Knowledge acquisition for organisational problem solving : developing expert systems and beyond

This paper examines the introduction of knowledge acquisition techniques to facilitate managerial and administrative problem solving. The characteristics of such problem situations do not lend themselves to normative approaches such as simply introducing expert systems. However appropriately performed knowledge acquisition can still be of benefit by providing a better understanding of problem situations and it can provide a suitable basis for the process of negotiation and compromise needed to resolve organisational problems. This emerging role for knowledge acquisition differs from that of systems analysis, for example, in that it focuses on improving the understanding of the location, ownership and impact of available organisational knowledge rather than the data flows and tasks performed within the organisation. The paper provides guidelines for performing knowledge acquisition for organisational problem solving.