Knowledge management promises to improve business performance by using technology to capture and share the lessons of experience.1 Truly improving business performance, however, demands more than simply putting more knowledge into databases; it requires leveraging the many ways that knowledge can migrate into an organization and strengthen business performance. Distributed technologies, such as Lotus Notes or intranets, can be used for disseminating information and creating virtual forums that connect experts. But they are only one of many ways in which learning from a significant organizational experience can be captured and integrated into an organization’s operations. For example, an organization may be able to embed knowledge gained from an experience by altering work processes or a product’s architecture. By embedding learning, companies can reduce the information overload of their employees and improve the consistency and effectiveness of knowledge use throughout an organization.
One way to make organizational learning more tractable is to consider it as the development of an organization’s memory.2 The concept of organizational memory is not new; for some time researchers have pointed to various features of organizations as key components of memory.
These discussions, however, focus on organizational structure, physical layout, cultural values, or tacit routines—forms of memory that change only slowly over long periods and bear an indirect relationship... To read the complete article, login or sign-up using the form below.
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