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Organizational Learning and Organizational Memory 385

The major components of Wilson ’ s user-oriented model, Choo ’ s sense-making
model and the 4I model of organizational learning should ideally be integrated in
order to provide a sound theoretical framework for organizational learning and orga-
nizational memory — one that also integrates the diverse fi elds of management studies,
information studies, and knowledge management.

A Three-Tiered Approach to Knowledge Continuity

One of the major concerns facing companies today is not only to prevent knowledge
loss due to employee attrition but how to transfer valuable knowledge to others within
the organization. This challenge is often referred to as “ knowledge continuity ” (analo-
gous to business continuity or the ability to maintain operations if the company
suffers a disaster). Most successful organizations will state that their two greatest assets
are the people who work for them and the knowledge they possess. The imminent
turnover signals a potential for the loss of valuable accumulated knowledge and know-
how in the form of the competence and expertise possessed by the departing individu-
als. This valuable knowledge and know-how exists in both formal and tangible forms
(explicit knowledge), such as documents, but also in less visible forms — often referred
to as tacit or diffi cult to articulate knowledge. Particular emphasis must be placed on
the tacit form as this often resides within a given individual or group and is therefore
more easily and completely lost when the people leave the organization ( LaBarre
2001 ).
The traditional response has been to mentor, coach, or carry out job shadowing,
which is not only time-consuming and complex, but just not possible in many
cases, due to a lack of advance warning, lack of time, or a lack of mentoring skills.
This problem can be tackled from a different angle: by ensuring that tangible legacy
materials are produced, shared, and fed into the corporate storehouse of intellectual
capital in an ongoing and seamless manner. Intellectual capital management (ICM)
can help capture, transfer and retain valuable knowledge using a three-tiered approach
that addresses the individual, the community of practice, and the organization itself.
The approaches used for individual-to-individual knowledge transfer level include
structured subject matter, expert interviews, and knowledge mapping of their key
knowledge areas together with task support system prototyping.
Individual structured interviews focus on “ knowledge archeology, ” that is, past
success stories, disasters, problems that were not handled well, the history of how
processes came to be put in place, the evolution of competencies, and so on. The key
roles and responsibilities of the expert serve as a starting point and a number of key
case studies are reviewed in order to extract historical best practices and lessons