Autopoietic Knowledge Systems: An Alternative View of Project-Based Companies

Abstract

Traditional management wisdom focuses on the idea of conserving and maximizing capital. However, during the past 60 years, the world of business has shifted from being dominated by capital to being dominated by knowledge. This shift explains the interest in knowledge management and organizational learning that has emerged in the last 15 years. Managers recognize that, unless their companies can accelerate the rate at which they learn, their primary asset will stagnate, and their competitors will outpace them (e.g. de Geus, 1997). This emerging area of theory and practice has become identified as the ‘knowledge-based view of the company’, a feature of which is its ability to transcend the division between academic and management practice (Whitehill, 1997).