A Sociotechnical Approach for Knowledge Management (KM)

Abstract: This article presents a sociotechnical framework for KM. This sociotechnical vision of KM allows: (1) to remove KM from a commercial concern; (2) to divide the different KM technologies; and (3) to question the paradigms associated with the social and technical components of KM. It is precisely this last point that this article develops to identify the generic mechanisms of KM. More precisely, the social aspect is explained through the organizational approach to KM, the managerial approach to KM, and the biological approach to KM. In contrast, the technical aspect is described through the knowledge and skills engineering approach to KM. These approaches also lead us to provide a comparative table between these organizational, managerial, and biological visions of KM.