Supporting Complex Problems: An Examination of Churchman's Inquirers as a Knowledge Management Foundation

摘要

This paper examines current knowledge management research through the lens of Churchman's inquiring systems. These inquiring systems are ideal foundations from which to view knowledge management and its associated research because knowledge creation and organizational learning are critical elements of knowledge management. In a broad-reaching work on information systems, Churchman (1971) described information systems as inquiring systems based on the work of five influential western philosophers: Gottfried Leibniz, John Locke, Immanuel Kant, Georg Hegel, and Peter Singer. He conceptualized five types of inquiring systems designed to promote inquiry in the course of knowledge creation and decision-making. Each type of system uses different strategies for information discovery and application in the course of problem solving. This paper discusses the characteristics of Churchman's inquirers and the problem structure for which they are most appropriate. Examples of previous research that share characteristics of the most complex inquirers are presented. Organizational benefits from the inquiring system approach and guidelines for future research are included.