Regulations or policies shape how people behave towards records and the respondents were asked about the availability of policies on records and information systems. All the respondents acknowledged that their organisations do not have electronic records policies specifically. Respondents from organisations A and B reported that they have a generic records policy. However, organisations B and C did have an email policy while organisation C also had a social media policy to cover records from social media as well as an internet policy.
5.4.2.3.3 Relationship between records management unit and other departments
A positive relationship between the records management unit and other departments, especially the IT unit, helps enforce trust for the rest of the organisation. In organisation A, the respondents stated that the Records Management Unit sits in the middle of the organisational structure which enables a positive synergy between it and the other departments in the organisation. Respondents in organisation B pointed to there being less cooperation between the Records Management Unit and the IT Unit. Respondent 005 from organisation C stated that there was a positive relationship between the Records Management Unit and the IT Unit due to all the employees from the units being trained when the electronic records system was introduced.
5.4.2.3.4 Security measures
The security measures employed by an organisation vis-à-vis records play a critical role in people trusting the records system. Hence, respondents were asked what measures were in place to ensure the security of their information/records systems. All respondents stated that there are certain levels of security in their organisations.
The organisations have put in place access control, authorisation limits, authentication levels and audit trails as
149 measures to control access to records/information. In addition, virtual private networks (VPNs) are used to access remotely which has further enhanced security measures.