Towards a strategy for sense-making of empirical knowledge management perceptions - the TFL methodology

There exists a very diverse range of views and perceptions about KM and a need to appreciate these issues and concerns among different communities of knowledge workers. Our research aims to make sense of these issues which are often cross-functional, complex and ambiguous, through the construction and use of social cognitive structures. We have formalised an approach for social cognitive analysis, which we coined as the TFL methodology. It is a 3-phase analysis approach comprising theme-based analysis (T), frame-based analysis (F), and lens-based analysis (L), which involves the use of an induced framework, which is labelled as OPTC Lens, and which serves as a pair of social cognitive lens for furthering our understanding of the manner in which social perceptions may be relatively emphasised as they are expressed by different communities or professional groups. Through focus group research, we elicited a range of perceptions commonly associated with the notion of KM among very senior executives, managers, consultants and academicians engaged in the information systems (IS) and human resource (HR) management functions respectively. Using the TFL methodology for sense-making, we unearthed a range of empirical issues and concerns with important implications to KM research and practice.