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Organizations have, in recent times, become more aware of the worth of regulating their Organizational Knowledge.\u00a0 Extensive studies in academia have been conducted on the subject, because of its importance.<\/p>\nOrganizations have, in recent times, become more aware of the worth of regulating their Organizational Knowledge.\u00a0 Extensive studies in academia have been conducted on the subject, because of its importance.<\/p>\n
Organizations learn with time and experience. \u00a0The cause-and-effect relationship is gathered in the collective memory of the organization in the form of:<\/p>\n
This learning, in some cases, becomes a source of Competitive Advantage for the organization.<\/p>\n
New learning, in organizations, is possible when redundant knowledge and bad habits are effectively erased from the organizational memory.\u00a0 Managing Organizational Forgetting<\/a> has to be part of Strategic Planning<\/a> because of:<\/p>\n Effective Organizational Forgetting should be an Organizational Culture<\/a> so as to keep organizations on their toes and maybe preserve or gain Competitive Advantage<\/a>.<\/p>\n Organizations that intend to manage their Organizational Forgetting effectively, need to comprehend 2 dimensions of Forgetting and the relationship between them:<\/p>\n The 1st<\/sup> element pertains to loss of valuable knowledge; the 2nd<\/sup> to increased competitiveness as a result of Forgetting.<\/p>\n The 1st<\/sup> element relates to knowledge embedded in relatively durable objects like machines, databases, taken-for-granted routines; the 2nd<\/sup> to a transient setup like individual minds, association among small teams, makeshift organizational groups.<\/p>\n The process of Forgetting is altered depending on the interaction of the elements of the 2 dimensions.<\/p>\n Interaction of the above 2 dimensions results in 4 processes that constitute the Forms of Organizational Forgetting:<\/p>\n The interaction of the 4 processes has been conveyed in the form of a matrix dubbed the Organizational Forgetting Matrix.\u00a0 These processes explain an array of Organizational Forgetting that may occur.\u00a0 Each of the 4 processes need distinct management approaches because each process is connected with a disparate set of challenges.<\/p>\n Let us delve a little deeper into some of the processes.<\/p>\n Memory Decay occurs when concepts, practices, values are lost because of non-use or key personnel leaving the organization. \u00a0Organizations can forget elements long ingrained in their collective memory triggering costly and harmful consequences, like spending large sums to regain knowledge that was a source of Competitive Advantage.<\/p>\n Memory Decay is exacerbated in the process of downsizing. \u00a0Extremely valuable pieces of knowledge and skills can be lost if proper retention measures are not put in place.<\/p>\n Failure to capture new knowledge and disseminate it throughout the organization, results in loss when individuals bearing that knowledge leave.\u00a0 Knowledge Articulation and Knowledge Institutionalization are 2 processes that can prevent such loss.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Intentional Forgetting enhances organizational capability.\u00a0 Intentional Forgetting can be achieved in 2 ways.\u00a0 The 1st<\/sup> is strategic removal of knowledge.<\/p>\n Interested in learning more about Organizational Forgetting?\u00a0 You\u00a0can download\u00a0an editable PowerPoint on Organizational Forgetting here\u00a0<\/a>on the\u00a0Flevy documents marketplace<\/a>.<\/p>\n You can download in-depth presentations on this and hundreds of similar business frameworks from the\u00a0FlevyPro Library<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0FlevyPro<\/a>\u00a0is trusted and utilized by 1000s of management consultants and corporate executives.\u00a0 Here\u2019s what some have to say:<\/p>\n \u201cMy FlevyPro subscription provides me with the most popular frameworks and decks in demand in today\u2019s market.\u00a0 They not only augment my existing consulting and coaching offerings and delivery, but also keep me abreast of the latest trends, inspire new products and service offerings for my practice, and educate me in a fraction of the time and money of other solutions.\u00a0 I strongly recommend FlevyPro to any consultant serious about success.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2013 Bill Branson, Founder at Strategic Business Architects<\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u201cAs a niche strategic consulting firm, Flevy and FlevyPro frameworks and documents are an on-going reference to help us structure our findings and recommendations to our clients as well as improve their clarity, strength, and visual power.\u00a0 For us, it is an invaluable resource to increase our impact and value.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2013 David Coloma, Consulting Area Manager at Cynertia Consulting<\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u201cFlevyPro has been a brilliant resource for me, as an independent growth consultant, to access a vast knowledge bank of presentations to support my work with clients.\u00a0 In terms of RoI, the value I received from the very first presentation I downloaded paid for my subscription many times over!\u00a0 The quality of the decks available allows me to punch way above my weight \u2013 it\u2019s like having the resources of a Big 4 consultancy at your fingertips at a microscopic fraction of the overhead.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2013 Roderick Cameron, Founding Partner at SGFE Ltd<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Organizations have, in recent times, become more aware of the worth of regulating their Organizational Knowledge.\u00a0 Extensive studies in academia have been conducted on the subject, because of its importance. Organizations learn with time and experience. \u00a0The cause-and-effect relationship is gathered in the collective memory of the organization in the form of: Shared mental models… 4 Forms of Organizational Forgetting<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":110,"featured_media":9246,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[85],"tags":[2528,122,2530,2533,2529,2532,2531,2538,793,2527,2535,2536,27,2534,2537],"class_list":["post-9240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-organization","tag-accidental-forgetting","tag-competitive-advantage","tag-entrenched-knowledge","tag-failure-to-capture","tag-intentional-forgetting","tag-memory-decay","tag-new-knowledge","tag-opportunity-costs","tag-organizational-culture","tag-organizational-forgetting","tag-shared-mental-models","tag-standard-operating-procedures","tag-strategic-planning","tag-unlearning","tag-wasted-resources"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/110"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9240"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9240\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9250,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9240\/revisions\/9250"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
Dimension 1: \u00a0Accidental Forgetting vs. Intentional Forgetting<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Dimension 2: Entrenched Knowledge vs. New Knowledge<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Slide-Deck-image-Organizational-Forgetting.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nMemory Decay<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Failure to Capture<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Unlearning<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Do You Find Value in This Framework?<\/h2>\n