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Organizational Learning and Organizational Memory 381

represented as one, by converting tacit into explicit knowledge (usually through inter-
viewing and modeling the appropriate people). Examples of a knowledge resource
would be the description of a best practice or innovation, a set of validated FAQs, a
how-to guide for a complex procedure, a set of lessons learned from a project, or an
anecdotal story that illustrates the cultural values of the company. It is essential to
process these valuable knowledge resources through a life cycle in order to create or
capture explicit knowledge, to share and disseminate this widely for use and reuse,
and to then store or remove this content so that the organization can benefi t from
best practices (e.g., become more effi cient, more innovative) and lessons learned (to
avoid repeating past mistakes).
Today ’ s information saturated society recognizes knowledge as the key to competi-
tive advantage and organizational success ( Marquardt 2002 ). Knowledge is defi ned as
information plus people (or human experience) as it incorporates many intangibles
such as experiential learning, judgment, and intuition, to create extra value for an
organization by informing decisions and improving actions. Choo, Detlor, and Turn-
bull (2000) note that information becomes knowledge at the point when people justify
or validate their true beliefs about the world. Some knowledge can be easily commu-
nicated, stored, and accessed for later use. Other knowledge, however, is largely in the
heads of individuals (tacit) and is never communicated until someone else needs to
reuse it (e.g., Nonaka and Takeuchi 1995 ). Explicit knowledge is tangible and visible
knowledge such as reports, user manuals, procedures, and e-mails and more often than
not tends to exist in digital form and be stored in databases, wikis, blogs, or intranets.
Knowledge management (KM) is the discipline that helps organizations systematically
build, renew, and apply both explicit and tacit knowledge within a given organization
( Wiig 1993 ). Effective KM initiatives help organizations to capture knowledge of sig-
nifi cant value and usefulness and to ensure its use and reuse to avoid reinventing the
wheel. The benefi ts of KM can be seen in improved performance on the individual,
group, and organizational levels, cost savings, advanced competitive standing, and
effective organizational learning ( Lesser and Prusak 2004 ).
Knowledge processing has been studied in such fi elds as information studies, infor-
mation architecture, and knowledge management, but in a fragmented way. This
has led to disparate theories and conceptual frameworks that only partially address
knowledge-processing practices. Most studies observed knowledge processing on a
short-term basis, yet successful and sustainable knowledge processing requires a sig-
nifi cant period of time.
“ Knowledge is more than just information. In addition, it contains experiences,
skills and insights. These forms of knowledge are produced during day-to-day