Integration VS. Fragmentation of Knowledge Management, Organisational Learning and Innovation - Phase One of a Multi-phase Research Project

This paper represents the first phase of a study designed to investigate the degree of integration (or fragmentation) of key knowledge management (KM), organisational learning (OL) and innovation processes that exist within Australian organisations, and to increase our understanding of the costs, benefits, drivers, and barriers for such integration. A review of the literature provides a clear indication of the links between KM, OL, and innovation. For example, innovation, conceived by Drucker as an effort to purposely develop an organisation's economic or social potential, has been linked to OL, which Senge conceptualised as an effort to enhance an organisation's capacity for effective action. Similar links can be seen between OL and KM, where the primary distinction between the two concepts appears to lie only within the mental model of the practitioner; one who comes from an IT-related discipline tends to adopt a KM bias, whereas those with a foundation in organisational behaviour will tend towards OL.