Ontology-Based Resource Management

Managers face many difficulties in managing organizational resources, with problems arising from multi-objectiveness, lack of holism, subjective understanding, different perceptions, vagueness, and complexity. This work presents an ontology-based management framework that aims to reduce the number of difficulties related to organizational resource management. In this framework, organizational resources are considered ontologies. The technological part of the framework includes an online repository and an interpreter for ontologies; the repository provides global access to ontologies, and the interpreter enables reasoning based on meanings. Introspection and extrospection create unique instances of the ontologies. When these unique instances are used, it is possible to manage organizational resources in a new way. This management method uses situational perceptions and aspirations for the future of organizational resources. Currently the new framework is in use in the private sector, the municipal sector, and in several universities in the world. (C) 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.