Ethnographic sensitivity and current recordkeeping

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to report on the application of information culture analysis techniques in the workplace. The paper suggests that records managers should use ethnographic sensitivity, if they want to have a constructive dialogue with records creators and users, and effect positive change in their organisations. Design/methodology/approach Two pilot studies were conducted in university settings for the purpose of testing an information culture assessment toolkit. The university records managers who carried out the investigation approached the fieldwork ethnographically, in the sense that they were interested in the perspectives of their end users, and tried to understand their information cultures, rather than imposing their recordkeeping concepts and procedures. Findings Information culture analysis was of practical utility in large complex organisations, providing an insight into behaviours, motivations, and most importantly promoted reflection and dialogue among organisational actors. Originality/value The paper raises awareness of the diversity of professional skills and knowledge required by records practitioners. It emphasises that to remain relevant to their organisations, records managers have to be receptive and sensitive to cultural influences.

Development of a Recordkeeping Culture in Community‐Based Organisations in Bangladesh

“…The information culture of an organisation is influenced by many factors, including the national and regional culture, the organisation type, its purpose and its history, its organisational structure, the personality of its leaders and the background and skills of its employees (Oliver, 2008;Choo et al, 2008;Lian et al, 2022). Oliver and Foscarini (2020) developed a 3-level Information Culture Framework to analyse the information culture of organisations, which identifies the factors that are easy to change in order to improve information practices in an organisation, the factors that are harder to change, and the factors that are very difficult to change because they are based on deep-seated cultural preferences or on external elements. The latter, the Level 1 factors, include the preferences for information formats (e.g.…”

“…Whereas most of the recordkeeping literature has been concerned with assessing whether organisations were correctly managing records in accordance with legislation and best practice standards and with finding ways of improving recordkeeping practices in organisations so that they comply with laws and standards, a growing strand of research argues that to be effective and sustainable, recordkeeping practices must be adapted to the information culture of the organisations (Oliver and Foscarini, 2020; Oliver et al, 2018; Lian et al, 2022; Frings‐Hessami & Oliver, 2022a, 2022b). Recordkeeping in an organisation is impacted by the information culture of the organisation.…”

The mindset of recordkeeping: the intersection of records management and organizational psychology

“…For example, a business in Canada is going to have a very different information culture than one in South Korea. Oliver et al (2018) take this one step further by linking information culture to the practice of what they describe as scaled down "ethnography-lite", (the scientific study of peoples and their cultures). Their article, which uses 2016 version of the Information Culture(s) Toolkit published by the International Council on Archives (Oliver et al, 2019) as a framework, found that if people do not understand why recordkeeping is important, then there is "a disconnect between recordkeeping compliance approaches and expectations, on the one hand, and the practices and preferences of the staff, on the other" (p. 179).…”

“…But, although this efficiency could be credited to a records manager ensuring rigid compliance, case studies have found that effective records managers are flexible and cooperative. Oliver and Foscarini (2020) are some of the leaders in this more humanistic approach, saying that:…”

“…The first behavior is disorganization, which may be the most common type of undesirable conduct, and can be caused by neglect – benign or otherwise, a lack of direction or simply a lack of staff resources. Oliver et al (2018) found that in their analysis of university culture, staff valued and trusted colleagues above everything else when gathering information about records practices. This trust within the unit was valued over best practices that are safeguards against things like staff changeover or lack of documentation.…”