A Sense-Making Model of Knowledge Management in Organisations

Abstract

The paper investigates the phenomenon of knowledgemanagement in an organisational context with the aim to improve understanding of its inherent nature and characteristics. The research is based on the assumption that better understanding of knowledge management and the actual needs of actors and organisations are required to design meaningful Information Technology (IT)-based systems to assist them. By drawing from a case study of a university restructure process, where change highlighted many, normally invisible, knowledge management issues, the paper introduces a sensemaking model of knowledge management and demonstrates how it may contribute to our understanding of knowledge in organisations. The paper also tests the model as a conceptual tool to identify distinctive features of knowledge at different levels (individual, interpersonal, organisational and cultural) and related knowledge creation and sharing processes, which provide a basis for investigating required IT support.