What Is Organizational Memory?

Organizational memory refers to information stored by an organization that can influence current decisions. The various activities of the organization involve a large amount of information. With the help of the personal memory and common interpretation of the members of the organization, this information is stored as the result of decision execution and becomes an important basis for organizational decision making. When the organization needs to make new decisions, Relevant information will be re-extracted, which will influence organizational decisions. The tools of memory, the information contained in the memory, the process of obtaining and re-extracting the information, and the results of the various factors constitute the organization's memory. ^[1]

Tissue memory

Right!

Organizational memory refers to information stored by an organization that can influence current decisions. The various activities of the organization involve a large amount of information. With the help of the personal memory and common interpretation of the members of the organization, this information is stored as the result of decision execution and becomes an important basis for organizational decision making. When the organization needs to make new decisions, Relevant information will be re-extracted, which will influence organizational decisions. The tools of memory, the information contained in the memory, the process of obtaining and re-extracting the information, and the results of the various factors constitute the organization's memory. ^[1]

Walsh and Ungson's Organizational Memory is a technique for organizing information retention (Retention), acquisition (Acquisition) and retrieval (Retrieval).

Walsh and Ungson suggest that organizational memory structures can be classified into six information "storage bins":

1.Individual

2, cultural (story, mental model),

3. Transformation (various processes within the organization),

4. Structural (different roles within the organization),

5. Ecological (physical settings of the organization),

6. External (information document).

In theory, many modern scholars have studied organizational memory and published many related works. It is generally accepted in academic circles that the concept of organizational memory originated from related research in the early 20th century, and its representative figures are Durkheim and Vygotsky.

According to Wexler (2002), organizational memory originated from a study by Durkeim and his students, when their research object was "Collective Memory". Spender (1996) argues that organizational memory is inextricably linked to Vygotsky and his Social Construction Theory. His theoretical basis is that the influence of social activities is deeply ingrained in the development of individual consciousness. Walsh and Ungson (1991) quoted the research of March and Simon (1958) that the memory of any organization can be stored through certain policies and procedures. However, this maintainable property of tissue memory also has some negative consequences. Walsh and Ungson (1991) cite the research of two scholars, Starbuck and Hedberg (1977) to illustrate this problem. They believe that structured historical memories such as rules and regulations do harm the organization, especially when they follow As time progresses and gradually loses its original utility, it may become an obstacle to organizational change.

1.Human resource management

2. Knowledge management

1. Provide a simple and applicable framework for the human resources department in the field of knowledge management.

2. All organizations can benefit from learning and mastering their historical information, regardless of the length of the organization's history (Berthon, Pitt & Ewing 2001).

3. It can develop into an organization's competitive advantage (Wexler, Croasdell, 2001).

4, can significantly reduce the transaction costs of the organization (Croasdell, 2001).

5. Be able to play a political role in the organization. This has both positive and negative effects (Walsh, Ungson, 1991).

1. Overemphasis on organizational memory can easily weaken the learning ability of the organization, leading to organizational rigidity and blindness: Organizations lack a long-term perspective on environmental changes.

2. Organizational memory is a function of organizational age, size, and achievement (Sinkula, Lukas, Hult, Ferrell, 1996; Berthon, Pitt, Ewing, 2001).

3. History can lead to mindset and Single-Loop Learning (Berthon, Pitt, Ewing, 2001).

4. Historical relics, such as rules and regulations, and organizational structure, that exist within organizational culture may be a stumbling block to organizational change (Walsh, Ungson, 1991).

[Edit] Prerequisites (conditions) for organizing memory

According to Walsh and Ungson (1991), there are three key prerequisites to be aware of when considering organizational memory:

1.Get

2, keep

3. Repair

1. For enterprises (or departments, positions), identify key knowledge and understand the status and expectations of knowledge.

1. Find the "knowledge gene" of the enterprise. Because each enterprise's business operation model is different, each enterprise's knowledge area is also different, which means that each enterprise has its own "knowledge gene". Therefore, we must combine the strategy and business operation mode of the enterprise, classify and summarize the disorderly and scattered knowledge in the original enterprise, and then extract the first-, second-, and third-level knowledge fields At the same time, sort out the overall knowledge system.

2, sort out key knowledge. As for organizational memory, we still cannot be egalitarian. We must analyze and find key areas of knowledge.

3. The selected key knowledge is analyzed in detail according to the degree of mastery (Proficiency), the degree of coding (Codification), and the degree of diffusion (Diffusion).

Second, based on the current status and expectations of knowledge, combined with the characteristics of knowledge application in the business process, design knowledge promotion behavior.

1. Improve the dominance of memory.

2. Share organizational memory and disseminate key knowledge at the fastest speed. There are three main ways: the first is a direct way of communicating with others, such as seminars, study meetings, and corporate training; the second is a way of communicating through the network, such as discussion groups, chat rooms, and electronic meetings , E-mail, etc .; the third is to use the knowledge base for learning, such as traditional library learning and modern Elearning.

3. Use and innovation of organizational memory.

3. Design corresponding tools and mechanisms from the cultural, management, and technical levels to support the effective implementation of knowledge promotion behaviors.

1. Motivate knowledge sharing. Let those who provide their own advanced experience be rewarded and driven by benefits.

2. Supervise the outflow of knowledge.

3. Reduce the burden on employees. If your employees often have trouble finding important information or always have to pay extra labor to write the same information, then this will only increase the burden on employees and greatly reduce their interest.

4. Use "Four Unifications" to continuously improve and strengthen organizational memory. "Four Unifications" refers to unified processes, methods, tools, and standards. Through these "four unifications", a lot of invisible knowledge will be refined into explicit knowledge and gradually strengthened.

5. With the help of technical means, realize the knowledge of information.