Revitalizing organizational memory through hermeneutic phenomenology: interpreting information system change in Ontario’s child protection sector

Conference item

After a period of robust activity in the 1990s and early 2000s, organizational memory has become a marginal topic in the study of information systems. To revitalize this debate, this paper looks at organizational memory from a phenomenological perspective. Traditional approaches to organizational memory have relied on knowledge-focused cognitivist assumptions. In this paper, an additional form of organizational memory is proposed that is embodied in the referential holism of equipment, environment, and socialization, which underpin being-in-the-world. This kind of organizational memory is not already obvious, but is hidden in plain sight. Three examples from the implementation of a new centralized enterprise case management system in the Canadian province of Ontario illustrate this understanding. This paper contributes both a more nuanced account of the phenomenon of organizational memory, as well as a phenomenological hermeneutic method to enable the study of this non-obvious background memory that underpins meaningful action in the world.

Authors: Vogl, T

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Association for Information Systems
• Host title: ICIS 2021 Proceedings
• Article number: 12
• Publication date: 2021-12-12
• Acceptance date: 2021-09-28
• Event title: ICIS 21: Building sustainability and resilience with is: a call for action
• Event location: Austin, Texas, USA
• Event website: https://icis2021.aisconferences.org/
• Event start date: 2021-12-12
• Event end date: 2021-12-15
• ISBN: 9781733632591
• Language: English
• Keywords: FFR; hermeneutic phenomenology; organizational memory; public administration