All of this sounds interesting and all, but with it being someone's PhD
thesis, I'd have to wonder how much of it comes from real world examples,
and how much of it is just opinion.

A lot of what comes out of the realm of higher education on RM is
theoretical, not practical.  Also, much of the content tends to be based on
input received from others but they seldom cite the sources and any
demographic information about them- such as their level within an
organization, the industry they represent, whether they are public or
private, how (if at all) regulated they are and how mature the organization
is.  

Many of the scholarly documents I've read will state they are "unable to
provide information on their sources due to confidentiality agreements" but
the problem with this is there is no way to verify or validate the
information provided, so it's almost as if you're reading a work of fiction,
or an op-ed piece. 

Here's an example of what I mean by this comment:

"...It also concludes that such decisions are made without taking advantage
of metadata, and these decisions are made for the same reasons both at home
and at work ... no correlation between subjects' culture and reasons given
for deletion/preservation decisions, nor ... between age and such reasons.
... [U]sers are generally averse to conforming to records management
policies within the organisation. ... Specifically, in organisations
possessing formal records management systems, this research investigates the
frequency with which individuals violate records management procedures and
why they consider such violations to be necessary or desirable. ..."

What aspects of metadata would facilitate a decision for retention aside
form creation date and destruction date?  I can see where metadata might
drive a process for placing a destruction hold on information, or performing
research, but not retention.

A correlation between subjects culture and reasons for
deletion/preservation?  This might be pertinent if these were personal
records, but later in this paragraph, it makes reference to "organizations",
so how would any of this impact decisions on retention, with the possible
exception of archival holdings of historic or enduring value?

Users are averse to conforming to RM polices in an organization?  WHO do the
records BELONG TO?  There are reasons for policies and if the 'users' are
employees, they are supposed to comply with/follow policies, whether they
are 'averse' to them or not.   

The research investigates frequency users violate procedures and why they
consider this necessary or desirable?  So if they feel it's desirable,
that's justifiable?  Again, if your organization has policies and
procedures, it's not up to individuals to unilaterally decide that they
'don't desire or find it necessary' to comply with them- they can question
them, or propose changes, but they are there based on decisions made by
others in positions charged with developing policy.

As I said, in the real world, the above items are examples of where RM would
be destined to fail, simply because no one is following policy and
procedures, or going about attempting to institute change through define
processes.  Failing to comply with organizational polices to properly mange
information assets that belong to the organization simply because
individuals  are "averse" to them or "find it desirable" can result in a
loss of information, or an inability to locate it when necessary.

If this is the conclusion reached in a PhD thesis, I would certainly hope
the candidate shares his research with the organizations that were subjects
of the study... they OBVIOUSLY have some organizational issues they need to
address.

Larry
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