Knowledge dynamics assessment in complex organizational systems: a missing person investigation case study

Abstract

In organizational systems commonly presented knowledge acts as a driver for achieving efficiency of organizational processes. Managing such knowledge within formal and stable systems is recognized as an essential component and relies on the ability to easily define the knowledge needs within the organization. However, trying to apply everyday approaches to complex organizational systems based on the cooperation between public and private entities, the conditions of extracting as-is information become blurred and tangible efficiency indicators cannot be jointly defined. In this paper, we present a case study of a missing person investigation that occurred in 2013 in Slovenia. With a variety of activity flows, several endings and tendency towards entity changes the investigation presents a challenging case for the identification and evaluation of knowledge that was present within the investigation process. Having the possibility to closely follow the investigation process, we collected the data through the observation and interviews of the key entities, then modelled with Tabular application development methodology, translated into the two-tier simulation model within iGrafx environment and finally analyzed with descriptive and multivariate statistics. Using the selected set of methods, we were able to design a graphical model that presents knowledge and most important interactions between knowledge resources within the investigation process. We find it as an important contribution to the understanding of knowledge dynamics within complex organizational systems.