Knowledge Management in the Age of Complexity

by Dennis K. Leedom; Robert G. Eggleston

• ISBN13: 9780470590959
• ISBN10: 0470590955
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-05-01
• Publisher: Wiley

Summary

This book specifically focuses on the process of organizational sensemaking within human-technological work system; develops it as an analytic paradigm or framework; employs this paradigm to explore cognitive, social, ecological, and technological variables at different levels of analysis; and illustrates how the paradigm can serve to guide the design of specific system interventions. Throughout the book, the authors frame the presentation in terms of five key arguements that emphasize the analytic advantages of adopting a sensemaking perspective: The sensemaking paradigm focuses on complex human-technological work systems as a complex cognitive-sociological-ecological-technological system-of-systems. The sensemaking paradigm illustrates the complex interaction of both behavioral and technical variables at three different system levels that influence an organization's ability to act in a cohesive and productive manner. The sensemaking paradigm accounts for the organization's ability to cope with a range of simple, complex, and wicked problem sets. The sensemaking paradigm reconciles different forms of system intervention aimed at improving an organization's ability to undestand its work environment and achieve unity of purpose. The sensemaking paradigm unifies relevant state-of-the-art theories and findings from across several academic disciplines and translates them into a cohesive system-of-systems model.