Knowing-doing Gap Research Articles

Bridging the knowing-doing gap: Researching a new approach to disability and employment programming

Despite significant program efforts since the ADA was passed in 1990, the employment rates of people with disabilities have changed little. While the causes behind these disappointing outcomes are multi-facetted and complex, it is clear that a knowing-doing gap has limited the effectiveness of efforts to change these disappointing statistics. That is, though employers have a basic knowledge of the ADA, this knowledge is largely not being translated into actions or practices. Approaches are needed that go beyond merely disseminating information to actively engage employers in bringing about organizational change. We designed, implemented and researched a program aiming to bridge the knowing-doing gap. This program was based on a blended learning approach designed to build organizational change strategies and partnerships. A comprehensive program research effort included both a measure of immediate program impact (using the BIAT - a researcher-developed and validated tool) and longer-term impact (using a grounded theory, open-ended interviewing protocol). Implications for further research and practice are discussed using findings from both the short-term and long-term studies.

The journey toward high performance and excellent quality.

Signalling the importance of healthcare quality and quality improvement plans in Ontario, the province's Excellent Care for all act requires all hospitals to publish quality improvement plans, conduct regular patient and staff surveys, and forge a clear link between hospital CEO compensation and quality improvement. The act also clarifies and strengthens links between evidence and quality of care. The act is an important step toward Ontario's becoming a high-performing healthcare system. Yet as some of the papers in this special issue of Healthcare Quarterly discuss, there remains much to be done. Other papers and interviews draw attention to the importance of strategic and system design levers--particularly setting goals, public reporting of results and clinician engagement--to stimulating improvement. Yet other papers present a diverse range of perspectives and ideas on how to pursue improvement and to bridge the knowing-doing gap in healthcare so that evidence informs better practice. Achieving and sustaining high performance in healthcare will require dedicated effort by everyone in every healthcare organization. With a view to the future, the act allows for the expansion of the quality obligations initially applicable to hospitals to other publicly funded health organizations.

Can We Bridge the Knowing-Doing Gap?

Can We Bridge the Knowing-Doing Gap?

Factors impacting the knowing-doing gap in sexual harassment training

We examined the gaps between research-based sexual harassment training practices human resource (HR) managers believe their organization should use and the practices their organizations actually use (knowing-doing gaps). We studied individual (attitudes about academics) and organizational predictors (senior management support, managerial rewards, and organizational resources) of gaps at the pre-training, training design and delivery, and post-training stages. Organizational factors generally reduced gaps at the pre-training and post-training stages, while the individual factor marginally increased the gap at the pre-training stage. The knowing-doing gap for training design and delivery practices was not predicted by any of the individual or organizational variables.

How wide is the “knowing-doing” gap in invasion biology?

Invasion biology is a growing discipline with clear ecological, social and economic implications. A wide range of research effort is thus required to address the invasion problem, and literature on the topic is extensive. However, the extent to which the invasion biology research is addressing the challenges associated with management and mitigation of the impacts of invasions has been questioned. Using bibliometric analysis, we investigated the extent to which the literature on the subject contributes to implementation of knowledge generated, by addressing aspects of management, policy, and/or implementation; the impact of these papers as indicated by the number of citations they attract; and the geopolitical scale of focus of invasion ecology papers, particularly those that attempt to bridge the knowing-doing gap. We then compared these findings with the information needs of conservation practitioners. We first looked globally at popular search engines and then narrowed our focus to South Africa—one of three regions outside USA where researchers producing highly cited papers in invasion ecology are well represented. At this level, we conducted a content analysis of invasion ecology-related papers, of which at least one author was affiliated to a South African institution. The knowledge base in the field of invasion biology is comprised largely of research oriented towards “knowing”, while research aimed at strategically applying or implementing that knowledge is poorly represented in the scientific literature, and the scale of its emphasis is not local. Conservation practitioners clearly indicate a need for basic knowledge. However, invasion science must develop channels for effective engagement to ensure that the research is contextualised, and will deal with the complex ecological, social and economic challenges posed by invasions.

Evidence in the learning organization

BackgroundOrganizational leaders in business and medicine have been experiencing a similar dilemma: how to ensure that their organizational members are adopting work innovations in a timely fashion. Organizational leaders in healthcare have attempted to resolve this dilemma by offering specific solutions, such as evidence-based medicine (EBM), but organizations are still not systematically adopting evidence-based practice innovations as rapidly as expected by policy-makers (the knowing-doing gap problem). Some business leaders have adopted a systems-based perspective, called the learning organization (LO), to address a similar dilemma. Three years ago, the Society of General Internal Medicine's Evidence-based Medicine Task Force began an inquiry to integrate the EBM and LO concepts into one model to address the knowing-doing gap problem.MethodsDuring the model development process, the authors searched several databases for relevant LO frameworks and their related concepts by using a broad search strategy. To identify the key LO frameworks and consolidate them into one model, the authors used consensus-based decision-making and a narrative thematic synthesis guided by several qualitative criteria. The authors subjected the model to external, independent review and improved upon its design with this feedback.ResultsThe authors found seven LO frameworks particularly relevant to evidence-based practice innovations in organizations. The authors describe their interpretations of these frameworks for healthcare organizations, the process they used to integrate the LO frameworks with EBM principles, and the resulting Evidence in the Learning Organization (ELO) model. They also provide a health organization scenario to illustrate ELO concepts in application.ConclusionThe authors intend, by sharing the LO frameworks and the ELO model, to help organizations identify their capacities to learn and share knowledge about evidence-based practice innovations. The ELO model will need further validation and improvement through its use in organizational settings and applied health services research.

Knowing But Not Doing: Selecting Priority Conservation Areas and the Research–Implementation Gap

Conservation assessment is a rapidly evolving discipline whose stated goal is the design of networks of protected areas that represent and ensure the persistence of nature (i.e., species, habitats, and environmental processes) by separating priority areas from the activities that degrade or destroy them. Nevertheless, despite a burgeoning scientific literature that ever refines these techniques for allocating conservation resources, it is widely believed that conservation assessments are rarely translated into actions that actually conserve nature. We reviewed the conservation assessment literature in peer-reviewed journals and conducted survey questionnaires of the authors of these studies. Two-thirds of conservation assessments published in the peer-reviewed scientific literature do not deliver conservation action, primarily because most researchers never plan for implementation. This research-implementation gap between conservation science and real-world action is a genuine phenomenon and is a specific example of the "knowing-doing gap" that is widely recognized in management science. Given the woefully inadequate resources allocated for conservation, our findings raise questions over the utility of conservation assessment science, as currently practiced, to provide useful, pragmatic solutions to conservation planning problems. A reevaluation of the conceptual and operational basis of conservation planning research is urgently required. We recommend the following actions for beginning a process for bridging the research-implementation gap in conservation planning: (1) acknowledge the research-implementation gap is real, (2) source research questions from practitioners, (3) situate research within a broader conservation planning model, (4) expand the social dimension of conservation assessments, (5) support conservation plans with transdisciplinary social learning institutions, (6) reward academics for societal engagement and implementation, and (7) train students in skills for "doing" conservation.

Strategy and strategic action in the global era: overcoming the knowing-doing gap

Efficiency and effectiveness are not sufficient in the global era. Explicability and ethics ? not only doing the things right but also doing the right things ? are emerging as major components of corporate success. Key aspects of competitiveness have moved from data and information to knowledge and wisdom. Strategy and strategic action have upstaged efficient performance and flawless execution. The world has changed. In the world of information, the notion of strategy has been reduced to the 'mission-vision' descriptions, declarations and statements. In the world of knowledge, the notion of strategy has reinstated the action in the center. Your strategy is what you are doing, not what you are saying and, significantly, what you are doing is your strategy, no matter what you say. Each company has a powerful strategy, whether they know it or not. Modern view of the strategy is not about a statement and its implementation, but about transforming one action portfolio into another action portfolio, one implicit strategy into another. Here we present a methodology for overcoming the knowing-doing gap in the area of strategic management.

Closing the knowing‐doing gap

Leader to LeaderVolume 2007, Issue 45 p. 62-62 From the Front Lines Closing the knowing-doing gap First published: 14 June 2007 https://doi.org/10.1002/ltl.246AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume2007, Issue45Summer 2007Pages 62-62 RelatedInformation

Fighting Philip with Decrees: Demosthenes and the Syndrome of Symbolic Action

Demosthenes' Philippic cycle conveys a satirical picture of Athenians trapped in a spiral of symbolic activity: to a demos nostalgic for great-power status but loath to energetic intervention, high-sounding resolutions substitute for low-level responses and by their character as official enactments create the illusion of meaningful engagement. This "syndrome" is a rhetorical scare-image subserving a political agenda. At a time when his influence was still limited, Demosthenes found it expedient to exaggerate the cautious approach of the "peace party" into a "knowing-doing gap" in order to move the audience to accept his own hard line on the Macedonian question.

System Support for Knowledge Work

Many researchers argue that information systems (IS) can play an important role in supporting organizational knowledge application. However, recent IS research indicates that knowledge management systems (KMS) often fail when implemented in the knowledge work practice of contemporary organizations. While KMS maintenance has been recognized as an important IS research area, imbalance between the desire for accurate content and the workload required to achieve this still appears to be a critical issue, resulting in systems of little use for organizations in their knowledge application processes. Driven by the ambition to contribute recommendations for how to integrate KMS with everyday knowledge work, we use general lessons learned from development of groupware applications as a theoretical lens to analyze empirical experiences from three implemented and evaluated KMS. Targeting the KMS maintenance challenge, our recommendations extend earlier IS research on the implementation and use of knowledge work support systems. On a practical level, our recommendations assist KMS developers in attempts to bridge the knowing-doing gap in organizations where individual members do not know or know of each other and the organization as a whole does not know what it knows.

Reconciliation Failures Lead to Medication Errors

Poor communication of medical information at transition points of care--at admission, transfer, and discharge--often results in medication errors, but various strategies can reduce the likelihood of error.

Barriers to Innovation & the Creation of a Knowledge Society in India

In this paper, we identify the principal societal, systemic, organizational and governmental barriers to innovation and the creation of a knowledge society in India. Societal barriers include an ambivalent attitude towards knowledge, a 'knowing-doing gap', hesitation to specialize, a static view of technology, intolerance of failure, and a declining respect for diversity and dissent. A lack of design and experimentation in engineering curricula, lack of cooperation between firms, lack of depth in different industries, absence of a culture of debate, and barriers to the founding and growth of high technology firms are systemic barriers.Organizational barriers to innovation start from a lack of ambition and vision at the top, and include the perception of loss of control by owner managers in issues related to technology development, inadequate investment in plant and machinery, the lack of the right people. and skills, and hierarchical structures.The government does not give enough flexibility to organizations under its control and emphasizes procedures over results. Long decision cycles, inappropriate choice of priority areas, and biases against start~ups in governmental support programmes for research and development are othergovernmental barriers to innovation.

Closing the knowing–doing gap

A decade on from the Rethinking Project Management (PM) network, concerns about the relevance gap continue with a number of multinationals looking explicitly to alternative strategies and forms of PM staff development. The literature is light on how project simulations can help the development of experienced managers as reflective experts. Few have examined the link between intended learning outcomes and real-time performance. Posing the question of “how easily is knowledge developed in the classroom transformed into effective practice?” the paper presents a chronological account of a 3-day simulated project by 25 experienced managers. Despite their prior experience and learning from shared problem-solving and structured reflections, participants struggled to deliver their projects as planned. Analysis referencing the knowledge epistemology and ambidexterity literatures yielded a number of design improvement opportunities and the insight that closing the knowing-doing gap requires courses to incorporate the ‘soft’ perceptual and attitudinal aspects underlying why people fail to convert their learning into effective practice.

Education, Industry and the Knowing—Doing Gap

This paper examines the evolutionary path of the university and its impact on the quality of education it provides to people, industry and society The authors first analyse the (Kantian) paradigm of reason, the (German Idealists') paradigm of culture and the current dominant techno-bureaucratic paradigm of excellence. They then argue that the paradigm of excellence significantly contributes to the ‘knowing-doing’ gap which causes the difficulties practitioners experience when they try to turn their tertiary knowledge into action. Finally, they argue that the knowledge creation and integration model of Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995) may help academics and practitioners to bridge the knowing-doing gap they encounter.

Closing the knowing-doing gap

tis editorial looks at bridging the knowledge and evidence gap.

The Mind of the Strategist

The article introduces a series of papers on strategic leadership. A natural outgrowth of psychologist Robert Sternberg's triarchic theory of intelligence is an interest in leadership development, taking the form here of WICS--wisdom, intelligence, and creativity synthesized. Sternberg argues that leadership is premised on intelligence, not just because a healthy dose of cognitive ability is necessary, but because practical intelligence--particularly as it relates to the formation and use of tacit knowledge--comes close to describing and explaining what leaders display. Larry Greiner teams up with Arvind Bhambri and Tom Cummings to search for a strategy to teach strategy. They begin by covering the Business Policy course, from its 1912 inception at Harvard Business School through the subsequent 1946 expansion of its primary pedagogy, the case, to all courses in the Harvard Business School curriculum, and eventually to most schools across the country. The benefits of case methodology as historically practiced, they argue, are best understood via an experiential learning perspective as a means to bridge the much-bemoaned knowing-doing gap.

Book Review: The Knowing-Doing Gap: How Smart Companies Turn Knowledge into Action

Book Review: The Knowing-Doing Gap: How Smart Companies Turn Knowledge into Action

Book Review

Book Review

The Knowing-Doing Gap: How Smart Companies Turn Knowledge into ActionThe Knowing-Doing Gap: How Smart Companies Turn Knowledge into Action By PfefferJeffrey and SuttonRobert I.. Boston: Harvard Business School Press. 303 pages, $27.50

The article presents a review of the book “The Knowing-Doing Gap: How Smart Companies Turn Knowledge Into Action,” by Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert I. Sutton.