Organizational Autopoiesis and Knowledge Management

This paper presents a biological view of knowledge and organizations formulated to provide a framework for understanding organizational knowledge and organizational knowledge management systems. This framework extends ideas based Karl Popper's (1972) epistemology of objective knowledge; Maturana and Varela's (1980, 1987) ideas of autopoiesis as extended to organizations by von Krogh and Roos (1995); Nelson and Winter's (1982) ideas of organizational evolution; John Boyd's (1976-1996) OODA (Observe, Orient, Decide, and Act) loop concept of the cybernetics of adaptation; and Ian Coombe's (1994-1999) definitions of knowledge-related terms