Definitional and contextual issues in organizational and group memories Available to Purchase

Describes how organizations looking to augment their memories through information technologies can employ an organizational memory system. Organizational and group memories can include a wide variety of materials, including documents, rationales for decisions, formal descriptions of procedures, and so on. Discusses findings from case studies of six organizations using or attempting to use the Answer Garden, a type of organizational memory system. Examines two major issues in the implementation of such systems: the gap between the idealized definition of organizational memory and the constrained realities of organizational life; and the effects of reducing contextual information in computer‐based memory. Suggests some avenues for managing these issues as well as for further technical and organizational research.