Keeping to your lane Resolving the impasse between records and ICT officers in managing email

Abstract

There has been a sharp rise in the use of electronic mail (email) in public organisations owing to its low cost, ease of use, and speed of transmission of information, among other advantages. This enhanced public service delivery in an era when clients are increasingly calling for public accountability and improved service delivery. While the use of electronic mail seems to be attractive in many respects, there is contention over who is or should be responsible for managing email records in an organisation. Informed by the skills theory, this study holds that acquisition of requisite skills and competencies is a necessary condition for excellence in job performance, productivity, and service delivery. This mixed methods research approach used a convergent research design where 240 records, administration, and information and communication technology officers from 12 government ministries completed questionnaires while 10 officers were interviewed. The interviewees comprised seven National Archives of Zimbabwe archivists, the director of the National Archives of Zimbabwe, one administration director, and one information and communication technology director from Zimbabwe’s central government. Data were further solicited using personal observation and document reviews. Ethical considerations such as seeking consent from participants, obtaining authorisation from organisations, and anonymising participants were observed in the study. The study established that information and communication technology officers were mostly entrusted with managing email records ahead of records officers, an arrangement which the study regards as rather misplaced. A collaboration matrix was proposed where records officers work as email records managers while information and communication technology officers work as email system enablers, thus emphasising the importance of each “keeping to their lane.”