RIM: Navigating through a maze of associations; An information associations micro-directory

ARMA International's present Five-Year Plan introduces four mission-oriented directions. They are to:

1. Advance the practice of Records and Information Management (RIM) as a discipline and as a profession,

2. Organize and promote programs of research, education, training, and networking within that profession,

3. Support the enhancement of professionalism of the membership, and

4. Promote cooperative endeavors with related professional groups.(1)

In addressing the roles of professional associations, an earlier "Perspectives" column(2) noted that one role of any professional association is that of defining the domain and the boundaries of the field, or discipline, which the association represents. An important aspect of that function is developing positive relationships between the association--its members and its programs--and other associations related by "subject" and purposes. This column explores why ARMA International and its members should be interested in relationships with other associations and suggests some of the associations with which we might explore useful relationships.

The former, sometimes blatant, competitiveness of associations among each other is being gradually replaced by a more cooperative attitude. There are a variety of reasons for this shift in outlook, many of them traceable to shifts in our larger society, but most important is the ongoing shift in the larger social paradigm. That is, the ways we look at events, our perceptions of reality, are finding new directions and expressions. Instead of depending, as we once did, on metaphors from physics (e.g., "splitting," "atomic," "exploding"), we are using more biological expressions (i.e., "adaptive," "integrative," "evolutionary"). Our sense of the new order is most clearly expressed, perhaps, in network terms (e.g., "connectivity," "interface").(3) As management and decision-making styles evolve away from the authoritarian toward the consensus, or cooperative, mode, much more is affected than simply our workplaces. This new environment extends to the development of partnerships among groups which were formerly hostile to one another (e.g., management and labor) or who simply ignored one another.

Another reality in association work today is that increasingly no one professional or trade association can be--and do--all things for all its members. The interests and needs of professionals-as-association-members tend to be increasingly diverse, in part because of rapid development and changes in technology and because more new skills are demanded in increasingly matrixed, or "teaming," work environments. It makes strong economic and customer-service sense, then, for associations to partner in areas of interest or need for their respective--but sometimes mutual--memberships. This is clearly the case for those associations in the extensive arena of information processing; opportunities for interaction abound in this meta-discipline of information, which includes sub-disciplines in information systems, information processing, information technology, information management, and information science.

While the information fields pursue activities and processes using different names, one look below the surface shows strong similarities of function. While they often fail to realize it, records managers, librarians, archivists, MIS professionals and others in the information disciplines share a broad range of concepts, interests, functions, technologies, and values. These intersections of interest include:

* The life-cycle construct widely referred to in records management also characterizes the creation-to-disposition sequence of the records/information process in all the information fields.

* The exponentially multiplying supply of information means that all information practitioners must increasingly serve as gatekeepers, or quality-control filters, for information systems and collections.

* All information disciplines focus on the information/data storage and retrieval functions, which means that all the fields are adapting widely available systems and technologies to their field-specific needs.

* Making information accessible to users requires. an activity common to all information fields: the representation of information, or the surrogation (indexing), of data, documents, and records.

* Increasingly, the information disciplines are concerned with ethics and professional responsibility. The "do's and don'ts" of normative ethics may vary from one sub-discipline to another, but many of basic, or social-ethical principles, are common to most information fields.

* From the Assyrians' clay-tablet collections of business records to today's huge electronic imaging systems, manifestations of the custodial and preservation functions are evident in all the information fields.(4)

These represent, of course, but a handful of the many areas of shared interests in which information management associations might explore joint interdisciplinary ventures. In the development of resources such as glossaries, compendia of technical standards, thesauri, technology applications, and guides to management issues and techniques, it becomes increasingly silly in both economic and intellectual terms for an information field to insist on having its own "unique" product.

Multiple memberships are common for most information professionals because of their diverse interests. A 1993 survey of ARMA membership, for example, showed that ARMA members also belong to:

The Association for Information and Image Management,

The Society of American Archivists,

The Special Libraries Association,

National Archives and Government Records Administrators,

The Association of Legal Administrators,

The American Library Association,

The International Institute of Municipal Clerks, and, of course, "Others."

Why do these ARMA members join other associations in addition to ARMA? Perhaps for the very same reasons they joined ARMA! The 1993 survey showed that the three principal reasons that ARMA members join ARMA were:

Education (31.4%) Networking (23.6%) Career enhancement (15.4%).

Each of these reasons, however, has a common grounding in the need for knowledge. In looking to ARMA to meet "educational" needs, an ARMA member expects the association to help the member identify and acquire new knowledge to apply in the work environment. In providing members "networking" opportunities, the association supports opportunities for members to gain knowledge through interacting with others in the field. And, finally, members expect their association to provide a platform of disciplinary knowledge from which they can launch "career enhancement" strategies. In fact, one assessment of the field of association management has concluded that in the 1990s and beyond the roles of associations will focus on providing information to help members develop their knowledge bases, to make decisions related to their fields, and to advance their careers.(5)

In order to expand one's knowledge in a specialization or sub-discipline in information management, one might need to go beyond the domain of one's primary professional association. If an ARMA member were interested in, say, information security, he or she would--reasonably--have to look outside ARMA for extensive information support and knowledge development (i.e., education, networking, career enhancement) in that specific area.

I asked an active ARMA member with an interest in information security if there were other associations he could turn to for information. As shown below, his belief that there was only one association focusing on information security was incorrect; and that lack of awareness of other professional associations is one reason this column came into being! If, in fact, ARMA members--or ARMA itself--wanted to develop relationships with associations focusing on information security, they might consider the following bodies:

The American Society for Industrial Security

Business Espionage Controls and Countermeasures Association

Business Systems Sales and Management Association

Communications Security Association

Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility

Computer Security Institute

Computer Virus Industry Association

Data Processing Management Association

Information Systems Security Association

International Association for Computer Systems Security

International Information Systems Security Certification Consortium

National Association of Security and Data Vaults

National Center for Computer Crime Data

National Classification Management Society

Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals

Association for Computing Machinery

This list, selective as it is, suggests how many associations there are which are of potential interest to an ARMA member--or anyone else--needing information about the sub-discipline of information security.(6) Could there be many more associations and even categories of associations of interest to ARMA members and ARMA? Definitely.

Is ARMA International interested in other associations? How does ARMA explore potential relationships with other associations for the benefit of ARMA members? To fulfill its missional direction of "promoting cooperative endeavors with related professional groups" (above), ARMA International created a permanent body called the "Organization Outreach Committee" (OOC). Now in its third year, the four-member OOC seeks to

"identify and examine other professional associations with which ARMA has common interests and to explore the possibilities of mutually beneficial endeavors....[The OOC] expanded its initial scope of assisting ARMA as an association in working with other organizations to include assisting the IACs [Industry Action Committees] and local chapters in developing viable working relationships with related professional groups."(7)

So, ARMA might engage in cooperative efforts with another association at the international level, the IAC level ("Special Interest Groups" in other associations), or at the local chapter level(e.g., joint chapter meetings, seminars).

What associations might be of interest to ARMA International and its members at one or more levels? Following this column (see pg. 60) is a scaled-down micro-directory of selected associations from the broad field of information management, systems, technology. A few the reader may already know, but most, I suspect, will be new. For additional information about these and other professional and trade associations, use of the Encyclopedia of Associations(8) is recommended.

CONCLUSION

In the well-established Harvard model for strategic planning, senior managers are encouraged to undertake a "SWOT analysis," to identify their organization's Strengths, Weaknesses, its Opportunities and Threats--all related to identifying their strategic niche in the external environment. In this new age of intensified partnering to achieve maximum strength to take advantage of opportunities, it will be professional and trade associations as well as businesses who will be seeking new partners and new opportunities for their customer base. I believe that many associations, including ARMA, are correct in developing new and creative relationships and alliances with what, in some cases, may have been former "enemies."

REFERENCES

1. Association of Records Managers and Administrators, Inc., Strategic Business Plan, 1990-1995. (Prairie Village, KS: ARMA International, n.d.), [p.2].

2. J. Michael Pemberton, "Looking for 'Excellence in Records Management'," Records Management Quarterly, 27, iii (July 1993), 62; 64-65; 72-74.

3. John Naisbitt and Patricia Aburdene, Megatrends 2000: The New Directions for the 1990's (New York; Morrow, 1990).

4. J. Michael Pemberton and Christine Nugent, "Information Studies: Emergent Field, Convergent Curriculum," Journal of Education for Library and Information Science (in press).

5. "Associations in the Information Age," Association Management, 43, iv (April 1991), 24-28; this view is re-enforced by Nancy M. Davis, "Managing On-Line Information," Association Management, 40, viii (August 1988): 185:189 and Nancy M. Davis, "The Future of Association Communication," Association Management, 39, vii (July 1987): 43-46.

6. For more detailed information about specific trade and professional associations, see the multi-volume Encyclopedia of Associations, latest ed. (Detroit, MI: Gale Research, 1979- ) and the Encyclopedia of Associations: International Organizations, latest ed. (Detroit, MI: Gale Research, 1989- ). For a discussion of The Encyclopedia of Associations, see Mick O'Leary, "Encyclopedia of Associations [with 21,000 entries] Mirrors American Psyche," Information Today, v, i (January 1989): 10-12 and Mick O'Leary, "Encyclopedia of Associations Expands Online Reach," Database, xii, v (October 1989): 59-61.

7. ARMA International, 1993 Annual Report (Prairie Village, KS: ARMA International, [1993]), p. 26.

8. See reference number 6, above.

Copyright Association of Records Managers Administrators Inc. Oct 1994
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