Abstract:

Background: The contemporary world-wide socio-economic crisis tends to escalate and contribute to the global crisis. Limitation of education to one-sided ‘knowledge management’ rather than socially responsible ‘knowledge-cum-values-management’ is one of the crisis’s causes. Objectives: The limitations to current knowledge management should be analyzed with systemic thinking. Which values are prevailing in it now and which values will enable the survival of humankind? Methods/Approach: In the first part, literature is reviewed for analysis and conceptual generalization of knowledge management. The theoretical framework based on ‘system theory’, ‘knowledge management’ and ‘knowledge-cum-values management’, and ‘values of social responsibility’ is introduced. In the second part a new theoretical concept “A potential methodological support for human transition from one-sided to requisitely holistic behavior via social responsibility” is discussed. Results: Knowledge management is a too narrow concept, it tends to leave aside human values, an impact on the natural environment, and extremely growing differences. Humankind needs consideration of responsibility, interdependence and holism in order to minimize detrimental impact of individual behaviour on society, i.e. humans and nature. Conclusions: The research indicates that individuals should attain more requisite holism, and should not be irrational by trying to attain only rationalism in human decision-making and action.

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