Organizational memory

Organizations do not literally remember.
-- Argyris and Schon (1978)

Organizational memory (OM) (sometimes called institutional or corporate memory) is the accumulated body of data, information, and knowledge created in the course of an organization's existence.

Quotes

• Organizations do not literally remember.
  • Chris Argyris and Schon (1978) as cited in: James P. Walsh and G.R. Ungson. "Organizational memory." 1991, p.59; Argyris and Schon argued that organizational memory is only a metaphor.

• Rules, procedures, technologies, beliefs and cultures are conserved through systems of socialization and control.
  • Barbara Levitt and James G. March. (1996: 524) as cited in: Fiedler, Marina, and Isabell Welpe. "How do organizations remember? The influence of organizational structure on organizational memory." Organization Studies 31.4 (2010): 381-407.

• Change that works by recapturing something that was there in the past has many resources on which to draw and a whole network of support on which to rely.
  • Alan M. Kantrow, The Constraints of Corporate Tradition: Doing the Correct Thing Not Just What the Past Dictates. 1987. p. 147. As cited in: James P. Walsh and G.R. Ungson. "Organizational memory." 1991, p. 72

• Organizations are mental entities capable of thought.
  • Lloyd E. Sandelands and R.E. Stablein (1987, 136) as cited in: James P. Walsh and G.R. Ungson. "Organizational memory." 1991, p. 59.

• A memory is a persistent record not dependent on a tight coupling between sender and receiver.
  • Eric W. Stein, "Organization memory: Review of concepts and recommendations for management." International journal of information management 15.1 (1995): 17-32. as cited in: Linda Argote (2012), Organizational Learning: Creating, Retaining and Transferring Knowledge. p. 72

• Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
  • George Santayana, as cited in: James P. Walsh and G.R. Ungson. "Organizational memory." 1991, p.72

• The extant representations of the concept of organizational memory are fragmented and underdeveloped. In developing a more coherent theory, we address possible concerns about anthropomorphism; define organizational memory and elaborate on its structure; and discuss the processes of information acquisition, retention, and retrieval. Next, these processes undergrid a discussion of how organizational memory can be used, misused, or abused in the management of organizations.
  • James P. Walsh and Gerardo Rivera Ungson. "Organizational memory." Academy of management review 16.1 (1991): 57-91. p. 57

• In its most basic sense, organizational memory refers to stored information from an organization's history that can be brought to bear on present decisions. This information is stored as a consequence of implementing decisions to which they refer, by individual recollections, and through shared interpretations.
  • James P. Walsh and Gerardo Rivera Ungson. "Organizational memory." Academy of management review 16.1 (1991): 57-91. p. 61

See also

• Organizational learning