Organizational learning and practices of organizational memory. A qualitative-reconstructive analysis of organizational memory practices and their relevance for organizational learning in two differing types of organization.

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Anja Mensching
• Subject Area: Education Systems and Educational Institutions ; Educational Research on Socialization, Welfare and Professionalism
• Term: since 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 450894669

The research project presented below is a contribution to the further development of previous concepts of organizational learning in the field of organizational education and their foundation in an empirical analysis of organizational memory practices. In this context the project focuses on genuine organizational learning processes that are not located in the minds of the organization members. It relates to the learning and knowledge of organizations which can be captured by adjusting and changing rules or regular practices. By linking a system-theoretical perspective with a praxeological perspective, the aim is to clarify theoretically and analyze empirically how organizational memory practices in different types of organizations result from organizational learning processes as well as influence them at the same time. This is to be achieved through a qualitative-reconstructive analysis of the interplay between communicative (explicit) and conjunctive (implicit) memory practices. Subject matter at the communicative level are memory performances that refer to stored material (such as data processing systems, meeting minutes, resolutions etc.). At the level of the conjunctive memory it is more about the well-established everyday practices that are naturally incorporated and the use of the explicit areas of knowledge characterized by implicit orientations. The project, in a comparative perspective, is interested in the differences and similarities of the interaction of these memory modes with regard to organizational learning processes in two different types of organizations. Subject of examination are two organizations which follow the logics of two different functional systems: on the one hand, an organization whose explicit organizational aim is learning (an educational institution with a focus on teaching, learning and educational contexts), on the other hand an economic organization whose primary target is profit maximization (business enterprise).The study is carried out by collecting various data materials (participatory observations, narrative interviews, internal documents within the organization) and its analysis using the documentary method of interpretation based on the distinction between communicative (explicit) and conjunctive (implicit) memory practices. This methodical approach enables numerous intra- and inter-organizational comparisons and opens up a multidimensional type formation focusing on the generalization of the project results. In doing so, the research gap of an (organizational) educational conception of organizational memory compatible with empirical research shall be closed and the as yet unexplained significance of organizational memory practices for the learning of organizations clarified.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants