M.A. / Information plays a very significant role in the economic development of the enterprises. It is increasingly used as a corporate resource to improve productivity, efficiency and effectiveness. This means that information in the form of records, is a strategic weapon to gain competitive advantage for the enterprise that creates and receives them. The study explores the problems that are facing terminology in the study of information management and records management. The problems that exist in terms of terminology are so intense that there is yet no universally acceptable definition for records and records management. The basic elements of records management are explored in attempt to position records management as an information management function. It demands records as vital information resources be managed throughout their life cycles, at a strategic level in much the same way as other economic resources such as people, money and land. In managing records effectively, the education and training of records managers is regarded as imperative. In order to test the information management function of records management, a survey is administered within Enterprise ABC to observe the records management practices amongst the records staff. The findings of the survey reveal that the records management practices within Enterprise ABC are chaotic in the sense that there are no standards and procedures that govern the flow of records within the enterprise.

Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2005.