Knowledge and learning (chapter 10) Flashcards
Michael Polanyi (1967)
Recognised the importance of the ‘tacit’ dimension of knowledge, which comes from personal experience rather than explicit knowledge such as facts and figures.
David Kolb (1984)
Devised a learning cycle which demonstrated how knowledge is gained through a cycle of experience and reflection.
Howard Gardner (1983)
Outlined a theory of multiple intelligences, whereby individuals exhibit different types of intelligence, such as logical, musical, or spatial.
Ikujiro Nonaka (1995)
Suggested that a successful ‘knowledge creating company’ is adept at transforming tacit and explicit knowledge within its workforce.
Chris Argyris and Donald Schon (1978)
Suggested that successful organisational learning is that which goes beyond ‘single loop’ to become ‘double loop’ learning.
Peter Senge (1990)
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.
Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger (1991)
Noted the existence of communities of practice, and that social groups engage in learning a common area of knowledge and practice.
Explicit knowledge
Knowledge which can be expressed to other people as a set of words, facts, diagrams, or instructions.
Tacit knowledge
Knowledge which is personal, a form of second nature or knowing things ‘off by heart’ and which is difficult to explain to others.
Experiential learning
Learning which comes from experiences and reflecting on those experiences.
Learning styles
Ways in which different individuals approach learning and learn more effectively.
Reflective practice
A form of professional development and training where workers reflect on actual workplace experiences and events.
Organisational knowledge
Knowledge which is a collective property of an organisation rather than belonging to an individual.
Organisational learning
Sharing and transferring knowledge so that it becomes the collective property of the organisation.
Learning organisation
An organisation that is set up to facilitate continual learning at both individual and organisational levels.
Experiential learning
Learning which comes from experiences and reflecting on those experiences.
Surface learning
Learning a set of facts in themselves, possibly for a test/exam, rather than with any additional depth.
Deep learning
Learning that tries to achieve a deeper understanding of, and engagement with, the material being learned.
Learning styles
The different ways in which different individuals approach learning.
Behavioural psychology/behaviourism
An area of psychology which suggests that learning can be managed through the use of rewards and punishments.
Gestalt psychology
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)
Kolb’s learning cycle (1984)
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.
The four stages of experience and reflection, according to Kolb’s learning cycle (1984):
- concrete experience - doing/having an experience.
- reflective observation - reflecting on the experience.
- abstract conceptualisation - learning from the experience.
- active experimentation - trying out what has been learned.
Learning styles questionnaire (Honey, Mumford, 1992, 2006)
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.
Multiple intelligences (Gardner, 1983)
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.
VARK model (Fleming, 2001)
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.
Deutero learning (Bateson, 1973)
Bateson’s conception of a higher level of learning whereby people are aware of how they’ll ‘learn to learn’.
Banking education (Freire, 1970)
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.
Reflexivity
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.
Management knowledge
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.
Knowledge-intensive firms
Organisations whose main business involves the development and innovation of knowledge.
Knowledge workers
Workers employed for their specific knowledge and their ability to use it to innovate and develop new ideas/products.
Facets of organisational knowledge (Blackler, 1995)
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.
Single-loop learning (Argyris, Schon, 1978)
Learning in organisations which merely adapts to achieving a particular goal.
Double-loop learning (Argyris, Schon, 1978)
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.
Five characteristics of the learning organisation (Senge, 1990)
- Personal mastery - enouragement of personal development and learning.
- Mental models - people are open to new ideas and engage in higher levels of learning (double-loop).
- Shared vision
- Team learning
- Systems thinking - seeing how you fit into ‘the bigger picture’.
Criticism of the learning organisation
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):
- The assumption of trust, open communication, and knowledge sharing ignores organisational politics (knowledge = power).
- Assumes that people have the ability and desire to engage in constant learning (orientations to work, some people prefer unchallenging work).
- The vision of a learning organisation relies on a strong shared culture, which can be seen as a form of control.
Professional knowledge
A common body of knowledge relevant to a particular profession or occupation.
Knowledge clusters
Geographical areas where a number of knowledge-intensive organisations in a particular industry are congregated in close proximity.
Open source and online collaboration
A form of knowledge sharing and collaboration where computer code is made publicly available and developed collaboratively.
(e.g. similar to Wikipedia)
Communities of practice (Lave, Wenger, 1991)
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.
Lyotard (1984)
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.
