Organizational knowledge, learning and memory: three concepts in search of a theory

Introduction There is growing interest in organizational knowledge, and in the associated concepts of organizational learning and memory (Cohen and Sproull, 1991). Many argue that the organization’s knowledge and learning capabilities are the main source of its competitive advantage (e.g. Kogut and Zander, 1992; Prahalad and Hamel, 1990; Starbuck, 1992). But a number of other authors (Bedeian, 1986; Fiol and Lyles, 1985; Huber, 1991; Shrivastava, 1983; Walsh and Ungson, 1991) have argued that the literature is fragmented and that these concepts, while interesting, need considerable refinement before they can be of real consequence to practitioners or organizational theorists. This article offers a pluralist epistemology which pulls these ideas together and implies a theory of the firm as a system of knowledge types and processes. In the first section it is argued that the underlying conceptual problem is that most of the contemporary organizational learning literature is narrowly positivistic. In the second section, a pluralistic epistemology embracing both positivistic and interpretive positions are developed. The article extends the classical distinctions between: the explicit and implicit types of knowledge; and the individual and social levels of analysis to a two-by-two matrix of knowledge types. Each implies a different mode of learning and memorizing. The third section discusses how these types of knowledge may be contrasted and measured, as well as exploring the interactions between them. The final section touches on management’s opportunities to shape the firm as a system of knowledge, learning and memorizing processes.