Synthesising Sensemaking Approaches for Understanding Distributed Knowledge in Organisations

Abstract

Despite the importance of knowledge and knowledge management to business, most current business theory and practice approach knowledge management in a limited fashion more relevant to manipulation of information and data than to a multi-dimensional phenomenon such as knowledge. This paper presents a people-centric and social alternative methodology for exploring knowledge management and developing information systems through the Sensemaking Framework of Knowledge in Organisations. This methodology is based on a synthesis of seminal theories including Cecez-Kecmanovic's Sensemaking theory (2000) which was developed from works by Weick (1995), Wiley (1994) and Ryle (1949), and Tsoukas'(1996) theory of the firm as a distributed knowledge system. © 2005.