Business Processes: An Archival Science Approach to Collaborative Decision Making, Records, and Knowledge Management

CONTENTS......Page 6
INTRODUCTION......Page 10
1.1 Research methods......Page 16
1.2 Records......Page 20
1.3 Two forms of business processes: decision making versus production processes......Page 21
1.4 Decision making......Page 24
1.5 Bureaucracy......Page 25
1.6 Systems theory and business processes......Page 28
2.1 Monocratic form......Page 34
2.2 Historical forms of oral committee based government......Page 36
2.3 Basic forms of oral deliberation in historical administrations......Page 37
2.3.1 Differentiation between council and chancellery......Page 38
2.3.2 The introduction of stricter forms for the voting procedure......Page 40
2.3.3 Written instruments of oral administration......Page 44
2.3.4 Special characteristics of the Prussian form of committee based administration......Page 48
2.4 \'Conceptual orality\' of writing......Page 50
2.4.1 Persistent distribution of anticipated competencies......Page 52
2.4.2 The use of functions of oral deliberations for purposes other than decision making......Page 55
2.4.3 Characteristics of collegial decision making......Page 57
2.5 Differentiation of functional competencies......Page 61
2.5.1 Contradictions between process oriented and monocratic tendencies......Page 62
2.5.2 Functional responsibilities of the registry office......Page 67
2.5.3 Compensation for the vanishing unity of the debate......Page 72
2.5.4 Installation and revocation of the task list as an organising instrument......Page 74
2.5.5 Installation of co-Principals......Page 76
2.5.6 Replacement of board control by hierarchy......Page 79
2.6 Committee based decision making and modern bureaucratic techniques......Page 81
2.7 Classical collaborative decision making processes......Page 83
2.7.1 Elements of typical business processes......Page 84
2.7.2 Problems......Page 87
2.7.3 The legacy of Prussian collegial traditions......Page 90
2.8.1 First attempts of an office reform for the central agencies in Prussia......Page 92
2.8.2 Brecht\'s first source: Drews\'publication......Page 93
2.8.3 Content of the guidelines: a mixture of problematic elements......Page 96
2.8.4 The modular structure of the text......Page 98
2.9 Business processes in post-war German government......Page 100
2.9.1 Contradictory elements......Page 102
2.9.2 Preparations for electronic records......Page 105
3.1 Forms and functions of records and files......Page 108
3.1.1 Effects of writing......Page 109
3.1.2 Effects of oral communication......Page 117
3.1.3 Characteristics of oral and written decision making processes......Page 125
3.1.4 Written instruments of oral administrations......Page 132
3.1.5 Files of modern administration......Page 137
3.1.6 Archival definitions......Page 139
3.1.7 Elementary units of the record: the entries......Page 141
3.2 Organisational backgrounds......Page 143
3.2.1 Infrastructure for board-based decision making......Page 144
3.2.2 Functional differentiation for written decision making processes......Page 146
3.2.3 Organisational structures......Page 147
3.2.4 Control of operational work......Page 153
4 FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS OF OPEN COMMUNICATION PROCESSES IN ELECTRONIC ENVIRONMENTS......Page 156
4.1 Needs of autonomous open ended processes......Page 157
4.1.1 Use and construction of memory......Page 158
4.1.2 Usefulness of latency......Page 165
4.2 Needs for stability and functions of archives in electronic environments......Page 176
4.2.1 Characteristics of digital recordings......Page 180
4.2.2 Reconstruction versus storage......Page 184
4.3.1 Meanings of the core archival competencies......Page 187
4.3.2 Archival science and the theoretical basis for new strategies......Page 199
4.3.3 Archives and Knowledge Management as complementary functions......Page 204
BIBLIOGRAPHY......Page 214
P......Page 220
W......Page 221