Jones, Ian 
ORCID: 0000-0002-6967-974X
(2021)
Using the past: Authenticity, reliability, and the role of archives in Barclays plc’s use of the past strategies.
PhD thesis, University of Liverpool.
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Abstract
Recent scholarship in organisation studies has begun to address how organisations perceive and use their history. However, how organisations preserve and access their history, and how this affects how they are able to use their history is less researched. This thesis investigates how Barclays Group Archives (BGA) contribute to Barclays plc delivering its strategic objectives. It asks, how does BGA, as a specific unit of the organisation, facilitate the delivery of Barclays plc’s strategic objectives? The researcher was embedded in the archives, enabling the gathering of observational data on how BGA operate as well as a unique level of access to archival organisational records. These were used to target and gain access to Barclays plc employees to conduct interviews to ascertain how they used BGA’s resources and what benefits they felt BGA brought. Using interviews, observation, and other qualitative research methods, this thesis introduces archival science theory to the study of how organisations can benefit from using their history, introducing the archival science ideas of authenticity, reliability, usability, and integrity to inform the research on organisational memory and use of the past strategies. The thesis focuses on the period between 2012 and 2015, a time when Barclays plc made extensive use of their past in an attempt to manage and recover from the various scandals. It argues that BGA, and the archivists in particular, are integral to Barclays plc’s use of the past strategies, enabling Barclays plc to bolster their claims to be returning to a historically ‘authentic’ corporate culture that would inform the organisation’s strategies and behaviour going forward. Additionally, the archivists themselves act as the link between the information in the archives that forms part of Barclays plc’s organisational memory, enabling users to utilise this information and transforming the static memory held into the archives into dynamic memory that is then utilised by employees. The thesis highlights the importance of how organisations access the historical information that they use to inform their historical narratives, and the importance of the individuals that act as the link between those who are using the past in some way, and the repositories of historical information. The research findings presented in this thesis will be of interest to organisation studies scholars interested in how managers use history as well as to researchers who study corporate archives.
| Item Type: | Thesis (PhD) |
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| Divisions: | Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences > School of Histories, Languages and Cultures |
| Depositing User: | Symplectic Admin |
| Date Deposited: | 04 Jun 2021 10:16 |
| Last Modified: | 21 Jun 2023 14:48 |
| DOI: | 10.17638/03121425 |
| Supervisors: |
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| URI: | https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3121425 |
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