Knowing in practice: Enacting a collective capability in distributed organizing

Citation: Orlikowski, W. J (2002) Knowing in practice: Enacting a collective capability in distributed organizing. Organization science (RSS)
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Download: http://ifipwg213.org/system/files/orlikowski.pdf
Tagged: Knowledge (RSS), Practices (RSS), Structuration Theory (RSS), Enactment (RSS), Knowledge-in-Action (RSS)

Summary

Orlikowski here forwards the notion that while organizational knowledge can usefully be conceived of as a thing or a disposition, such (traditional) moves can obscure another perspective: knowledge/knowing is an ongoing social accomplishment, and therefore both a product and antecedent of the ongoing practice of work. Knowledge and practice, therefore, are "reciprocally constitutive, so that it does not make sense to talk about either knowledge or practice without the other."

Orlikowski's empirical context is Kappa, a geographically dispersed high-tech organization; she specifically focuses on groups involved in product development. A central feature of successful product development at Kappa was boundary spanning. Orlikowski noted seven categories of such boundaries (e.g. political, cultural, social, temporal, technological), and operationalized knowledgeability/knowledge as that which enabled successful action across these boundaries. As in many of her recent papers, Orlikowski adopts a practice lens; this allows her to address individual action and social structure without accepting them as a dualism.

Orlikowski then articulates a repertoire of five practices associated with successful action across these boundaries (sharing identity, interacting face to face, aligning effort, learning by doing and supporting participation). She further links these practices to five distinct types of knowing (knowing the organization, knowing the players in the game, knowing how to coordinate across time, knowing how to develop capabilities and knowing how to innovate), suggesting that it is most useful (at least in this case) to conceive of these practices and types of knowing as mutually constitutive.

Theoretical and Practical Relevance

By bringing a practice lens to organizational knowledge and product development, Orlikowski reframes the conversation. Perhaps it is more important to focus on the ongoing maintenance and construction of processes associated with knowledge than to focus on the knowledge itself. Perhaps "best" practices and knowledge resist transfer across organizational boundaries because actors must learn to enact associated practices.