Memory Work

TL;DR: Memory work involves the ongoing process of acquiring, retaining, retrieving, reinterpreting, and memorializing information and events from both the recent past and the longer past.

Abstract: Past research on organizational memory has mainly focused on the short term and the way information is acquired, retained, and retrieved. Instead, we argue that historical and long-term memory play an important role in organizations and we focus on the work of corporate historians and archivists in constructing long-term organizational memory. We analyzed the activities of corporate archivists and historians in eleven Fortune 500 firms. Our findings suggest that present strategic agendas drive mnemonic processes in organizations. In addition, longer-term memories offer richer possibilities for reinterpreting and reconstructing the past. Moreover, re-engagements generate additional layers of meaning that enrich and expand the possibilities of memory work for the future. We thus redefine organizational memory as an ongoing, dynamic process of memory work that encompasses both the acquisition, retention, and retrieval of information from the recent past and the recollection, reinterpretation, storytelling, and memorializing of issues and events from the longer past.