A Strategy for Organisational Knowledge Evolution

In this paper, a strategy for organisational knowledge evolution is presented. Organisational knowledge is defined as knowledge concerning the management of the artefacts provided by the organisation. The strategy is derived from a theoretical, action-oriented representation of knowledge and uses concrete instruments for iterating between reflection and action. The instruments for reflection are conceptual models and information flow diagrams. The instrument for action is an object oriented information management system where the models are implemented and tried out in practise. By applying these instruments iteratively, organisational knowledge is generated, both as individual and shared knowledge among the actors as well as objectified knowledge represented by the models and the implemented information management system. We describe how this strategy has been used at the Ericsson telecommunication company to handle the transition to a new software development model. The transition was complicated by the fact that Ericsson has many designers (more than 10 000) working at local design centres all over the world. Our experiences show that the proposed strategy is a powerful way of quickly acquire, deploy and manifest new organisational knowledge1.