Organizational memory versus a possible “unplugged IT”: Case research from a textile commodity chain

Nowadays information technology is used for storage of information generated around organizations, but in a dyadic view, it is also considered to be a support tool for knowledge transfer activities and a facilitator when knowledge diffusion is necessary. All this is comprised in a conceptual organizational memory that includes a human component whose behavior is the key to success in enhancing this memory creation process. Nevertheless, within the organizations, relationships create learning per se, but it is so difficult to understand how the process happens. Thus, the difficulty to explain: a) the manner of management of memories embedded into people´s minds, and b) the capability to link themselves with other factors. This paper shows a case research about governance through a Peruvian textile commodity chain, trying to explain a strategic behavior in keeping governance within an environment called ldquounplugged ITrdquo where the most important knowledge is about what the technology cannot do. The discovery includes new insights with regard to our perception about information technology as a knowledge management tool and describes the existence of knowledge flows from the eventuality of being unsupported by it.