Understanding Work and Knowledge Management from a Knowledge-in-Practice Perspective

Abstract

We introduce a knowledge-in-practice framework for understanding the nature of work and use this framework to peer into the black box of knowledge management (KM) and to explore the relation between KM activities and performance. The knowledge-in-practice framework describes knowledge characteristics of work practices along two dimensions: tacitness and learnability. We propose that adopting KM activities that match the tacitness and learnability of organizational work settings will have a positive effect on desirable performance targets for each work environment. Our framework offers a new lens for defining work and work settings. We identify patterns of KM activity that are believed to be maximally effective within each work setting and offer an enhanced contingency-based explanation of the association among work settings, KM initiatives, and performance. These ideas challenge the belief that KM activities always contribute to better performance and that the greater the investment in KM the better.