Great points, Gordy.

And Dwight brings up an important distinction as well - the dichotomy
between public and private.  There are significantly different drivers,
desired outcomes and (usually) levels of regulation between public and
private entities which, almost necessarily, would result in different
practices.

The private sector is primarily concerned about revenue/profit whereas the
public sector is primarily concerned about meeting its mandate (serving the
public in a certain capacity).  A large part of government is protecting the
public's "right to know", which adds significant value to recordkeeping and
archival activities that just don't exist in the private sector.  RM is
actually a *job* of government; but I can't say that's generally the case in
the private sector for a vast majority of the information an organization
may create (certain industries aside, of course).  That's not good or bad,
it's just different.

It comes down, again, to measuring and valuing risk.  For the public sector,
poor RM practices is an absolutely unacceptable risk based on what the
entity values so more resources are applied.  In the private sector, poor RM
practices may be an acceptable cost of doing business in order to divert
scarce resources to other activities that it values more highly.

I can't sit in judgment of the private sector because it may choose to value
RM lower than other activites.  What I can do is help to illuminate the true
value of RM by doing all of those things the article suggests - be educated,
learn to be persuasive and talk their talk, etc.  It's my job to help my
clients/company to strike the right balance according to its overall
strategy and goals, and in order to do that effectively I have to have a
"seat at the table".

As Cheryl and Dwight both pointed out, serving the business - whether
ultimately that business is helping serve the public or helping your
shareholders make a ton of money - to the best of our ability is our
charge.  I think we can all agree to that?  :)


-- 
Julie J. Colgan, CRM

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