Considering an Organization's Memory

The term organizational memory is due for an overhaul. Memory appears to be everywhere in organizations; yet, the term has been limited to a few uses. In this paper we examine what memory in an organization really is. Based on an ethnographic study of a telephone hotline group, this paper presents a micro-level analysis of a hotline call, the work activity surrounding the call, and the memory used in the work activity. We do this analysis from the viewpoint of distributed cognition theory, finding it fruitful for an understanding of an organization’s memory. Keywords Organizational memory, knowledge management, collective memory, group memory, information sharing, distributed cognition, CSCW, computer-supported cooperative work

• Type: Conference
• Year: 1998
• Where: CSCW
• Authors: Mark S. Ackerman, Christine Halverson
• Keywords: CSCW 1998, Keywords Organizational Memory, Organizational Memory, Social Sciences, Term Organizational Memory