Institutional memory is a collective set of facts, concepts, experiences and knowledge held by a group of people.
Concept
Institutional memory has been defined as "the stored
knowledge
Knowledge can be defined as awareness of facts or as practical skills, and may also refer to familiarity with objects or situations. Knowledge of facts, also called propositional knowledge, is often defined as true belief that is disti ...
within the
organization
An organization or organisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is an entity—such as a company, an institution, or an association—comprising one or more people and having a particular purpose.
The word is derived fro ...
." Within any organization, tools and techniques will need to be adapted to meet that organization's needs. These adaptations are developed over time and taught to new members of the group, keeping them from encountering the same problems and having to develop a solution that already exists. In this way, organizations save time and resources that might otherwise be wasted.
For example, two
automobile repair shops
A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods.
The year 1886 is regarded as t ...
might have the same model of car lift. The lifts themselves and the written instructions for them are identical. However, if one shop has a lower ceiling than the other, its employees may determine that raising a car beyond a certain height can cause it to be damaged by the ceiling. The current employees inform new employees of this workaround. They, in turn, inform future new employees, even if the person who originally discovered the problem no longer works there. Such information is in the repair shop's institutional memory.
Institutional memory requires the ongoing transmission of memories between members of the group. As such, it relies on a continuity of group membership. If everyone at the aforementioned auto shop quit at once, the employees hired to replace them would not be able to benefit from the previous group's experience. In such a case, the organization would have lost its institutional memory and operate less efficiently until the workarounds that composed it could be developed again.
Elements of institutional memory may be found in
corporation
A corporation is an organization—usually a group of people or a company—authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law "born out of statute"; a legal person in legal context) and ...
s, professional groups,
government bodies,
religious groups, academic collaborations, and by extension in entire
culture
Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these grou ...
s. There are different ideas about how institutional memory is transferred, whether it is between people or through written sources.
Institutional memory may be encouraged to preserve an
ideology or way of work in such a group. Conversely, institutional memory may be ingrained to the point that it becomes hard to challenge, even the conditions that caused it to arise have changed. An example of this would be an organization continuing to submit a form, even after the law requiring that document has been repealed, for fear of legal consequences that no longer exist. Institutional memory may also have influence on
organizational identity, choice of individuals, and actions of the individuals interacting with the institution.
Institutional knowledge
Institutional knowledge is gained by organizations translating historical data into useful knowledge and wisdom. Memory depends upon the preservation of data and also the analytical skills necessary for its effective use within the organization.
Religion
Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural ...
is one of the significant institutional forces acting on the collective memory attributed to humanity. Alternatively, the evolution of ideas in
Marxist theory is that the mechanism whereby knowledge and wisdom are passed down through the generations is subject to
economic determinism. In all instances, social systems, cultures, and organizations have an interest in controlling and using institutional memories.
Organizational structure determines the training requirements and expectations of behaviour associated with various roles. This is part of the implicit institutional knowledge. Progress to higher echelons requires assimilation of this, and when outsiders enter at a high level, effectiveness tends to deteriorate if this morale is unjustly ignored.
See also
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Footnotes
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External links
* Ron Ashkenas (5 March 2013)
How to Preserve Institutional Knowledge Harvard Business Review.
Knowledge
Memory
Social institutions