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Glossary

Absorption costs Costs incurred when recipients of knowledge content understand and inter-
nalize the knowledge in order to be able to apply it.

Absorptive capacity The individual and/or organizational openness to change and innovation
and the capability or preparedness to integrate it.
Abstraction costs Costs incurred when knowledge context is generalized over a wider scope.

After action review An assessment that is conducted after a project or major activity to allow
employees and leaders to discover what happened and why (popularized by the U.S. Army); a
professional discussion of an event that enables participants to understand what worked well,
what did not and what they learned from the experience. An AAR need not be performed at the
end of a project or activity as it can also be performed after each identifi able event or milestone,
thus becoming a live learning process to help support a learning organization.
Artifact Material objects manufactured by people to facilitate culturally expressive activities.
The signs and symbols by which the organization is recognized by. The events, behaviors, and
people that embody a culture.
Anarchy An organizational political model where there is an absence of any information/
knowledge management policy.

Applied ethics The examination of specifi c controversial issues to try to resolve them, to fi nd
a standard or accepted way of proceeding with respect to the specifi c issue.
Audit trail A documented history of a piece of knowledge in the knowledge base from knowl-
edge acquisition/capture source to subsequent use and reuse.
Balanced scorecard The balanced scorecard is a measurement and management system that
enables organizations to clarify their vision and strategy and translate them into action. It pro-
vides feedback around both the internal business processes and external outcomes in order to
continuously improve strategic performance and results.
Belief An idea with emotional or spiritual appeal that has not been tested and/or is not con-
sidered accepted knowledge.