Title: Modelling and benchmarking organisations' memory capabilities

Authors: Athanasios N. Tsirikas; Kleanthis K. Katsaros; Christos S. Nicolaidis

Addresses: Department of Accounting and Finance, University of Macedonia, 156 Egnatia Str, 54006, Thessaloniki, Greece ' Department of Accounting and Finance, University of Macedonia, 156 Egnatia Str, 54006, Thessaloniki, Greece ' Department of Accounting and Finance, University of Macedonia, 156 Egnatia Str, 54006, Thessaloniki, Greece

Abstract: The paper proposes a functional model for enhancing and evaluating organisations' memory capabilities. The model consists of well-tested and refined managerial measures that interact seamlessly with one another in order to deliberately preserve past experiences and make them available to support subsequent and increasingly sophisticated activities. Further, it applies the phenomenological model of human memory on the organisational field, by introducing that organisational memory is founded on individual and team interactions, knowledge management processes and technology. The proposed model is based on five dimensions: a) bond quality between employees; b) knowledge diffusion processes; c) organisational training systems, d) knowledge storage capabilities; e) memory and knowledge-based decision making procedures. It acts as an organisational memory diagnostic tool of whether an organisation provides and enhances organisational memory and reveals certain ways of acting towards forming organisational memory. Finally, the paper implements the proposed model in four business sectors in Greece, discusses the findings and proposes a number of strategic policies towards organisations' memory enhancement.

Keywords: benchmarking; Greece; holistic models; knowledge management; organisational memory; modelling; past experiences; phenomenological model; Greece; bond quality; employee bonding; knowledge diffusion; organisational training; knowledge storage; knowledge-based decision making.

DOI: 10.1504/IJKL.2012.051686

International Journal of Knowledge and Learning, 2012 Vol.8 No.3/4, pp.328 - 351

Accepted: 13 Nov 2012
Published online: 04 Sep 2014 *

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