Jamie O'Brien

The Importance of Organizational Knowledge Jamie O'Brien

This book aims to discuss the importance of organizational knowledge in the context of several knowledge management-system implementations at two high-technology medical device organizations. This research will be useful for academics, as it will provide a rigorous study at firm-level that may produce future discussion and exploration. The study will be useful for practitioners, as it will provide first-hand accounts of key knowledge management-system implementations and the challenges these organizations faced.

The literature highlights the shortcomings of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in dealing with knowledge indicators at firm level. In addition, a combination of knowledge management frameworks are used to build a new way of approaching organizations. The research design uses an interpretivist theoretical perspective in dealing with the exploratory themes of the book.

This research will make important contributions by addressing the need for knowledge-indicator exploration that deals specifically with knowledge at the organizational level. Knowledge indicators in the past have proven too broad in scope and methods have proven unsuccessful in trying to understand the complex activities that make up an organization's knowledge base. This book attempts to understand these indicators in a more in-depth way. Furthermore, it is imperative that firms in the high-technology sector encourage knowledge indicator exploration because it is an important part of understanding the fabric of the modern organization.