Chapter 18 Information Systems and Organizational Learning

1. Chapter 18Information Systems and Organizational Learning Part 1 The social epistemology of organizational knowledge systems By Ezer Campos CIS590

2. Epistemology definition • Epistemology (from the Greek episteme, ‘knowledge’, and logos, ‘theory’), or the theory of knowledge, is the area of philosophy that deals with knowledge and related concepts like justification and rationality

3. Objectives of this chapter • Analysis of organizations as knowledge systems • Knowledge systems are composed of knowledge processes: constructing, organizing, storing, distributing, and applying.

4. Topics • Organizational learning • The organizational knowledge system: a framework for analysis • Knowledge processes (Holzner and Marx – 1979) • Typology of processes (Huber- 1991) • Typology of learning processes • The knowledge system framework - Example • Social epistemology: Knowledge in practice • Questions? I hope not.

5. Organizational learning • Current literature on organizational learning tends to be theoretically fragmented • There is an intuitive connection between organizational learning and Information Systems • Developing • Implementation • Operation • Maintenance

6. Organizational learning • It is difficult to construct a systematic framework within which they can be analyzed or interpreted • View organizations as “knowledge systems” composed of a collection of socially enacted “knowledge processes”

7. The organizational knowledge system: a framework for analysis • Same stimulus, different response (Weick - 1991) • It is difficult to measure learning (Fiol and Liles – 1985) • Weick sugested: • To retain the traditional definition; or • Replace it “with a definition that is tied more closely to the properties of organizations.

8. Knowledge processes • Holzner and Marx in 1979 identify a set of five “knowledge processes”: • Construction • Organization • Storage • Distribution • Application

9. Knowledge processes: Construction • New material is added or replaced within the collective stock of knowledge • Transfer between social collectivities • Knowledge can be constructed by the community and integrated into their daily practices • Social collectives use to ratify experience as knowledge

10. Knowledge processes:Organization • This is the process by which bodies of knowledge are related to each other, classified, or integrated.

11. Knowledge processes:Storage • Without storage, there is no possibility for “memory” or application • Mechanisms of storage are computer-based information systems, paper based filing, and individual human memory • The effectiveness of these mechanisms as storage is always mediated, however, by social processes

12. Knowledge processes:Distribution • A critical issue in any organization is distributing knowledge to places where it is needed and can be applied • Because of their communicative function, distribution processes naturally have an important social component (Manning – 1992)

13. Knowledge processes:Application • Knowledge is applied in practice • It is a necessary part of any organizational learning system • “It will be difficult to make an attribution of knowledge or competence to an organization that did not produce knowledgeable or competent performances

14. Typology of processes • Hubber’s encyclopedic review of the literature identifies four high level processes in his typology of learning processes : • Knowledge acquisition • Information distribution • Information interpretation, and • Organizational memory

15. Typology of processes • Hubber’s typology of processes does not add up to the systematic framework for analysis of organizations • It is more like a conceptual umbrella under which many diverse processes are sheltered

16. The knowledge systems framework • Social processes do not cease to operate after construction • The processes used to organize, store, and distribute apparently objective information are equally subject to social influence • Example: analysis of the transformative effects of information technology on the emergency calls received by two police organizations, one in U.S. and one in England

17. Social epistemology: knowledge in practice • The core of a sociologically informed approach to organizational learning must be the sociology of knowledge • Knowledge formation has evolved from “formal scientific method and nature” to human practice and interaction. • Examples

18. Criteria to justify knowledge claims • Holzner and Marx – 1979 offer some examples of criteria that are often used, in practice, to justify knowledge claims: • Ritual superstitious • Authoritative • Pragmatic • Scientific

19. Social epistemology: knowledge in practice • Epistemic criteria act as rhetorical resources for members of an epistemic community to debate each others’ knowledge claims • The heterogeneity of organizational cultures makes it difficult to assume a single criteria for all members • A complex organization must be treated conceptually as a collection of overlapping knowledge systems

20. Summary • Relationship between information systems and organizational learning • Organizational learning can be investigated as a system of knowledge processes • Knowledge process are like links in a chain; if any one of the fails, it would be difficult to make an attribution of learning

21. Questions… ?