Abstract:

Public sector organisations are legally required to manage their records to the point of transfer to the archives. Effective recordkeeping ensures that decision-making processes and corporate activities can be audited and reviewed, and that information governance practices are also sound as a result. This is important because the public sector has a duty to be transparent and accountable in its decisions. This transparency and accountability should also extend to the information assets used in the decision-making process. Records management should be underpinned by a comprehensive records management policy for all employees to follow. However, the implementation of records management policies in Turkey is not at all widespread. This study examines the necessity of corporate records management policies and argues that implementation should be compulsory, not only to ensure legal compliance, but to raise the profile of records management across the public sector. The aim of this study is to determine the current situation in public sector organisations with regard to whether record management policies have been adopted, and indeed whether such a policy is thought to be necessary. The research methods of description, document analysis and the survey technique are employed for the purpose of this study. The hypothesis of the research has been determined as follows; “Turkish public sector organisations are not at the sufficient/expected level in terms of having a record management policy.” Within the scope of the study, 120 public sector organisations have been surveyed. The results of the study conclude that the vast majority of public sector organisations do not have records management policies in place, and that the majority of organisations surveyed believe that records management policies are indeed necessary. 

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