Activating Organisational Memory

Abstract

Organisational learning has been essential to the success of project-based organisations, especially in the construction sector, where complex infrastructure projects require effective knowledge sharing, retention, and application. However, many organisations have been struggling to fully utilising their accumulated knowledge of the organisational memory, leading to inefficiencies and improvement opportunities have been missed. In this research has been investigated how social learning is activating organisational memory and is being applied within project-based organisations.

To explore this, the research has been structured into three parts. In part 1 the theoretical groundwork has been laid through a literature review on social learning, organisational learning, organisational memory in project-based organisations, and memory activation dynamics. In part 2 practical insights from semi-structured interviews with ten tender experts at Count & Cooper have been gathered. The thematic analysis of these interviews has been revealed how organisational memory, organisational learning, and social learning are interconnected within the dynamic environment of project-based organisations. In part 3 a problem-based learning (PBL) workshop simulating a portion of the tender process has been involved, providing practical observations on how social learning practices are influencing organisational memory use in decision-making.

The findings have been revealing a complex, dynamic flow within organisational memory, showing how it is being accessed and is being activated in non-linear ways through social learning practices. This research has been challenging the view of organisational memory as a static repository, showing it is continually being reshaped within project-based organisations (PBOs). Pattern recognition, emotional triggers, and competing memories have been shaping how organisational memory is being activated and being used. Through social learning, members are engaging with various forms of conscious, automatic, objectified, and collective knowledge, often uncovering overlooked or competing knowledge of the organisational memory. Social learning has been facilitating knowledge retention and application while guiding members through these diverse memory flows, aiding them in navigating and learning from organisational challenges.

The research has been highlighting a shift toward more structured social learning practices to ensure systematic sharing of insights across the organisation. While unstructured practices, such as informal mentorship, have been remaining essential for collaboration, time pressures in PBOs have often been limiting the revisiting of prior knowledge, causing insights to become siloed and leading to organisational forgetting. Yet, this process has also been promoting growth by discarding outdated knowledge, allowing room for innovation. Consequently, organisational memory has been emerging as both a valuable resource and a potential liability, depending on how it is managed and have being used.

In conclusion, this research has been providing insights into how social learning practices are generating and activating organisational memory, allowing organisations to capitalise on it as a resource. Through social learning, members have been using pattern recognition, emotional triggers, and the resolution of competing memories to increase awareness of organisational memory’s facets, ensuring relevant knowledge is being accessed, being applied, and being used for learning. This approach has been supporting decision-making, has been reducing corporate amnesia and has been fostering continuous learning across the organisation, preventing the reinvention of the wheel by drawing on different parts of organisational memory. By fostering environments where social learning is being encouraged where knowledge is being exchanged, validated, and applied by which organisations have been reducing knowledge fragmentation and forgetting, enhancing accessibility, and preventing silos. The findings are suggesting that project-based organisations would be benefitting from a hybrid social learning model combining structured and unstructured approaches.