- Title
- Opening the organization learning black box: a sensemaking approach to articulating the mechanics of interpretation and memory processes in learning organizations
- Creator
- Cowley, Kym
- Relation
- 5th International Conference on Intellectual Capital and Knowledge Management and Organisational Learning (ICICKM 2008). Proceedings of ICICKM 2008: The 5th International Conference on Intellectual Capital, Knowledge Management & Organizational Learning (New York, NY 9-10 October, 2008) p. 111-120
- Relation
- http://academic-conferences.org/icickm/icickm2008/icickm08-proceedings.htm
- Publisher
- Academic Conferences
- Resource Type
- conference paper
- Date
- 2008
- Description
- Some theorists maintain that organization learning and the information processing behaviours that underpin it are important facilitators of competitive advantage; with superior information processing capabilities, organizations should be able to access information, interpret it and formulate organizational response in a more timely manner than competitors, resulting in enhanced performance outcomes. Information acquisition and dissemination behaviours and some organizational cultural and valueladen behaviours have been investigated in the literature, but the detailed behaviours of organizational learning, filtering information, interpretation and information retention have not been investigated. Organizational interpretation and memory behaviours are acknowledged as hard to model and measure, and have been referred to as the 'organizational black box'. This paper addresses the 'organizational black box' of information interpretation and memory behaviours in organizations. These behaviours are articulated within a framework of sensemaking (SM) theory, with particular emphasis being placed on the development of a model of the operation of these processes. The model developed, called a sensemaking system (SMS), shows that organizational actors 'make sense of', that is understand and operate within the organization, by interpreting, reinterpreting and retaining organizational knowledge through interdependent filtering systems labelled 'Organization Identity' and 'Organization Memory' and that this is accomplished through 'Social Interaction' in organizations. Each interdependent factor of the model is itself composed of sub-factors each lending differing contributions to the factor through factor weights. In this way, the underlying elements and dynamics of the SMS are 'unpacked' creating a detailed map for managerial implementation. The model is developed in an Australian setting of commercial organizations and tested on a sample of two hundred and eighty three small, medium and large firms. Results confirm that a SMS is composed of three elements, Organization Identity, Organization Memory and Social Interaction and that the three constructs are interrelated and contribute differentially to the higher order construct, the SMS.
- Subject
- sensemaking; organization learning; organization identity; organization memory; social interaction
- Identifier
- uon:6239
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/802896
- Identifier
- ISBN:9781906638160
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