Records Management in the Knowledge Management Age: The Namibian Context

Abstract

Over the last decade organizations have attempted to transform themselves into knowledge – enabled operations that are able to tap into the intellectual capital they create, to help them learn and develop (Hughes 2003a). The question is what is the role of the records management profession in knowledge management? In answer to this question, Hughes (2003b) sees records managers as playing a key role in the management of knowledge. This paper looks at knowledge and knowledge management; information management, as well as related concept – e-sectors, specifically e-government, and the part played by records management in all these. The paper concludes that organizations should not just concentrate on formal, structured, internal data, leaving out the informal and unstructured external information that most decision makers require (Kim 1999). Most of this information is captured in records, and this is how records management becomes critical to the whole process.



ESARBICA Journal Vol.22 2003: 64-71