Since the late 1980s there has been a greater awareness of the need to manage
organisational knowledge resources, which are seen as vital to the value proposition
of any organisation. This has resulted in the development of a multiplicity of
Organisational Knowledge Management (OKM) approaches, systems and processes.
OKM as a concept is however experiencing a prolonged period of practitioner and
academic dissatisfaction, which is impacting its credibility. Commentators claim that
this emanates from the fact that a general model, as a diagnostic mechanism for the
field, has not yet emerged, an indicator of immaturity in the field and a destabilising
influence on practitioner confidence. This research sets out to explore OKM, with the
aim of understanding and attempting to help address this dissatisfaction.
The literature review focuses on environmental drivers of OKM as a concept from
both practitioner and academic perspectives. This highlights a need for (1) an agreed
definition of purpose for OKM systems and (2) a general diagnostic model or
framework for those systems that identifies common constructs across sectors or
geographic locations. In turn, these require appropriate research evidence.
The research reported on in this thesis utilises Soft Systems Methodology as a
framework for enquiry. By means of a meta-analysis of literature, the enquiry
progresses to a descriptive survey, with findings being illustrated and analysed
through fractal analysis. The data is then compared against a sample of models from
the field before being translated into a new OKM diagnostic model and supporting
toolkit, using logic modelling and a Participatory Integrated Assessment Tool. The
application of these to a case study, carried out within in a large multinational
organisation, is reported on and evaluated.
Findings are that 'self-similarity' exists across existing views of OKM; that the need
for knowledge to be used as an organisational resource is a persistent one; that a
methodology can be developed that reacts to the needs of academics and
practitioners in responding to the challenges from the field; that a proposition for a
general organisation diagnostic model is possible; that a robust evidence-based
definition for the concept, as well as a general diagnostic model for the coordination
of organisational knowledge resources is needed and are provided; and that such a
general diagnostic tool, such as has been developed in the research on which this
thesis is based, can be applied within an organisation to identify gaps in systems
designed to coordinate organisational knowledge resources