Understanding the design of information technologies for knowledge management in organizations: a pragmatic perspective

TLDR

Researchers report mixed findings on the successful application of information technologies for knowledge management, citing difficulties in applying information management techniques to design KM tools and the varied use of multiple KM technologies across organizations. The paper argues that these challenges partly arise from the information system field’s over‑reliance on design concepts from the functionalist paradigm. By applying the philosophy of technology—emphasizing praxis and incorporating ontological and epistemological insights from phenomenology and hermeneutics—to a participative action research study, the authors illustrate how social actors interpret and share knowledge of the life‑world using IT. This integration yields a set of design principles intended to guide the development of a core knowledge‑management tool for knowledge‑management systems. Abstract.

Abstract

Abstract. Researchers report mixed findings on the successful application of information technologies (IT) for knowledge management (KM). The primary difficulty is argued to be the use of information management techniques and concepts to design and develop KM Tools. Also problematic is the existence of a multiplicity of KM technologies, the application and use of which differs across organizations. This paper argues that these problems stem, in part, from the information system field’s over‐reliance on design concepts from the functionalist paradigm. Hence, our contention that alternative perspectives, which bring into focus issues of ontology and epistemology, need to be brought to bear in order to understand the challenges involved in the design and deployment of IT artefacts in knowledge management systems (KMS). The philosophy of technology, with its emphasis on the primacy of praxis, and which incorporates ontological and epistemological concepts from phenomenology and hermeneutics, is applied to the findings of a participative action research study to illustrate how social actors interpret and understand worldly phenomena and subsequently share their knowledge of the life‐world using IT. The outcome of this marriage of situated practical theory and philosophy is a set of design principles to guide the development of a core KM Tool for KMS.