This book is intended to give readers an observational scheme for understanding the process of organizational knowledge development at the individual and social levels. Chapter 1 examines devising a concept of organizational knowledge. In chapter 2, the place of epistemology within philosophy is discussed along with organizational, cognitivist, and connectionist epistemologies. Autopoiesis theory, which describes living systems as self-producing and self-reproducing, is explained in chapter 3 along with the characteristics and applications of autopoietic systems. Discussed in chapters 4-10 are the following topics: individualized organizational knowledge (knowledge of organizations; embodiment of knowledge; knowledge, distinctions, values, and basic self-reference; and organizational knowledge when individualized and when socialized); the dynamics of individualized and socialized organizational knowledge; organizational knowledge and language (usage, organizational argumentation, stabilizing language, texts and socialized organizational knowledge, and organization and environment); impediments to organizational knowledge (improbability of communication, barriers to agreement, and self-difference); a methodology for studying organizational knowledge; and management models and theories and the management model used for more than 13 years by the U.S.-based firm SENCORP is offered as an example of the new epistemology in use. Contains 392 references and 14 figures. (MN)