From Knowledge Management to Ignorance Management

The central argument of the paper is that knowledge management practices fail to adequately address the complexities of organizational ignorance. The paper begins with a brief overview of knowledge management and an account of how this management technique can lead to the neglect of the unknown as well as the creation of ignorance. The nature of ignorance and its relation to knowledge is then considered. A review of existing efforts to understand organizational ignorance is then provided before a broader appreciation of ignorance management in business organizations is elaborated. The implications arising from the examination of organizational ignorance are briefly outlined.