Inquiring Organizations

INtrODUctION In order to manage knowledge and operate successfully in today's information-intensive business environments, various organizational forms have emerged (e. The form that an organization takes has consequences for communication and dissemination of information, and thereby the ability to engage in organizational learning. Some of these forms compress knowledge at the root level of the organization, while others facilitate the search for useful knowledge within the organization. Other forms are capable of supporting organizational members who must synthesize knowledge from diverse sources. If a firm begins to reconfirm that knowledge management and core competencies are at the heart of organizational performance, the demand on organizations to develop core competencies and to create and manage knowledge intensifies. Even after realizing the critical role of knowledge in the present competitive environments, firms are struggling with managing and creating knowledge. Growing interest in a firm's intellectual capital and collective knowledge have led to ways in which organizations improve knowledge (organizational learning), store knowledge (organizational memory), and share knowledge (knowledge transfer). Although often discussed separately, these three concepts are tightly interwoven, and all must be considered when an organization strives to move toward a knowledge-based competency. These aspects fall under the broad and complex umbrella of knowledge management. In a review of knowledge management literature, Schultze and Leidner (2002, p. 218) suggest a definition of knowledge management as being the " generation, representation, storage, transfer, transformation, application, embedding, and protecting of organizational knowledge. " While their definition is not the only one, nor may all researchers or practitioners agree with its appropriateness, it does demonstrate the incredible complexity that knowledge management presents. The authors note that research in knowledge management is a complex interdependency of collaboration (both in knowledge/information sharing and 0 Inquiring Organizations work), organizational memory, and organizational learning. An organization striving toward knowledge management competency may be best served by incorporating an organizational form that facilitates learning and thus the expansion of organizational memory. However, choosing one form may not be supportive of the multiple types of learning required by such an organization. These organizations should adopt the form of an inquiring organization (Courtney, Croasdell, & Paradice, 1998) and use it to structure flexible subforms that facilitate the learning process. This article describes inquiring organizations and considers the appropriateness of applying philosophical perspective to organizational form. The next section provides a background to inquiring organizations. The latter part of the article focuses …