A Knowledge Management Approach to Complex Crises

The purpose of this paper is to present a knowledge management approach to complex crises, having as a reference the multiple crises generated by COVID-19, crises we are living with, and for which we cannot anticipate a specific end due to the knowledge absence concerning this complexity. A complex crisis is a system crisis that induces new crises in connected systems. The knowledge management approach shows that understanding complex crises and managing them needs an excellent understanding of these crises’ knowledge gaps and the knowledge dynamics phenomena able to describe their manifestation and evolution. There is no a priori knowledge or model to give us the key to coping with these crises and designing the best solutions for all the problems generated by them. The present research is based on qualitative research of the significant literature by using the Grounded Theory. The findings show that a knowledge management approach offers new insights into the complexity of these phenomena, which can be symbolized by the Black Swan metaphor defined by Nassim Taleb in his seminal book The Black Swan. The impact of the highly improbable.