The purpose of this article is to e

The purpose of this article is to expound the view that knowledge of a special kind has a central
place in the conduct of human activities at the global level. This kind of knowledge is indigenous
to macro level management across vast geographic distances. I am giving the name open
knowledge to this kind of knowledge. It is knowledge proven useful, regardless of field of study
and discipline, to know how best and effectively to manage global processes of human activity
defining global organizations.
To grasp the idea of open knowledge, we can note the importance of its precursor,
metapattern (e.g. a pattern of patterns), contributed by Bateson (1979), popularly communicated
as “the pattern that connects,” and taken up by Volk (1995). Metapatterns are macro level
phenomena, pervasively woven structural-functional rudiments of systems, deceptively simple at
first glance, invisibly intricate in their complexity, and just what one would be looking for at the
global level of organization, expectantly indicative of open knowledge. Bateson was a global
thinker and synthesizer, and his disciple Volk followed his tradition. Though metapattern relates
to the general idea of what open knowledge is, for the purposes of this article, the construct is
construed in terms pertinent to the learning organization and effective practices of organizational
activity at the most macro level of description, the planetary context.
One can argue, given the contemporary geopolitical global theater, open knowledge
transcends national and continental boundaries. Such knowledge, as an emergent phenomenon, is
destined to become a currency of immense value to learning organizations, as the peoples of the
planet become one global society. With planetary globalization of many production processes,