Knowledge and learning (chapter 10)

Question 1

Michael Polanyi (1967)

Answer 1

Recognised the importance of the ‘tacit’ dimension of knowledge, which comes from personal experience rather than explicit knowledge such as facts and figures.

Question 2

David Kolb (1984)

Answer 2

Devised a learning cycle which demonstrated how knowledge is gained through a cycle of experience and reflection.

Question 3

Howard Gardner (1983)

Answer 3

Outlined a theory of multiple intelligences, whereby individuals exhibit different types of intelligence, such as logical, musical, or spatial.

Question 4

Ikujiro Nonaka (1995)

Answer 4

Suggested that a successful ‘knowledge creating company’ is adept at transforming tacit and explicit knowledge within its workforce.

Question 5

Chris Argyris and Donald Schon (1978)

Answer 5

Suggested that successful organisational learning is that which goes beyond ‘single loop’ to become ‘double loop’ learning.

Question 6

Peter Senge (1990)

Answer 6

Outlined a model of the key characteristics of the learning organisation. The organisation is seen in biological, evolutionary terms as a ‘complex organism’ that constantly adjusts in response to its changing environment.

Question 7

Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger (1991)

Answer 7

Noted the existence of communities of practice, and that social groups engage in learning a common area of knowledge and practice.

Question 8

Explicit knowledge

Answer 8

Knowledge which can be expressed to other people as a set of words, facts, diagrams, or instructions.

Question 9

Tacit knowledge

Answer 9

Knowledge which is personal, a form of second nature or knowing things ‘off by heart’ and which is difficult to explain to others.

Question 10

Experiential learning

Answer 10

Learning which comes from experiences and reflecting on those experiences.

Question 11

Learning styles

Answer 11

Ways in which different individuals approach learning and learn more effectively.

Question 12

Reflective practice

Answer 12

A form of professional development and training where workers reflect on actual workplace experiences and events.

Question 13

Organisational knowledge

Answer 13

Knowledge which is a collective property of an organisation rather than belonging to an individual.

Question 14

Organisational learning

Answer 14

Sharing and transferring knowledge so that it becomes the collective property of the organisation.

Question 15

Learning organisation

Answer 15

An organisation that is set up to facilitate continual learning at both individual and organisational levels.

Question 16

Experiential learning

Answer 16

Learning which comes from experiences and reflecting on those experiences.

Question 17

Surface learning

Answer 17

Learning a set of facts in themselves, possibly for a test/exam, rather than with any additional depth.

Question 18

Deep learning

Answer 18

Learning that tries to achieve a deeper understanding of, and engagement with, the material being learned.

Question 19

Learning styles

Answer 19

The different ways in which different individuals approach learning.

Question 20

Behavioural psychology/behaviourism

Answer 20

An area of psychology which suggests that learning can be managed through the use of rewards and punishments.

Question 21

Gestalt psychology

Answer 21

An area of psychology which suggests that we perceive things as forms, patterns, and connections rather than a set of discrete individual items.
(Kurt Lewin)

Question 22

Kolb’s learning cycle (1984)

Answer 22

A model of experiential learning which suggests that people learn through different stages of experience and reflection, and which suggests that people have particular learning style preferences for different parts of that cycle.

Question 23

The four stages of experience and reflection, according to Kolb’s learning cycle (1984):

Answer 23

1. concrete experience - doing/having an experience.
2. reflective observation - reflecting on the experience.
3. abstract conceptualisation - learning from the experience.
4. active experimentation - trying out what has been learned.

Question 24

Learning styles questionnaire (Honey, Mumford, 1992, 2006)

Answer 24

A development of Kolb, a questionnaire which ascertains people’s preferred learning styles.
Each of Kolb’s four stages is linked with one of four learning styles:
1. Having an experience = activist.
2. Reviewing = reflector.
3. Concluding = theorist.
4. Planning = pragmatist.
Honey and Mumford’s diagram also has an ‘escape route’ - they recognise that people sometimes change focus to start learning something different.

Question 25

Multiple intelligences (Gardner, 1983)

Answer 25

Gardner’s (1983) theory that there are different types of intelligence that people possess in different combinations: verbal/linguistic intelligence, musical intelligence, spatial intelligence, bodily/kinesthetic intelligence, logical/mathematical intelligence, interpersonal intelligence, intrapersonal intelligence.

Question 26

VARK model (Fleming, 2001)

Answer 26

A model and questionnaire which places individuals
into one of four preferred learning styles - visual, auditory, reading and writing, or kinesthetic.
Managers need to remember that people respond differently to different methods and materials.

Question 27

Deutero learning (Bateson, 1973)

Answer 27

Bateson’s conception of a higher level of learning whereby people are aware of how they’ll ‘learn to learn’.

Question 28

Banking education (Freire, 1970)

Answer 28

Friere’s critique of learning and teaching styles which see learners as being like bank accounts to be ‘deposited’ with amounts of knowledge. Such a type of education does not move past explicit knowledge and surface learning.

Question 29

Reflexivity

Answer 29

Where an individual is connected in some way to a text they are reading about or writing, rather than simply looking at a text to which they are completely disconnected.

Question 30

Management knowledge

Answer 30

Amanda Hay (2025) argues that with management knowledge, as with the knowledge of driving a car or learning a language, there is an amount of tacit knowledge that can only be learned through experience.

Question 31

Knowledge-intensive firms

Answer 31

Organisations whose main business involves the development and innovation of knowledge.

Question 32

Knowledge workers

Answer 32

Workers employed for their specific knowledge and their ability to use it to innovate and develop new ideas/products.

Question 33

Facets of organisational knowledge (Blackler, 1995)

Answer 33

Embrained (individual, explicit)
Embodied (individual, tacit)
Encultured (organisational, both tacit and explicit)
Embedded (organisational, both tacit and explicit)
Encoded (organisational, explicit)

For Blackler, knowledge is always changing and is located both within and among people.

Question 34

Single-loop learning (Argyris, Schon, 1978)

Answer 34

Learning in organisations which merely adapts to achieving a particular goal.

Question 35

Double-loop learning (Argyris, Schon, 1978)

Answer 35

Learning in organisations which goes beyond achieving a goal to question the assumptions behind the goal being set, and that questions assumptions, values, and strategies more widely in the organisation.

Question 36

Five characteristics of the learning organisation (Senge, 1990)

Answer 36

1. Personal mastery - enouragement of personal development and learning.
2. Mental models - people are open to new ideas and engage in higher levels of learning (double-loop).
3. Shared vision
4. Team learning
5. Systems thinking - seeing how you fit into ‘the bigger picture’.

Question 37

Criticism of the learning organisation

Answer 37

The vision of harmony, shared visions, and unhindered individual learning and development is often seen as unrealistic, naive, or ‘utopian’ (Coopey, 1998; Driver, 2002).

Three broad areas that prevent the learning organisation from being achievable (Driver, 2002):

1. The assumption of trust, open communication, and knowledge sharing ignores organisational politics (knowledge = power).
2. Assumes that people have the ability and desire to engage in constant learning (orientations to work, some people prefer unchallenging work).
3. The vision of a learning organisation relies on a strong shared culture, which can be seen as a form of control.

Question 38

Professional knowledge

Answer 38

A common body of knowledge relevant to a particular profession or occupation.

Question 39

Knowledge clusters

Answer 39

Geographical areas where a number of knowledge-intensive organisations in a particular industry are congregated in close proximity.

Question 40

Open source and online collaboration

Answer 40

A form of knowledge sharing and collaboration where computer code is made publicly available and developed collaboratively.
(e.g. similar to Wikipedia)

Question 41

Communities of practice (Lave, Wenger, 1991)

Answer 41

Social groupings based around a common occupational practice and knowledge set, who develop and share that knowledge among themselves. An organisation may consist of many communities of practice.

Question 42

Lyotard (1984)

Answer 42

Warned of the dangers of organisations being able to privately monopolise and hoard knowledge - suggested ‘freeing up’ the data banks of knowledge to make them publicly available.