Effective Knowledge Management: Knowledge, Thinking and the Personal—Corporate Knowledge Nexus Problem

We argue that the intimate relationship between computer architecture and software has produced a professional mindset that is unsuited to the newer, knowledge-based business paradigms. Major software projects are ending in failure or do not yield their maximum potential and we suggest reasons why this is the case. In conclusion, we propose that Management Information Systems Curricula need to be revised to provide students with exposure to and practice in a variety of thinking styles. Organisations must change their structures and management styles if they are serious about managing knowledge. In making our case we briefly review the development of information systems as a discipline and the role of methodologies in the articulation of its paradigm. We end our paper with suggestions for future research.

[1]  J. Dewey,et al.  How We Think , 2009 .

[2]  Claude E. Shannon,et al.  A mathematical theory of communication , 1948, MOCO.

[3]  Ron Weber,et al.  Ontological foundations of information systems , 1997 .

[4]  Peter G. W. Keen,et al.  Mis Research: Reference disciplines and a Cumulative Tradition , 1980, ICIS.

[5]  S. Engel.  Thought and Language , 1964 .

[6]  G. Kelly.  The Psychology of Personal Constructs , 2020 .

[7]  A. Harrison.  The Art of Thinking , 2002 .

[8]  Harold Maurice Collins,et al.  The structure of knowledge , 1993 .

[9]  J. Dearden.  MIS Is a Mirage. , 1972 .

[10]  Cliff B. Jones,et al.  Systematic software development using VDM , 1986, Prentice Hall International Series in Computer Science.

[11]  Kalle Lyytinen,et al.  Information Systems Development and Data Modeling: Philosophical Foundations , 1995 .

[12]  D. Schoen.  The Reflective Practitioner , 1983 .

[13]  James Fleck,et al.  Contingent knowledge and technology development , 1997 .

[14]  Paul Beynon-Davies.  Information systems development , 1989 .

[15]  B. Latour.  Technology is Society Made Durable , 1990 .

[16]  Claude E. Shannon,et al.  The Mathematical Theory of Communication , 1950 .

[17]  Koen Vanhoof,et al.  A knowledge-based SWOT-analysis system as an instrument for strategic planning in small and medium sized enterprises , 1999, Decis. Support Syst..

[18]  Maurice Landry,et al.  Can the field of MIS be disciplined? , 1989, CACM.

[19]  Kalle Lyytinen,et al.  ICIS Paper: Implications of Theories of Language for Information Systems , 1985, MIS Q..

[20]  Richard Jeffries.  Class, Power and Ideology in Ghana: Power and organisation , 1978 .

[21]  Henri Barki,et al.  Explaining the Role of User Participation in Information System Use , 1994 .

[22]  R. G. Hunt,et al.  Propaedeutics of decision-making: Supporting managerial learning and innovation , 1986 .

[23]  Tom Gilb,et al.  Principles of software engineering management , 1988 .

[24]  C. West Churchman,et al.  Management Science: Science of Managing and Managing of Science , 1994 .

[25]  Sarah E. Hutchinson,et al.  Computers and Information Systems , 1995 .

[26]  J. Flavell.  Metacognitive aspects of problem solving , 1976 .

[27]  P. Drucker.  Post-Capitalist Society , 1993 .

[28]  J. Searle.  Expression and Meaning: Studies in the Theory of Speech Acts , 1979 .

[29]  A. Koller,et al.  Speech Acts: An Essay in the Philosophy of Language , 1969 .