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2013 | OriginalPaper | Buchkapitel

3. The Application of Organizational Knowledge

verfasst von : Kasra Seirafi

Erschienen in: Organizational Epistemology

Verlag: Springer Berlin Heidelberg

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Abstract

In Chap. 2 we emphasized the relation between the epistemological and the ontological dimension of organizations. We concluded that, on different levels, knowledge is able to provide epistemological distinctions allowing organizations (and organizational actors) to make sense of the world and to act in it. But the fact that knowledge shapes organizational practice does not imply that knowledge and practice are the same. In contrary, the relation between knowledge and practice is marked by a fundamental gap which will become central for our further inquiry. The following chapter aims to show how the application of knowledge is open to contingency and plurality, and that knowledge does never perfectly fit to its application context. This is discussed along with Haridimous Tsoukas’ approach which will be connected to our hitherto developed ideas.

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Vorheriges Kapitel The Relevance of Organizational Knowledge

Nächstes Kapitel The Creation of Organizational Knowledge

The following definitions of different types of knowledge and their relation to organizational practice are mainly inspired by the collected writing of Haridimous Tsoukas carried out in an edition of collected papers named “Complex knowledge: Studies in organizational epistemology” (Tsoukas, 2005c). Furthermore, Tsoukas is one of very few who uses the term “epistemology” in regard to organizations. Nevertheless we are going to understand this term differently then he does. Another rare use of the term can be found at Krogh’s, Roos’ and Slocum’s “Corporate Epistemology” (Krogh, Roos, & Slocum, 1994).

A similar approach, which points at routines as the core of organizational knowledge (and which will not be discussed here) is provided by Nelson and Winter (1982).

Of course, this does not mean that such a directive (or any other more general rule) is not executable. The mentioned instruction may be very well carried out by “Andy” if Andy is an experienced operator and knows the context of the organization. Andy would not need all the details and context-sensitive information like what “IBM” or what “time-to-solve” means. Thus, it would not be useful to incorporate all details to the instruction.

See our epistemological discussion in Part II. Here, in the discussion of organizational theory, this nature of propositions is reflected especially in the dichotomy between rules and their instances (Schauer, 1991; Tsoukas, 2005a, p. 78).

See Mintzbergs “structures in fives” model (Mintzberg, 1983); for further examples and remarks on the relation between type of organization and the extent of rationalization, see (Hatch & Cunliffe, 2006, p. 117)

Bakunin was a theorist of anarchism in the eighteenth century (Masters, 1974).

Chapter 4 will show that knowledge application and knowledge creation are just two analytical views on one and the same phenomena.

Cited in (Tsoukas & Vladimirou, 2001, p. 982)

This also affects the creation of new knowledge. To explain the creation of knowledge as a rational determination from past states would undermine its novelty. The creation of new organizational knowledge can generally not be understood in terms of the past alone but only from the “emerging future” (Scharmer, 2009).

Cited in (Tsoukas & Vladimirou, 2001, p. 980f.)

Tsoukas uses the notions “concepts” and “categories” interchangeably. In the case of rules we will understand rules as (organizational) “concepts”, and the generic elements of rules “categories”. Of course, both are tightly related. Open-endedness and potential plurality is an attribute of both categories and concepts.

Other organizational studies authors do also put emphasis on the narrative dimension of organizational knowledge (Boland & Tenkasi, 1993; Czarniawska, 1997; Geiger, 2006; Orr, 1996; Schreyögg & Geiger, 2005)

Which was already mentioned in Sect. 1.2.2

This community may be restricted only to the organization, but also may exceed its boundaries. “Communities-Of-Practice” are mostly centered around topics and not constrained to single organizations (Brown & Duguid, 1991; Wasko, 2005; Wenger, McDermott, & Snyder, 2002).

As already mentioned, the comparison between “if-then” and “as-if” is motivated by (Tsoukas & Hatch, 2005) referring to Jerome S. Bruner’s two “modes of thought” (Bruner, 1986, 1996). The comparison is also made by Gerardo Patriotta, but in a different context (Patriotta, 2003, p. 189).

See e.g. the well-known “Rapid-Response network” use-case from McKinsey Company (Probst et al., 2002, p. 74); for implications on knowledge management systems in general, see (Schreyögg & Geiger, 2005, Chap. 6)

Cited by (Tsoukas, 2005a, p. 83)

This famous example has been introduced by Karl Popper (1959).

This claim will be backed by our general epistemological reflections in part II.

“Their (narratives, K.S.) contingent connections to individual actions help bridge the gap between generic rules and local circumstances in a flexible and inconclusive manner.” (Tsoukas, 2005a, p. 83).

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Titel: The Application of Organizational Knowledge
verfasst von: Kasra Seirafi
Verlag: Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Buch: Organizational Epistemology
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-34193-9

Electronic ISBN: 978-3-642-34194-6

Copyright-Jahr: 2013
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-34194-6_3

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