Week 3: Miscommunication

Over a hundred years of uncoordinated work at MDAH has created organizational issues. One such event happened during the third week of my internship. Since beginning at MDAH, I have been tasked with reorganizing historical pardons. I was loosely told how to organize the pardons by my temporary supervisor who gave no strict instructions. On my third week, it was decided that I would move to a more important project and that the pardons would be returned to the archives unfinished. For other reasons, it was decided that the series would be placed in limbo under a desk until we had time to finish it. However, when we informed reference, the section of MDAH that helps researchers find and access the archives, that the series would be inaccessible for an indefinite period of time, we were told that the series was very popular, and lack of access would create major issues. It was then decided that another employee and I would spend the entire week trying to go through everything, so it could be refiled. This is an example of miscommunication and how lack of synchronization can create issues for everyone.

Over time, this lack of clear communication can create general disorganization, especially when the problems of years and decades accumulate. For example, when organizing the pardons, some belonged in different series. However, because different people at different times had organized these series, there were completely different methods of organization. This makes archiving difficult because there is no standard on how to catalog and file information. The lack of communication between leaders and followers, generations of workers, and departments makes it difficult for consistent standards to be created. All of this creates issues for others over time.