Conceptual Levels of Information Processing and Information Interpretation in Knowledge Management

Information Processing Levels In Knowledge Management

In managing knowledge, conceptual confusion on information arises when we collaborate with researchers in different disciplines. The term of information has been defined into four meanings, data, capta, information and knowledge (Checkland and Holwell, 1998). Conceptual levels of information in the author’s classification which is shown in Figure 1 are 1) information as data in physical and reaction level or in operational management level, 2) perceptual information in response-behavior level or in strategic management level, 3) knowledge in cognitive-action level or normative management level, and 4) wisdom in integrated and acculturated action level in the long span, which leads people to realize their healthy and purposeful lives and to accelerate global health. In the upper two levels of wisdom and knowledge, information processing is dealt with consciously by point-to-point liner processing, while in the lower two levels, routine work as a daily duty is dealt without profound consideration on each work. Most workers treat routine work unconsciously by treating them as parallel distribution processing; moreover, they behave as they are trained. The concepts which define meanings of information in every level are to be shared among different disciplinary workers in developing collaboration work. Organizational learning comprises all the levels of information from accumulating data and mining data in perceptual levels, to modifying or interpreting information in cognitive and integrated action levels, and continues to run through all the levels for confirming that the information acquired gives some meaningful ideas and value to the organization, why and how the meaningful ideas are to be implemented.

Figure 1.

Conceptual levels of data, information, knowledge and wisdom which are featured by human cognition-action coupling