Organizational measures as a form of knowledge management: A multitheoretic, communication-based exploration

One form of knowledge management is the use of measures, to foster learning, to transform individual tacit understanding to shared explicit sensemaking, to evaluate and improve processes and customer service, and even to rationalize and control organizational activities and workers. This article summarizes and applies four theoretical approaches—organizational learning, sensemaking, quality management, and critical theory—to explore how measures are constructed, interpreted, and used within organizational settings as forms of knowledge management. The primary principles, the role of communication, and the role of measures are summarized for each approach. The article ends by discussing some implications of measures in general and this multitheoretic conceptualization of measures in particular for knowledge management.