Chapter 1: The contemporary importance of knowledge and knowledge management
Key assumptions in the knowledge management literature
It is important for organizatons to manage their workforce’s knowledge. First, knowledge is
becoming the key asset for organizatons to manage. A second key assumpton is that the
nature of work has also changed signifcantly, with the importance of intellectual work
increasing signifcantly. The third is that the efectte management by an organizaton of its
knowledge base is likely to protide a source of compettte adtantage.
The knowledge society concept and its links to Bell’s post-industrial society
concept
A post-industrial society is a society where the service sector is dominant and knowledge-based
goods/sertices hate replaced industrial, manufactured goods as the main wealth generators.
Knowledge & informaton intensity of economic and social life. Theoretcal knowledge has
become the most important type: it represents abstract knowledge and principles, which can be
codifed or at least embedded in systems of rules and frameworks for acton.
A critical evaluation of knowledge society concept
One of the main critcisms of the arguments made by knowledge society or post-industrial
society theorists is that they typically confate knowledge work with sertice sector jobs. Since
the sertice sector is a tery broad and heterogeneous sector, it can’t be suggested that all
sertice sector employment is knowledge intensite.
Managerial and professional work (knowledge intensite) has been the fastest growing group in
the post-industrial society. But focusing on this trajectory alone protides a partal and oter-
simplistc otertiew of the way work has been changing. Thus, rather than being a single
trajectory in the directon of upskilling and increasing knowledge intensity, there are two
simultaneous trends moting in opposite directons, e.g. growth of low skilled sertice work.
Growing polarizaton of the labour market. Questons hate also been raised regarding the way
knowledge was conceptualized by Bell, he did this in a codifable and objectte way, which
draws on classical images of scientfc knowledge.
Aims, philosophy, and structure
Epistemology has two identfable perspecttes. The objectivist perspective assumes that
knowledge is an entty that can be codifed and separated from the people who possess and use
it. In contrast, the practice-based perspective assumes that knowledge is embedded in,
deteloped through, and is inseparable from people’s workplaces, practces, and the contexts in
which they occur.
The second dimension in their framework
Practce-based perspectte Duality And/and
relates to social order, with diferences
Objecttist perspectte Dualism Either/or
existng on the extent to which existng
social relatons are regarded as consensual and unproblematc. The consensus perspective is
whether existng social relatons are regarded as unproblematc and where challenging them is
not considered. The dissensus perspective, by contrast, assumes that existng social relatons
Knowledge in organizatons | 4th editon | Hislop | Radboud Unitersiteit 1
,are problematc, that confict is rife, that they typically reinforce power diferentals that result
in exploitaton.
Chapter 2: The objecttist perspectte on knowledge
This label ‘objecttist’ embodies and highlight what are here regarded as two of this
perspectte’s foundatonal assumptons: not only that much organizatonal knowledge is
typically considered as being objectte in character, but also that such knowledge can be
separated from people tia codifcaton into the form of an object, or entty (explicit knowledge).
Objectivist perspective on knowledge
Knowledge is regarded as an entty/commodity that people possess, but which can exist
independently of people in a codifable (and transferrable) form. ’
Character of knowledge from objectivist epistemology
- Knowledge is an entty/object
- Based on posittistc philosophy: knowledge is regarded as objectte facts
- Explicit knowledge (objectte) is pritileged oter tacit knowledge (subjectte)
- Knowledge is derited from an intellectual process
A further assumpton about the nature of knowledge is that it is regarded as objective. The
assumpton is that it is possible to detelop a type of knowledge and understanding that is free
from individual subjectvitt. This is also described as the ‘knowledge is truth’ perspectte.
Positivism is a philosophy that assumes that cause and efect can be established between social
phenomena through the use of obsertaton and testng, and that general laws and principles
can be identfed. These general laws and principles consttute objectte knowledge. It is
assumed language has fxed and objectte meanings.
The third key element of the objecttist epistemology is that it pritileges explicit knowledge
oter tacit knowledge. Primarily, explicit, or codifed knowledge is regarded as equitalent to
objectte knowledge. Tacit knowledge on the other hand, knowledge which is difcult to
artculate in an explicit form, is regarded as more informal, more personal and inditidualized,
less rigorous and highly subjectte, being embedded within the cultural talues and assumptons
of those who possess and use it.
The fnal major assumpton is that knowledge is regarded as a cognitvee intellectual enttt (but
which is ultmately codifable). The detelopment and producton of knowledge comes from
process of intellectual refecton (cognitte process). The mind is the ‘carrier of knowlegde’.
The knowledge-based theory of the frm
The knowledge-based theory of the frm represents a specifc detelopment from the resource-
based tiew of the frm. It adopts the objecttist perspectte on knowledge. There are two
central tenets to the knowledge-based theory of the frm. First, it assumes that knowledge
which is difcult to replicate and copy can be a signifcant source of compettve advantage for
frms. Secondly, it assumes that organizatons protide a more efectte mechanism than
markets do for the sharing and integraton of knowledge between people.
Knowledge in organizatons | 4th editon | Hislop | Radboud Unitersiteit 2
,It’s useful to briefy link to the concept of ‘intellectual capital accountng’, as it builds on the
principles of the knowledge-based tiew of the frm, being concerned with fnding a way to
objecttely measure, in accountng terms, the contributon that the intellectual assets of an
organizaton’s workforce can make to organizatonal talue and organizatonal performance.
Typologies of knowledge; most common distinctions (either/or perspective)
Tacit and explicit knowledge. Explicit knowledge, from an objecttist perspectte, is
synonymous with objectte knowledge. It’s standing abote and separate from both inditidual
and social talue systems. It can be codifed into a tangible form. Tacit knowledge is knowledge
that people possess, and which may importantly shape how they think and act, but which
cannot be fully made explicit. It is difcult to artculate and may eten be subconscious. It
incorporates both physical/cognitte skills and cognitte frameworks. Characteristcs:
Tacit knowledge Explicit knowledge
Inexpressible in a codifable form Codifable
Subjectte Objectte
Personal Impersonal
Context specifc Context independent
Difcult to share Easy to share
Individual-group knowledge. Besides the inditidual, Individual Social
knowledge can also reside in social groups (shared Explicit Conscious Objectfed
work practces, routnes, assumptons, etc.). Tacit Automatc Collectte
Objectified knowledge: explicit group knowledge, i.e.
a documented system of rules, operatng procedures or formalized organizatonal routnes.
Collective knowledge: tacit group knowledge, knowledge possessed by a group that is not
codifed. I.e. informal organizatonal routnes, ways of working, shared understanding, etc.
Howeter, collectte knowledge can exist within diferent types of community, of diferent sizes
and characteristcs. Shared knowledge represents knowledge that is possessed by a range of
diferent members within a community. The 2nd type of collectte knowledge identfed by
Hecker is complementart knowledge. This is a knowledge-based ditision of labour within a
community, where people possess diferent bodies of (oterlapping) but specialized knowledge.
The 3rd collectte is artfactual knowledge which are deteloped and used collecttely by
community members, i.e. documentaton technological artfacts or knowledge management
repositories. Repositories facilitate the detelopment of shared collectte knowledge.
Type of collective Definition Locus Relationship to Origin
knowledge individual
knowledge
Shared Knowledge held by Inditiduals Oterlapping, Shared experiences
knowledge inditiduals in a group common
knowledge
Complementary Knowledge regarding Interdependencies Specialized ditision
knowledge the ditision of between inditidual of knowledge
expertse within a knowledge within group
Knowledge in organizatons | 4th editon | Hislop | Radboud Unitersiteit 3
, group
Artifactual Knowledge Artfact Combinatons of Codifcaton and
knowledge embedded in inditidual artculaton of
collectte, group knowledge in an knowledge
artfacts artculated form
An objectivist perspective on the sharing and management of knowledge
Conduit model of knowledge sharing. The assumptons in the objecttist perspectte outlined earlier
that knowledge can be externalized from people into a separate and discrete object or entty, and that
knowledge can also be objectte, hate profound implicatons for how knowledge-sharing processes are
conceptualized.
Building from such assumptons the sharing of knowledge from an objecttist perspectte
represents what has been referred to as the conduit or transmiter/receiver model. This model
suggests that knowledge is shared by the transferral of explicit, codifed knowledge from an
independent sender to a separate receiter.
Conditons here: 1) sender is knowledgeable and willing to transfer, 2) appropriate transmission
channel/mechanism is used, 3) receiter can absorb and utlize the knowledge (=receiver’s
absorptve capacitt).
The idea behind this model is that the sender, in isolaton from the receiter, can produce some
wholly explicit knowledge, and then transfer it remotely to the receiter. The receiter then takes
this knowledge and is able to understand it and use it without any other form of interacton
with the sender. It’s assumed no important aspects of the explicit knowledge are lost in the
transfer process. Conduit model: Sender – Explicit knowledge Receiver.
Knowledge management processes. The sharing of tacit and explicit knowledge are also
regarded as being fundamentally diferent processes. From this perspectte, while the sharing of
tacit knowledge is acknowledged to be difcult, complex and tme-consuming, the sharing of
explicit knowledge is regarded as much more straightorward.
The typical startng point in objecttist conceptualizatons of knowledge management is the
processes of codifying reletant knowledge, contertng tacit to explicit knowledge. Thus, the frst
stage in any knowledge management initatte, from this perspectte, is to identfy what
knowledge is important and then make it explicit. The next stage in the knowledge management
process intoltes collectng all the codifed knowledge together into a central repository and
then structuring it in a systematc way to make it easily accessible to others. Finally, informaton
and communicatons technologies (ICTs) typically play a key role in knowledge management
processes utlizing the objecttist perspectte. First, they can protide a repository in which
codifed knowledge can be stored. Secondly, they can play a role in the organizing of knowledge.
Finally, they can protide conduits and mechanisms through which knowledge can be transferred
into or extracted from a central repository.
Knowledge management from objectivist perspective
1. Contert tacit to explicit knowledge (codifcatono externalizaton). Objecttists see no
difcultes in sharing tacit knowledge and the nature of such processes.
2. Collect codifed knowledge in central repository (database)
Knowledge in organizatons | 4th editon | Hislop | Radboud Unitersiteit 4
