While I know that we still have to do a peer review of each others proposals/grants and our own revisions, I am so glad to be done with that paper. What about y'all?
As for this week's readings I read my final (!) research article, which was written by Goggins and Mascaro. In the review category I read an article on organizational knowledge by Tsoukas and Vladimirou and an article on epistemology (boo-hiss!) by Cook and Brown.
This first article, Context Matters: The Experience of Physical, Informational, and Cultural Distance in a Rural IT Firm by Goggins and Mascaro was pretty dry there is no way of getting around that. Dry, but informative. This article is about Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), and if it sounds familiar, that's because it is. UK announced (http://ict.uky.edu/) a few weeks ago the approval for a new degree in ICT. According to the site, the ICT program "focuses on the intersection of technology, people who use that technology, policies and regulations that govern the use of that technology and communities or environments in which that technology is used." So with that basic understanding of ICT, Goggins and Mascaro focused on how ICT is shaped/affected by distance, more specifically physical distance, cultural distance, and informational distance by studying an IT firm in a rural area. What the authors conclude in this study is that while we are in the age of technology and many computing-related studies are focused primarily on the "organizational impacts of computing (p. 125)," technology and computing have an affect beyond those organizations in the social setting.
The next article I read was Bridging Epistemologies by Cook and Brown. If you're unfamiliar with why epistemology is so unpopular, take a look at the Google definition: "the theory of knowledge, esp. with regard to its methods, validity, and scope. Epistemology is the investigation of what distinguishes justified belief from opinion (n.d.)." Sounds like fun, right? Anyhow, this article focuses on how groups or individual practice results in "knowing," and from here Cook and Brown discuss different types of knowledge such as explicit, tacit (remember Polanyi, anyone?), as well as how there is a sort of tango (they use generative dance, but I prefer tango) between knowledge and knowing. As Melinda points out in her blog, this is a rehash of one of our first discussions about what exactly the difference is between information, data, and knowledge in school.
The final article I read for this week was What is Organizational Knowledge by Tsoukas and Vladimirou. This article also brought up our good friend Polanyi in an effort to better explain and understand organizational knowledge, how it develops, and how it can be managed. In their conclusion, Tsoukas and Vladimirou found that knowledge developed by the workers is very dependent upon many different aspects (work experience, education, etc.) and is nearly impossible to manage. So perhaps management should perhaps take a more laissez-faire approach with employees if the situation is positive and try and study what exactly it is the employees know in order to make a more formal framework.
We're almost done, you guys - just 5 weeks to go!
References
Cook, S. D., & Brown,
J. S. (1999). Bridging epistemologies: The generative dance between
organizational knowledge and organizational knowing. Organization science, 10(4), 381-400.
Goggins, S. P., &
Mascaro, C. (2013). Context matters: The experience of physical,
informational, and cultural distance in a rural IT firm. The Information Society, 29(2), 113-127.
Tsoukas, H., & Vladimirou, E. (2001). What is organizational knowledge?. Journal of management studies, 38(7), 973-993.
First, I am thoroughly impressed that you managed to get a blog post published AND wrote the paper AND continued to keep up with the reading list. Well done!
ReplyDeleteAnd about that reading list...Your post mentions that two of the articles (Cook&Brown and Tsoukas&Vladimirou) examined some of the same concepts we discussed earlier in the semester such as the difference (if there is one) between knowledge and information, how is knowledge defined, and how is it created. Looking back on your reading history for the class, would you change it now that you're more familiar with KM topics? Would you reorganize your reading? I've found a couple of items that I'd wished I had read one article before another, esp. when some of the work has seemed foundational to other articles.
It was definitely not easy getting everything done. I had planned to devote the majority of last week to the research proposal thinking that I'd be finished by Wednesday, and it ended up being Friday before I finished! Oh well, it was worth it not to be working on it at the last minute, save for revisions!
DeleteI was actually looking at my reading list and the reading order the other day and wondering what the heck I was thinking about when I selected my articles. It seems like I just through a dart each week when it came time to pick an article, although at the time I'm sure I had some rhyme or reason for picking the articles. But to answer your question, I would definitely have paid more attention to the subjects and arranged them in an order that made more sense. For instance, I probably should have read the Kimiz article followed by other articles that were more 'introductory' in nature towards knowledge management.
I'm really glad you two are discussing the reading order.
DeleteThe position that knowledge developed by the workers is hard to manage seems to ring true for many types of knowledge. Knowledge is constantly changing and evolving and I for one am grateful I do not have to try to manage it! As you say, if the situation is positive a loose approach might be best, rather than pressuring those involved to explain how or why they did everything that they did.
ReplyDelete