Edgar Meyer

Narrative approaches to the transfer of organisational knowledge

Narratives, or stories, have been identified as one of the ways in which knowledge might be transferred, shared or exchanged in organisational settings. Beyond their identification, little consideration has been given to the ways in which narrative approaches can increase our understanding of the creation and dissemination of knowledge in organisations. This paper reflects upon some of the ways in which narrative approaches might contribute towards a better understanding of organisational knowledge management. It contributes to the debate on the nature and significance of the contextual features of organisational knowledge, particularly the role of tacit knowledge, and identifies some of the distinctions between formal and informal knowledge transfer mechanisms, which operate (with or without effective management) within organisations.

Knowledge characteristics of communities of practice

This paper proposes a typology of communities of practice based on their knowledge characteristics. The structure of a community of practice, in terms of knowledge, may tend to the stratified or to the egalitarian. The predominant knowledge activity of the community may be sharing or nurturing. This produces four classes of community of practice. The paper identifies and discusses examples of these classes. It is argued that the class to which a community belongs tends to determine the rapidity with which knowledge within the community evolves and the degree of pluralism, as opposed to homogeneity, that the knowledge exhibits. The paper concludes by discussing some of the implications of the typology for knowledge management practice.

Knowledge sharing and team trustworthiness: it's all about social ties!

This paper empirically examines knowledge sharing within innovation teams and explores the relationship between knowledge sharing and trust. This relationship has generally been identified in the literature as an important aspect of knowledge management. However, its pertinence to knowledge transfer within and between teams is less obvious. The case study based on four information technology R&D teams in Taiwan suggests that trust between a knowledge holder and a receiver may not exist. In fact, it can be connected by a mediator, although the use of social relationship in which trust is rooted in both host and visitors trust of the mediator. Thus, trust may be substituted by the social relationship in certain specific contexts.

Theoretically speaking: use of a communities of practice framework to describe and evaluate interprofessional education

This article uses Wengers () theory of communities of practice, and in particular his learning design framework, to describe and evaluate the pedagogy of one interprofessional continuing professional development (CPD) programme for health, education and social care professionals. The article presents findings from 27 post-intervention interviews conducted 12 months after the CPD. Key pedagogic features of small group working, action planning, facilitation, continued independent learning and ‘safe’ learning environment were found to provide facilities for ‘engagement’, ‘imagination’ and ‘alignment’ (Wenger, ), with the use of task-focused small group work particularly appreciated by participants. Problems of falling attendance and marginalisation are discussed using Wengers concept of ‘identification/negotiability’. It is suggested that careful selection of delegates and provision of sufficient organisational support may mitigate such problems.

Operational research practice as storytelling

This paper considers the role of storytelling in operational research (OR) practice. We review the debate on successful OR practice, and adopt the perspective of OR as a process in which OR analysts seek to persuade their clients by means of changing client knowledge. We introduce storytelling in the context of OR practice, and argue that there are two important types of OR story: the story of the content of an OR model and the story of the intervention that generated the model of which the content story can be seen as a ‘sub-plot’. We illustrate these ideas with some examples from past practice. We discuss further the nature of OR intervention as story, and consider performative aspects of stories. We relate the use of storytelling in OR practice to the broader area of organizational narrative engineering: the systematic and deliberate use of storytelling perspectives to bring about change within organizations. We consider the evaluation of the potential benefits of storytelling within organizations. The paper offers a contribution that is both descriptive—reflecting on the ways in which OR practice might be seen as storytelling—and prescriptive—offering some practical guidance to those keen to apply storytelling as an OR approach.

Learning to Collaborate: An Application of Activity Theory to Interprofessional Learning Across Children's Services

This paper investigates the pedagogy of a continuing professional development (CPD) programme to develop interprofessional learning (IPL) and collaborative practice for professionals across childrens services, using a framework underpinned by Activity Theory. The aim of the study was to establish which pedagogical features enabled successful interprofessional learning and subsequent changes in collaborative, interprofessional practice. Activity Theory was used as a theoretical framework to analyse and identify the ways in which pedagogy impacts upon the development of collaborative practice. The qualitative study found that pedagogies designed to harness the ‘multi-voicedness’ of activity systems and the contradictions of multi-disciplinary practice can be used to inspire learning and practice change. From our analysis, ‘community’ and ‘division of labour’ were important contextual influences on the learning process. We propose that the ideas underpinning Activity Theory are useful guiding principles when looking at the design of CPD that aims to build collaborative, multi-disciplinary practice across agencies and professionals in childrens services.

Leadership Development: Applying New Learning in an Organisational Context

This paper presents findings from a qualitative study evaluating the impact of a leadership development intervention. The evaluation was designed to look beyond individual learning, but explore organisational learning once participants rejoined their organisations. A range of interviews were conducted with participants and their line managers to elicit perceptions about what participants learned, how interviewees thought the learning was used in practice and what organisational procedures are in place to integrate new learning into work practices within the organisation. The evaluation shows that individual learning took place, but little organisational learning transpired. The research found that lack of time to practice new learning and fragmented organisational support are the factors that influence learning transfer. Additional factors influencing the identification of learning transfer are the non‐alignment of organisational strategy/need with the education agenda supporting this strategy/need and the limited understanding of measurable benefits ‐ financial or behavioural ‐ that such training may provide.