Building a theoretical foundation for a learning-oriented knowledge management system

Journal of Information Technology Theory and Application, 2003 by Hall, Dianne, Paradice, David, Courtney, James F

In his book The Design of Inquiring Systems, Churchman (1971) presents a discussion of different models of Western epistemology, each of which is an information building and verifying system that maintains a centralized store of both verified and unverified (potential) information. Mason and Mitroff (1973) have suggested designing information systems based on Churchman's (1971) models of inquiry. Following Churchman and Mason and Mitroff, Courtney, Croasdell, and Paradice (1998), Courtney (2001), and Richardson, Courtney, and Paradice (2001) provide a new perspective on organizations by viewing them as inquiring systems or "inquiring organizations" whose actions create and maintain knowledge. The above work has been extended here to show that inquiring systems may provide a basis capable of supporting a learning-oriented knowledge management system.

Churchman (1971) described five categories of inquirers based on the underlying philosophies of Leibniz, Locke, Kant, Hegel, and Singer. These inquirers share capabilities and can work together in a system designed to maximize both knowledge management and knowledge creation. The Leibnizian inquirer maintains a set of elementary axioms and stored knowledge. After the system identifies a potential truth (i.e., a candidate), it uses its fact net (i.e., a knowledge store) to deduce the candidate's legitimacy. If legitimacy is found, the candidate is added to the knowledge store. In the Lockean inquirer, external/internal observations can become "knowledge" (asserted into a classified observation store) by consensus. The Kantian inquirer is an extension of the Leibnizian inquirer with the addition of a multiple model generator that incorporates various perspectives.

The Hegelian inquirer can be thought of as a system consisting of opposing Leibnizian inquirers with a synthesizing component that combines the strongest assumptions of each Leibnizian inquirer. The Singerian inquirer is the most comprehensive; it incorporates multiple perspectives and provides a highly organized process of validating information. In the face of no information inconsistencies to eliminate, the Singerian system challenges existing knowledge and works to refine the measures on which that knowledge is based (Churchman 1971, Courtney 2001, Courtney, Chae, and Hall 2000, Courtney, Croasdell, and Paradice 1998, Hall, Paradice, and Courtney 2001). The Singerian system strives, through the challenge process, to increase the number of alternative perspectives considered by a decision maker. The more perspectives that are considered by an individual, the broader that individual's worldview.

Churchman's (1971) inquirers together encompass the functional, interpretive, and critical perspectives of knowledge management discussed by Schultze (1998). The functional perspective supports the idea that organizations use knowledge management to achieve organizational objectives, relying on known processes and information to facilitate organizational goals and minimally increase organizational knowledge. Such a perspective is adequate in situations where there are known variables, the problem is at worst moderately unstructured, and a solution is likely to be attained. The Leibnizian and Kantian inquirers incorporate this perspective.