Summary Knowledge in Organizations
Lecture 1 (08-11-23)
General Introduction
Why should you be interested in knowledge?
- Making decisions
- Innovations
- Competitive advantage
- Can save time/costs
- Avoid pitfalls
- Efficiency
Why is it important now?
- From: automation/industrial society: production of industrial manufactured
goods, supported by technology
- To: digitalization: service sector, offering knowledge based on goods and
services, growing importance of knowledge
- To: datafication/digitalization: capitalization based on surplus data supported
by algorithms
Trends on knowledge in organizations:
3 problems with the concept of knowledge:
It is:
- Ontologically / epistemologically incoherent
- Vague: knowledge is everything and everything is knowledge
- Not neutral, not even always functional
,What is management:
- Bit common sense
- Designing, coordination, controlling of work processes
- Normative control, community (shared values/norms/ideas), protocols,
manuals, access to information
The more emphasize on management, the less it is about knowledge
The more emphasize on knowledge, the less management matters
Epistemology dimension:
- How knowledge is defined is a matter of epistemology
- Epistemology: philosophy addressing the nature of knowledge. Knowledge
about knowledge. How do we define what is true? What is regarded as valid
knowledge and why?
- Dualism: what is knowledge? Objective, frozen-in-time, subjective/objective,
macro/micro, mutually exclusive, every object has a separate identity
o No clear-cut distinction, one does not exist without the other,
pragmatism, theories of practice (knowledge is in the doing, associated
with emergence, cyclical causality, object is continuously shaped by
contextual of situational practice)
Social order dimension:
- Social order: continuum bounded by:
- Sociology of regulation: society tends towards ideal state of integration,
equilibrium and order consensus trust, common interest, knowledge is
neutral
- Sociology of radical change: forces of coercion, conflict and change are
continuously challenging the established social order (truce is only temporary)
suspicion, conflict of interest, science is political
Four discourses on knowledge management (Schultze & Stabell):
,Neo-functionalist perspective
Tacit vs. explicit knowledge:
Tacit knowledge:
- Inexpressible in a codifiable form
- Subjective
- Personal
- Context-specific
- Difficult to share
Tacit knowledge is knowledge that is nonverbalized, or even intuitive or non-
articulated
- Example: how my experiences as knowledge management consultant and
managers are reflected in this course
Explicit knowledge:
- Codifiable
- Objective
- Impersonal
- Context independent
- Easy to share
Explicit knowledge is easy to replicate and transfer
- Example: the course description in Brightspace which contains all the
information needed to participate in this course
Constructivist perspective
- Practice based perspective
- Practice refers to purposeful human activity
- It assumes that activity includes both physical and cognitive elements, and
that these elements are inseparable
- Knowledge use and development is therefore regarded as a fundamental
aspect of activity
Critical perspective
- Dualism: there is good and bad, the powerful group that is evil vs. the
powerless groups that are pure, innocent and helpless
- Knowledge is an object to be owned, bought, sold
- Connects political issues (labour processes)
- Role of knowledge is to raise awareness of the prevailing social injustices
- Management of (tacit) knowledge is exploitation of managers, to own all
knowledge relevant to obtain more power
- Critical discourse is anti-management and aligns itself with interests of
workers
Dialogical perspective
- Interested in the role of knowledge in the exercise of power and control, yet
lacks the political agenda and moral stance
- Ongoing struggle, dynamically shifting positions
- Knowledge in discipline, the disciplinary practices that shape and are shaped
by knowledge
- Power/knowledge: before something can be controlled, it must first be known
, - Focus on practices such as performance appraisals, mentoring and practices
of the self, with emphasis on the normalizing thought and actions
- Aim of this perspective is to deconstruct self-evident concepts and power
relations, prevention of normalization and totalization
Lecture 2 (10-11-23)
Neo-Functionalist perspective (part 1)
Epistemological dimension: objectivist
What are the assumptions about knowledge and management research that fits or
uses knowledge?
- Neo-functionalist asks: what is knowledge and how is knowledge perceived as
an objective
- Epistemology of possession: treats knowledge as an object or an asset that
can be stored, transferred, and utilized
Dualism:
- The world is assumed to be completely and objectively knowable
- The world is constructed in terms of binaries or mutually exclusive opposites
- As a consequence: neo-functionalists favour classification, taxonomies
- Paradoxes or contradictions are an indicator that taxonomies and models
need further refinement
Neo-functionalist perspective: social order dimension
- Social order dimension: what is the nature of social order as it is perceived in
sociological and organizational research?
Hislop et al. (2018): the objectivist perspective on knowledge management:
Character of knowledge form objectivist view:
- Knowledge is an entity that can be separated from those who possess it
- Based on positivistic philosophy; knowledge can be objective
- Explicit knowledge (objective) privileged over tacit knowledge (subjective)
- Knowledge is a cognitive entity
Knowledge management: objectivist perspective
- Concert tacit to explicit knowledge (codification)
- Collect knowledge in central repository
- Structure / systemize knowledge (into discrete categories)
- ICT plays a key role
Lecture 1 (08-11-23)
General Introduction
Why should you be interested in knowledge?
- Making decisions
- Innovations
- Competitive advantage
- Can save time/costs
- Avoid pitfalls
- Efficiency
Why is it important now?
- From: automation/industrial society: production of industrial manufactured
goods, supported by technology
- To: digitalization: service sector, offering knowledge based on goods and
services, growing importance of knowledge
- To: datafication/digitalization: capitalization based on surplus data supported
by algorithms
Trends on knowledge in organizations:
3 problems with the concept of knowledge:
It is:
- Ontologically / epistemologically incoherent
- Vague: knowledge is everything and everything is knowledge
- Not neutral, not even always functional
,What is management:
- Bit common sense
- Designing, coordination, controlling of work processes
- Normative control, community (shared values/norms/ideas), protocols,
manuals, access to information
The more emphasize on management, the less it is about knowledge
The more emphasize on knowledge, the less management matters
Epistemology dimension:
- How knowledge is defined is a matter of epistemology
- Epistemology: philosophy addressing the nature of knowledge. Knowledge
about knowledge. How do we define what is true? What is regarded as valid
knowledge and why?
- Dualism: what is knowledge? Objective, frozen-in-time, subjective/objective,
macro/micro, mutually exclusive, every object has a separate identity
o No clear-cut distinction, one does not exist without the other,
pragmatism, theories of practice (knowledge is in the doing, associated
with emergence, cyclical causality, object is continuously shaped by
contextual of situational practice)
Social order dimension:
- Social order: continuum bounded by:
- Sociology of regulation: society tends towards ideal state of integration,
equilibrium and order consensus trust, common interest, knowledge is
neutral
- Sociology of radical change: forces of coercion, conflict and change are
continuously challenging the established social order (truce is only temporary)
suspicion, conflict of interest, science is political
Four discourses on knowledge management (Schultze & Stabell):
,Neo-functionalist perspective
Tacit vs. explicit knowledge:
Tacit knowledge:
- Inexpressible in a codifiable form
- Subjective
- Personal
- Context-specific
- Difficult to share
Tacit knowledge is knowledge that is nonverbalized, or even intuitive or non-
articulated
- Example: how my experiences as knowledge management consultant and
managers are reflected in this course
Explicit knowledge:
- Codifiable
- Objective
- Impersonal
- Context independent
- Easy to share
Explicit knowledge is easy to replicate and transfer
- Example: the course description in Brightspace which contains all the
information needed to participate in this course
Constructivist perspective
- Practice based perspective
- Practice refers to purposeful human activity
- It assumes that activity includes both physical and cognitive elements, and
that these elements are inseparable
- Knowledge use and development is therefore regarded as a fundamental
aspect of activity
Critical perspective
- Dualism: there is good and bad, the powerful group that is evil vs. the
powerless groups that are pure, innocent and helpless
- Knowledge is an object to be owned, bought, sold
- Connects political issues (labour processes)
- Role of knowledge is to raise awareness of the prevailing social injustices
- Management of (tacit) knowledge is exploitation of managers, to own all
knowledge relevant to obtain more power
- Critical discourse is anti-management and aligns itself with interests of
workers
Dialogical perspective
- Interested in the role of knowledge in the exercise of power and control, yet
lacks the political agenda and moral stance
- Ongoing struggle, dynamically shifting positions
- Knowledge in discipline, the disciplinary practices that shape and are shaped
by knowledge
- Power/knowledge: before something can be controlled, it must first be known
, - Focus on practices such as performance appraisals, mentoring and practices
of the self, with emphasis on the normalizing thought and actions
- Aim of this perspective is to deconstruct self-evident concepts and power
relations, prevention of normalization and totalization
Lecture 2 (10-11-23)
Neo-Functionalist perspective (part 1)
Epistemological dimension: objectivist
What are the assumptions about knowledge and management research that fits or
uses knowledge?
- Neo-functionalist asks: what is knowledge and how is knowledge perceived as
an objective
- Epistemology of possession: treats knowledge as an object or an asset that
can be stored, transferred, and utilized
Dualism:
- The world is assumed to be completely and objectively knowable
- The world is constructed in terms of binaries or mutually exclusive opposites
- As a consequence: neo-functionalists favour classification, taxonomies
- Paradoxes or contradictions are an indicator that taxonomies and models
need further refinement
Neo-functionalist perspective: social order dimension
- Social order dimension: what is the nature of social order as it is perceived in
sociological and organizational research?
Hislop et al. (2018): the objectivist perspective on knowledge management:
Character of knowledge form objectivist view:
- Knowledge is an entity that can be separated from those who possess it
- Based on positivistic philosophy; knowledge can be objective
- Explicit knowledge (objective) privileged over tacit knowledge (subjective)
- Knowledge is a cognitive entity
Knowledge management: objectivist perspective
- Concert tacit to explicit knowledge (codification)
- Collect knowledge in central repository
- Structure / systemize knowledge (into discrete categories)
- ICT plays a key role
