From a Theory of Organizational Knowledge to an Organizational Epistemology

Abstract

Examining the application of organizational knowledge in Chap. 3 we asked the question: how is knowledge applied to organizational practice? How is propositional and narrative knowledge related to the heterogenous particulars of the concrete organizational field? Answering that question revealed a gap between knowledge and practice as we saw that organizational knowledge (both as propositions and narratives) underdetermines its utilization, i.e. the way how some knowledge is applied cannot be determined by that knowledge alone. Propositional knowledge (e.g. as rules or routines) leaves “loopholes” open and its application is contingent to the heterogenous social context. Any organizational actor needs to get to grips with the gap between generalized concepts and the particularities of practice in which those concepts have to be applied. Narrative knowledge, on the other side, does not close that gap but embraces it. It “takes the bull by the horns” because it—contrary to propositional knowledge—is non-abstract and contextualized in the first place. Its content does not subsume particulars under general categories, but is particular itself. Hence, it is open-ended and ambiguous in its very nature. Narrative knowledge contains plots related to concrete and singular events taken from practice. But of course it is not practice; it has to be applied to practice; narratives are “templates” and part of the available stock of organizational knowledge. As such it “helps to conserve and mediate individual experiences and can be used as background knowledge when experiencing novel situations.” (Rögnvaldur, 2006, p. 348). Hence, narrative knowledge, just as propositional knowledge, is intended to be a reusable concept which ought to enable actors to cope with future situations. From this point of view also narratives are (“dynamically”) generalized concepts counter-parting heterogenous practice. Thus, it does not eliminate underdetermination, but instead offers an alternative way for dealing with it.