Information Systems and Organizational Memory: A Literature Review the Last 20 Years

Abstract

The advancement of technologies and Information Systems (IS) associated with the search for success in the competitive market leads organizations to seek strategies that assist in acquisition, retention, storage, and dissemination of knowledge in the organization in order to be reused in time, preserving its Organizational Memory (OM). Organizational Memory Information Systems (OMIS) emerge as an enhancer of the OM, providing effective support and resources for the organization, assisting in decision making, in the solution of problems, as well as in quality and development of products and services. This article is an analysis of some OMIS selected from a literature review about its features and functionality in order to understand how these information systems are seen by the organizations. With this research, we realized that the relationship between OM and IS is still inexpressive, even with the existence of some cases of success in the use of OMIS in the literature. The literature reveals that an individuals' knowledge is not integrated in information systems management process in most organizations; much of this knowledge is generated in the organization retained in an individual himself/herself. It is easy to see that there is a need for strategies and mechanisms in the organization to stimulate and provide better knowledge sharing between individuals which, when associated to IS, allows greater control and effective use of Organizational Memory.

A Memória organizacional e os sistemas de informação suportando a tomada de decisão

“…Transpondo-se o conceito de memória, enquanto processo cognitivo, para o contexto das organizações, pode-se dizer que a Memória Organizacional representa o conhecimento que as organizações detêm, acumulam e preservam ao longo do tempo (Barros, Ramos & Perez, 2015).…”

“…Em alguns momentos, os entrevistados, ao responderem questões, embutiam respostas de outras questões que estavam por vir. Não houveram relatos de armazenamento de informação em ferramentas não computacionais, uma vez que os Sistemas de informação para suporte da Memória Organizacional são necessários para a sua gestão (Barros;Ramos & Perez, 2015;Huber, 1991;Olivera, 2000;Stein & Zwass, 1995).…”

“…Estudiosos apontam a importância da manutenção da MO para tomada de decisões, devido sua capacidade de assegurar aos gestores o uso, com segurança, de informações do passado (Barros, Ramos & Perez, 2015;Costa, 2011;Croasdell, Jennex, Yu, Christianson, Chakradeo, & Makdum, 2002;Stein, 1995;Walsh & Ungson, 1991). Ao ser gerenciada por meio dos Sistemas de Informação, a MO pode gerar avanços na gestão da informação tendo em vista que os SIs são facilitadores do gerenciamento de conhecimento e vitais para a organização, dentre outros benefícios, também auxiliam na tomada de decisões.…”

Automated Knowledge Acquisition Framework for Supply Chain Management based on Hybridization of Case based Reasoning and Intelligent Agent

“…The SC partner must obtain knowledge sources to reinforce their decision making [62]. Moreover, to help the partners in reaching a reasonable decision, knowledge acquisition should accumulate and reuse knowledge from prior cases and experts who are capable of providing significant suggestions [63]. In the decision making process, it is vital to obtain the relevant knowledge on the basis of the type of knowledge.…”

KMS re-contextualization – recognizing learnings from OMIS research

“…The increase of technological capabilities and possibilities has induced organizational memory developments throughout several research disciplines, comprising social sciences (Kankanhalli et al, 2011), information systems (Barros et al, 2015), artificial intelligence (Horvitz et al, 1998) and other related research directions. OMISs denote organizational memory systems based on technical systems.…”