The paper tries to marry cognitive issues of knowledge engineering and knowledge management in order to provide a new methodology for initial knowledge structuring. Ontology was chosen as the contemporary most comprehensive knowledge representation and codification model. Our approach uses participatory action research project in which some hypotheses about the relations between the cognitive style and ontology development are suggested. The methodology used simple, affordable technologies such as pen-and-pencil techniques for visual structuring experiments. The paper is aimed to integrate cognitive style individual features of knowledge analysts into the specifics of ontology design. It was found that personal peculiarities of cognitive style affect the topology and quality of knowledge structures. These findings provide some implications for collaborative ontology design and development. The knowledge structuring issues derived in this project can be used by managers and practitioners to address knowledge w