<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>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 <italic>a priori</italic> 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 <italic>Black Swan</italic> metaphor defined by Nassim Taleb in his seminal book <italic>The Black Swan. The impact of the highly improbable</italic>.</p></abstract>

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.

A Knowledge Management Approach to Complex Crises

National University of Political Studies and Public Administration

Management Dynamics in the Knowledge Economy

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

{"article-title":"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,...

A Knowledge Management Approach to Complex Crises

Publié en ligne: 29 janv. 2021

Pages: 345 - 356

Reçu: 30 sept. 2020

Accepté: 30 oct. 2020

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/mdke-2020-0022

Mots clés
knowledge, knowledge dynamics, knowledge gap, knowledge management, complex crises, COVID-19

© 2020 Constantin Bratianu, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

A Knowledge Management Approach to Complex Crises

Publié en ligne: 29 janv. 2021

Pages: 345 - 356

Reçu: 30 sept. 2020

Accepté: 30 oct. 2020

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/mdke-2020-0022

Mots clésknowledge, knowledge dynamics, knowledge gap, knowledge management, complex crises, COVID-19

© 2020 Constantin Bratianu, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Mots clés
knowledge, knowledge dynamics, knowledge gap, knowledge management, complex crises, COVID-19