Metaknowledge Management in Inquiring Organizations: Towards a Knowledge Ecology

Metaknowledge management is the judicious or strategic management or leveraging of the different ways in which we come “to know,” based on Churchman’s (1971) classic work, “The Design of Inquiring Systems” so that we respond to situations in the most appropriate way. It differs from knowledge management in that it is concerned more with how we know what we know than with what we know per se (information and knowledge). By helping individuals and organizations to understand and be aware of their preferred ways of thinking and knowing, in terms of Churchman’s inquiring systems, organizations can leverage their knowledge assets and collective wisdom to increase innovation and responsiveness. This workshop builds on, and provides a means to integrate, the Churchmanian based works of Courtney, Croasdell and Paradise’s (1998) work on Inquiring Organizations, Harrison and Bramson’s (1982) Inquiry Modes, Malhotra’s ( 1997, 1998) work on Knowledge Management in Inquiring Organizations and Knowledge Ecology, and Mitroff and Linstone’s (1993) work on New Thinking for the Information Age and Unbounded Systems Thinking. Such a synthesis can provide a practical and applied approach to the development of a knowledge ecology conducive to the generation and utilization of actionable knowledge at the individual, group, and organizational/community levels.