ABSTRACT
Knowledge management is often subjected to dichotomised thinking. For example, distinctions are made between tacit and explicit knowledge (Nonaka 1991), individual and shared knowledge (Moingean and Edmondson 1996), and codification and personalisation processes of knowledge management (Hansen et al. 1999). Underlying these conceptual distinctions is the established theory of Argyris and Schön (1974, 1978) on single loop (‘the how’), and double loop, (‘the why’) of learning. Although Argyris and Schön (1974) were careful to avoid over-simple characterisations, a view of knowledge as content (information, facts and data) plus optional processes-such as the interactive and social elements of learning (Brockbank and McGill 1998)—has persisted in having an impact on practice, particularly where ‘codification’ and ‘transfer’ (Bassi 1997) are the foci. In this chapter we seek to challenge some of the dichotomised thinking around knowledge management and argue for a view which incorporates rationality and emotion, openness and secrecy, physicality and virtualness, and anticipation and reflection.
