Dialogue, Skill and Tacit Knowledge

by Goranzon, Bo; Ennals, Richard; Hammeron, Maria

• ISBN13: 9780470019214
• ISBN10: 0470019212
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-12-16
• Publisher: WILEY

Summary

Everyone in an organization, from cleaner to CEO, has expert knowledge. Yet only a fraction of it can be codified and expressed explicitly as facts and rules. A little more is visible implicitly as accepted procedures, but even this is only the beginning. Submerged beneath the explicit and implicit levels is a vast iceberg of tacit knowledge that cannot be reliably accessed by traditional analytical approaches. And yet, without it, organizational learning means little.Interweaving theory with practical guidance, this book looks at the importance of tacit knowledge and shows how it is now being put in motion through groundbreaking analogical thinking methods. Chief among these is the Dialogue Seminar, developed by the editors, in which learning is seen as arising from encounters with differences.There can be no consensus on the value of corporate knowledge until what is meant by that knowledge is discussed and defined. Based on two decades of research and a host of practical cases, this book offers a way forward."Göranzon argues that the question of whether machines can think is not the right question to ask. The more important question, he believes, is the impact of automation on work and human skills, and he is looking for a way of describing skills that allows us to discuss this question." -Janet Vaux, New Scientist"A Swedish initiave to rethink the relationship between learning and work." -Rolf Hughes, The Times Higher Education

Author Biography

Bo Göranzon
Professor, Skill and Technology, Industrial Economics and Management, Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm.
Artistic Director, the Dialogue Seminar, The Royal Dramatic Theatre, Stockholm.
Prof Göranzon is a well-published author with sixteen titles to his name. He has also published journals, research reports and essays.

Maria Hammarén
Researcher, writer, Skill and Technology, Industrial Economics and Management, Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm.

Richard Ennals
Professor at The Centre for Working Life Research, Kingston University, London.
Professor Ennals is a visiting Professor at The Royal Institute of Technology and the Swedish National Institute for Working Life in Stockholm.

Table of Contents

List of Contributors	ix
Introduction	1	(6)
Richard Ennals
PART 1 DIALOGUE AND SKILL	7	(60)
The Practice of the Use of Computers: A Paradoxical Encounter between Different Traditions of Knowledge	9	(13)
Bo Goranzon
Writing as a Method of Reflection	22	(24)
Maria Hammaren
The Dialogue Seminar as a Foundation for Research on Skill	46	(11)
Adrian Ratkic
The Methodology of the Dialogue Seminar	57	(10)
Bo Goranzon
Maria Hammaren
PART 2 THEATRE AND WORK	67	(18)
A Dwelling Place for Past and Living Voices, Passions and Characters	69	(4)
Erland Josephson
Theatre and Knowledge	73	(12)
Allan Janik
PART 3 CASE STUDIES	85	(102)
Dialogue Seminar as a Tool: Experience from Combitech Systems	87	(23)
Niclas Fock
Maximum Complexity	110	(25)
Christer Hoberg
Better Systems Engineering with Dialogue	135	(17)
Goran Backlund
Jan Sjunnesson
Some Aspects of Military Practices and Officers' Professional Skills	152	(23)
Peter Tillberg
Science and Art	175	(12)
Karl Duner
Lucas Ekeroth
Mats Hanson
PART 4 DIALOGUE SEMINAR AS REFLECTIVE PRACTICE	187	(80)
Tacit Knowledge and Risks	189	(14)
Bo Goranzon
Skill, Storytelling and Language: on Reflection as a Method	203	(13)
Maria Hammaren
Reading and Writing as Performing Arts: at Work	216	(13)
Oyvind Palshaugen
Knowledge and Reflective Practice	229	(14)
Kjell S. Johannessen
Dialogue, Depth, and Life Inside Responsive Orders: From External Observation to Participatory Understanding	243	(24)
John Shotter
PART 5 TACIT KNOWLEDGE AND LITERATURE	267	(38)
Rule Following, Intransitive Understanding and Tacit Knowledge: An Investigation of the Wittgensteinian Concept of Practice as Regards Tacit Knowing	269	(26)
Kjell S. Johannessen
Henrik Ibsen: Why We Need Him More Than Ever	295	(10)
Allan Janik
PART 6 CONCLUSIONS	305	(29)
Theatre and Workplace Actors	307	(13)
Richard Ennals
Training in Analogical Thinking: The Dialogue Seminar Method in Basic Education, Further Education and Graduate Studies	320	(14)
Bo Goranzon
Maria Hammaren
Adrian Ratkic
Index	334