Designing an organizational memory system to facilitate consultation and transparency of decision information

• Boards of directors as a group are the unit of analysis in this case study. This paper discusses developing an organizational memory system prototype for supporting the transparency of the board decision: to allow related people who are interested in a decision to understand what is being decided and why. It shows the promising potential for computer-based group support for promoting decision-making and developing organizational memory. The case study highlighted the absence of similar characteristics in existing support systems. Current recording systems are only able to trace one specific issue or one document and return a limited amount of information. The study showed that several individuals and groups may be involved in the evaluation and consultation processes. This shows the need for more effective memory systems to support consultation networks, particularly with respect to policy-related work. A database system was deemed to be a suitable foundation for a collective memory system as well as a requirement for the transparency of decision information. An effective organizational memory system can promote transparency by helping to track decision activities over time, by linking decision processes and documents to specific locations, by integrating information from many sources into a single location, and by describing the context of decisions.

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Annan samhällsvetenskap -- Övrig annan samhällsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Other Social Sciences -- Other Social Sciences not elsewhere specified (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Organizing decision information

Publication and Content Type

vet (subject category)

kap (subject category)