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Article
Publication date: 25 May 2018

W. David Holford

This paper aims to show agential realism as the basis for a pertinent framework with regard to the entwined, on-going and interpretative aspects of knowledge.

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to show agential realism as the basis for a pertinent framework with regard to the entwined, on-going and interpretative aspects of knowledge.

Design/methodology/approach

The knowledge flow phenomenon in the form of entanglement and agential “cuts” within the workplace is studied and described across a phenomenological ethnographic case study of two workgroups within an aircraft engine manufacturing context.

Findings

The boundary construction phenomenon is a key process helping us to depict knowledge entanglement (tacit and explicit) across dialogue and non-verbal actions. Dialogue brings forth the aspect of knowledge as interpretations or “cuts.” A phenomenological analysis allows us to identify and describe various levels of tacit–explicit knowledge entanglement depending on the mode of coping at hand. Also highlighted was the importance of heuristics carried out by knowledge experts, often in the form of abduction (i.e. leading to rules of thumb).

Research limitations/implications

It is acknowledged that the relatively narrow context of the empirical work limits the ability to generalize the findings and arguments. As such, additional work is required to investigate the validity of the findings across a wider spectrum of workgroup contexts.

Practical implications

Agential realism allows for the analysis of organizations as a world of practice and actions, whereby long-established categories can be requestioned and challenged with the aim of sharing the full richness and benefit of embodied knowledge between human actors.

Originality/value

Ethnographic descriptions of the entwined nature of tacit and explicit knowledge, the embodied and activity-based dimension of knowledge and learning, as well as the characteristic of knowledge as possession, correspond well to an agential realist concept of phenomenon, entanglement and cuts. Furthermore, agential realism offers the opportunity to view the workplace as individuals (or groups) who act out embodied tacit-explicit knowledge in conjunction with non-human entities (such as objects, as well as communication and information technologies), with the latter acting as enhancers of knowledge creation and sharing.

Details

Journal of Knowledge Management, vol. 22 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1367-3270

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 4 April 2008

Mehran Ebrahimi, Anne‐Laure Saives and W. David Holford

The purpose of this paper is to aim to characterise the knowledge management process of the ageing human capital, within the sectors of aeronautics and bio‐technologies in Canada.

2771

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to aim to characterise the knowledge management process of the ageing human capital, within the sectors of aeronautics and bio‐technologies in Canada.

Design/methodology/approach

The methodology consists of: cross‐search of literature towards the elaboration of a theoretical map; and collection of data involving semi‐directed interviews followed by a thematic and statistical analysis of the textual data.

Findings

Management's knowledge of social and relational knowledge, especially those of ageing workers, appears to be scarce, thus resulting in ageing workers being perceived as surpassed by technological and scientific progress. This conception deprives the company of an important source of knowledge capitalisation. A model relevant to the evaluation of company practices related to inter‐generational aspects of knowledge management should include six basic dimensions, namely: management philosophy (a managerial style favouring projections and proximities), strategic analysis (knowledge, memory and learning strategy), organisational analysis (information management system and knowledge creation process), operational analysis (places of socialisation), competencies (relational and communicational know‐how, individual memory and capacity of judgement), and the role of ageing personnel (activation of organisational and human resource networks).

Research limitations/implications

Further validation is required across an enlarged population, with the aim of operationalising the observed concepts within a practical evaluation guide of company practices related to inter‐generational aspects of knowledge management.

Originality/value

By centering the analysis on highly qualified ageing individuals, the authors discerned a phenomenon showing that even within highly technological contexts knowledge management is far from systematically integrating those recognised a priori as carriers of knowledge.

Details

Journal of Knowledge Management, vol. 12 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1367-3270

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 24 August 2010

W. David Holford

The purpose of this paper is to examine how knowledge is constructed and risk is induced within the workgroup environment of a large North American aerospace company.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine how knowledge is constructed and risk is induced within the workgroup environment of a large North American aerospace company.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on an epistemological position on knowledge and risk, an initial conceptual framework is proposed. This is then evaluated and re‐constructed across a qualitative and ethnographic case study approach involving direct observations and interviews, whereby empirical results were interpreted and analysed across discourse analysis.

Findings

A dialogical model is proposed describing both verbal and non‐verbal interactions between group members leading towards knowledge complexification on the one hand and risk mitigation on the other hand. Factors leading towards dialogical breakdown and subsequent risk induction are also presented.

Research limitations/implications

This single case study prevents generalizing the findings across the entire firm in question, and by extension any manner of external validity outside of the firm's context. Additional workgroups/teams within the firm need to be evaluated, while similar studies in other institutions within the knowledge economy are to be envisaged.

Practical implications

Workgroup managers must nurture an environment conducive towards mutual trust and respect, where individuals are given the time and freedom to express themselves, all the while being open to differing viewpoints and experiences. Coercive dialogue between members should be discouraged. It is proposed that this can be achieved across a parental “safety net” approach.

Originality/value

The paper presents the “how” and “why” of an effective dialogical knowledge constructing process occurring at the interpersonal level, attempts to propose how management can to help achieve this within their organisation, and attempts to bridge the areas of knowledge creation and risk induction at the interpersonal/workgroup level.

Details

Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management: An International Journal, vol. 5 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1746-5648

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 14 September 2015

Claude Paraponaris and Martine Sigal

Knowledge management is shot through with complex questions. This is certainly the case with regard to boundaries, as they constitute both a bounding line that has to be crossed…

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Abstract

Purpose

Knowledge management is shot through with complex questions. This is certainly the case with regard to boundaries, as they constitute both a bounding line that has to be crossed if the knowledge required for innovation is to be diffused and a form of protection for scientific and technological organisations and institutions. This examination of boundaries leads to a state-of-the-art review that begins with the question of knowledge transfer. The authors start with foundations of the knowledge dynamic within organisations. Nevertheless, certain gaps were identified in the theory, as it did not seem so easy to carry out transfers. This led in turn to attempts to identify the boundaries that were causing difficulties and that had to be crossed. This led to an examination of the role of boundaries. What status could boundaries have when knowledge was expanding enormously within communities? Finally, the authors come face-to-face with knowledge management systems that have tended to redefine the forms that boundaries take.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper uses a conceptual approach and is a meta analysis of the state-of-the-art review conducted to introduce the Special Issue “Knowledge Across Boundaries” JKM Volume 19, No. 5, 2015 (October).

Findings

The notions of transfer and boundary demonstrated their usefulness in the development of a new theory, namely the knowledge-based view. These concepts were then critiqued, with reference, first, to the contexts in which communication takes place and, second, to the cognitive dimensions of the activity. Finally, studies showed that the cognitive and organisational approaches can be linked and that they shed light on many knowledge-sharing situations. Boundaries are no longer the object of attention, the focus having switched to the collective process of creating new concepts.

Research limitations/implications

This state-of-the-art review is limited to the papers about Management Science.

Practical implications

Knowledge hybridization is possible but must be referred to resources made available by the division of labour between disciplines (Shinn, 1997). Expansive learning (Engeström, 2010) is close to boundary construction (Holford, 2015) to indicate the dialectical view between instituting and instituted society (Castoriadis, 1975, 1987). We are now perhaps at the point of transition between the interest in “boundary spanners” and a new concern with “boundary construction”.

Social implications

This paper introduces a methodology of knowledge transfer knowledge transfer in firms strategies of learning.

Originality/value

The paper provides the concept (with examples) of ‘boundary construction’.

Details

Journal of Knowledge Management, vol. 19 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1367-3270

Keywords

Abstract

Details

The Canterbury Sound in Popular Music: Scene, Identity and Myth
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78769-490-3

Article
Publication date: 23 May 2018

Sharon Louise Clancy and John Holford

The purpose of this paper is to examine the implications for adults of learning in a residential context and whether the residential aspect intensifies the learning process, and…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the implications for adults of learning in a residential context and whether the residential aspect intensifies the learning process, and can lead to enhanced personal transformation, moving beyond professional skills and training for employability.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper reports on research, conducted in 2017, with 41 current and former staff and students (on both short courses and longer access courses) in four residential colleges for adults: Ruskin, Northern, Fircroft and Hillcroft Colleges.

Findings

Key findings include the powerful role residential education plays in accelerating and deepening learning experiences, particularly for adults who have faced extraordinary personal and societal challenges and are second chance learners. The colleges, all in historic settings, confer feelings of worth, security and sanctuary and the staff support – pastoral and academic, bespoke facilities and private rooms are vital enabling mechanisms. Seminar-style learning creates opportunity for experiential group learning, helping to foster critical thinking and challenge to mainstream views.

Social implications

The colleges’ ethos, curricula and traditions foster among students an “ethic of service” and a desire to offer “emotional labour” to their own communities, through working for instance in health and social care or the voluntary sector.

Originality/value

Little research has been undertaken in contemporary settings on the impact of learning in a residential environment, particularly for second chance learners and vulnerable adults. Still less research has examined the wider implications of learning in a historic building setting and of learning which extends into critical thinking, intellectual growth, transformation and change.

Details

Education + Training, vol. 60 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0040-0912

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 24 July 2020

David Wallace

An approach to social responsibility in higher education will be proposed in this chapter and informed by a canon of literature and theorizing on critical pedagogy (Darder

Abstract

An approach to social responsibility in higher education will be proposed in this chapter and informed by a canon of literature and theorizing on critical pedagogy (Darder, Baltodano, & Torres, 2009; Freire, 1971; Giroux, 2011). Rooted in the work of education theorist Paulo Freire (1971, 1993) critical pedagogy embodies a set of critical dispositions about community, politics and education. Freire (1971, 1993) posited the nature of hope through transformative action in communities in which community empowerment arises from emerging critical consciousness and informed action. In common with the ideals of university–community partnerships critical pedagogy connects both to a community development mission and to an educational mission. However, though these principle philosophies of critical pedagogy may be inferred in the literature on civic universities, on higher education and public engagement and on wider aspects of social responsibility in higher education (Goddard & Kempton, 2016; UPP, 2019; Webster & Dyball, 2010), the chapter will explore how they may be more centrally located in analysis and in practice development.

Content available
Book part
Publication date: 12 April 2024

Glenys Caswell

Abstract

Details

Time of Death
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80455-006-9

Article
Publication date: 14 August 2017

Andrew James McFadzean

This paper aims to describe two themes of information and knowledge management in building corporate memory through curation in complex systems. The first theme describes the…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to describe two themes of information and knowledge management in building corporate memory through curation in complex systems. The first theme describes the skillsets of new memory curators: curation; appraisal; strategist and manager. The second theme describes four concepts that support information management in complex systems: David Snowden’s just-in-time process; Polanyi’s personal knowing; Wenger’s transactive memory system; and David Snowden’s ASHEN database schema.

Design/methodology/approach

Academic journals and professional publications were analysed for educational requirements for information professionals in complex adaptive systems.

Findings

The skills described should be readily applied and useful in a complex adaptive system with the four concepts described. The four concepts displayed features indicating each separate concept could be aligned and integrated with the other concepts to create an information sharing model based on synergy between reasoning and computing.

Research limitations/implications

Research is needed into the capability and potential of folksonomies using recordkeeping metadata and archival appraisal to support peer production information and communication systems.

Originality/value

The author has not found any research that links archival appraisal, user-generated metadata tagging, folksonomies and transactive memory systems governance policy to support digital online, co-innovation peer production.

Details

VINE Journal of Information and Knowledge Management Systems, vol. 47 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2059-5891

Keywords

Content available
Book part
Publication date: 5 February 2018

Abstract

Details

Annual Review of Comparative and International Education 2017
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78743-765-4

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