Organizational Metacognition: The Importance of Knowing the Knowledge Network

Knowledge networking is important to most competitive enterprises today. Enterprise knowledge is becoming ever more specialized in nature, so no single person or organization can know everything in detail. Hence addressing complex, multidisciplinary problems requires developing and accessing a network of knowledgeable people and organizations. The problem is, many otherwise knowledgeable people and organizations are not fully aware of their knowledge networks, and even more problematic, they are not aware that they are not aware. This focuses our attention toward organizational metacognition. The research described in this article involves fieldwork to investigate the metacognition phenomenon, at the organizational level, and to understand its effects in terms of knowledge networks and dynamics. Findings reveal insightful dynamic patterns and differential performance capabilities of various organizations, and highlight the importance of knowing the knowledge network. This work suggests immediate results amenable to practical application, and it suggests also an exciting agenda for continued research along the lines of this investigation