Exploiting Information : Seeking Long-term Preservation of organisational knowledge

• Long-term preservation of organisational knowledge gives the business opportunities to reusestored knowledge. This preservation of knowledge is present both in the organisation as such,found explicitly in the organisational stock, and also in the individual workers, implicit intheir flow of action. Theoretically have the reuse of knowledge been named organisationalmemory and also been addressed in knowledge management. In a single case-study of amanufacturing company, the authors study the utilisation of product configuration information(PCI) and its role in meeting requirements on long-time preservation of product-relatedknowledge. This structured and standardised information is used throughout the organisation,serving as a base for both organisational and individual knowledge for the entire company.Since the information has been used in the same way for decades it is a part of theorganisation´s culture and influences structures and procedures connected to the informationbase. The result of the study implies that usage of PCI grants the individual worker a highdegree of task-related freedom as well as intra-organisational mobility. The downside for theindividuals is the long time period it takes to get familiar with PCI due to its complexity. Forthe organisation as such, PCI provides a stable stock of knowledge which is available overextended periods of time, drastically reducing dependence upon individual workers.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Medie- och kommunikationsvetenskap -- Systemvetenskap, informationssystem och informatik med samhällsvetenskaplig inriktning (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Media and Communications -- Information Systems, Social aspects (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

organisational memory

knowledge management

long-term preservation of knowledge

product configuration information

Publikations- och innehållstyp

vet (ämneskategori)

kon (ämneskategori)