Title: Constructing organisational learning and knowledge socially: an interactional perspective

Authors: Max Visser

Addresses: Institute for Management Research, Radboud University Nijmegen, P.O. Box 9108, 6500 HK Nijmegen, The Netherlands

Abstract: In the literature learning and knowledge increasingly are regarded as socially constructed in organisations. In this paper, an interactional perspective is proposed to shed more light on the processes underlying the social construction and on the situated, relational nature of knowledge and learning. Here, knowledge is regarded as second-order knowledge, acquired through deutero-learning. Such learning is inherently relational, i.e., intimately tied to behavioural interaction and communication within the social and physical context of organisations. Under certain conditions, however, this learning may become pathological and may lead to double bind situations. As the cases of the |neurotic dog| and the |five star hotel| illustrate, double bind situations may induce stress and anxiety in organisational members.

Keywords: organisational knowledge; social construction; deutero-learning; double bind; organisational learning; behavioural interaction; communication; pathological learning; stress; anxiety.

DOI: 10.1504/IJKL.2010.038650

International Journal of Knowledge and Learning, 2010 Vol.6 No.4, pp.285 - 294

Published online: 17 Feb 2011 *

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