Boisot I-Space Knowledge Management Model in Software Development

“Knowledge has to be improved, challenged and increased constantly or it vanishes” – Peter F. Drucker. Choo Sense –Making knowledge management model id focused on three important aspects Sense Making, Knowledge has to be improved, challenged and increased constantly or it vanishes knowledge creating and Decision making skills. But there is another knowledge management model called Boisot I-Space model which is based on the key concept of information which is good and that is different from physical asset. It was proposed and introduced by Boisot for refining Knowledge management processes and strategies for the development of information and knowledge base to circulate a consistent flow of information between different dimensions.

Boisot distinguish information from data by emphasizing that information is what an observer will extract from data as a function of his or her expectations or prior knowledge. This model can be perceived as a three dimensional cube with three different dimensions: from uncodified to codified, from concrete to abstract, from undiffused to diffuse.

Boisot proposes a Social Learning cycle (SLC) that adopts the I-Space to model the dynamic flow of knowledge through a series of six stages. First stage is scanning here the wisdom is gained generally available or diffused data. Second stage is problem solving, problems are solved offering structure and coherence to these insights as knowledge becomes codified. Third stage is abstraction, here the newly codified wisdom is generalized to a wide range of situations as knowledge becomes more abstract. Fourth stage is diffusion, here the new wisdom are shared with a target population in a codified and abstract form as knowledge becomes diffused. Fifth stage is Absorption, here the newly codified insights are applied to a variety of situations generating new learning experience as knowledge is absorbed and produce learnt behavior and so uncodified or tacit. Sixth and the final stage is impacting, here the abstract knowledge becomes fixed in concrete practices, for example in artifacts, rule or behavior patterns as knowledge becomes concrete.

In software development, Boisot’s knowledge model consider organizations a living organisms. Their process of growing and developing knowledge assets within organizations is always changing.

That means that companies need to adopt a dynamic knowledge management strategy which accommodates the dynamic nature of the organizational learning cycle.

“Checking the results of a decision against its expectations shows executives what their strengths are, where they need to improve, and where they lack knowledge or information – “Peter F Drucker.

Source by Roy Jain