In this paper, we develop a synthesis of existing cognitive models and call it the Instance-based Model of Knowledge (IMoK). IMoK was developed to better understand the knowledge creation process as it enables expertise, creativity and collective learning in an organizational setting. IMoK directly contrasts more abstract concepts like those associated with tacit knowledge and implicit learning, by providing a concrete explanation of how expertise and creativity develop and can be fostered within an organization. IMoK addresses the development of fundamental and automatic behaviors that are assumed to form the foundation of skills and expertise by applying accepted theory. IMoK additionally accounts for the development of automaticity as it relates to decision-making and the creation of new knowledge within the workplace.

"If organization theory finds it useful to draw upon some of the ideas that have emerged in cognitive psychology, it will be advantageous to borrow also the terminology used in discussing these ideas. Without working toward a higher level of consistency in terminology than prevails in organization theory today, it will be difficult or impossible to cumulate and assemble into a coherent structure the knowledge we are gaining from individual case studies and experiments." ([76], pg. 13).