Abstract
This master thesis is a qualitative case study, carried out at Microsoft Norway. I have investigated different processes and strategies that are used for information distribution, work performance measurement, and learning in the organization. The thesis is interdisciplinary, and adopts theoretical perspectives from sociology, pedagogy and informatics. The main theme of the thesis is Knowledge Management (KM), in the context of strategies for information management and learning in an organization in the knowledge-based society.
KM strategies in the organization provide the employees with large amounts of information, and a finding of this study is that the amount of information can be a source of stress for some employee. It is important for the employees to have strategies to cope with the information in order to feel that they can master their work situation. I have identified two forms of information management: managing information flow, and managing information demand. These categories are dependent on whether or not the employees get required information from the organization, or seek it out on their own initiatives. Finally, I discuss how of information management is related to learning from a pedagogical perspective. I also discuss the notion of corporate culture in relation to KM strategies, and conclude that KM strategies in this case study have become an integrated part of the corporate culture and normal work practice.