The rhetoric of ‘knowledge hoarding’: a research-based critique

Purpose - Via a study of IT service professionals, this article responds to a recent trend towards reifying ‘knowledge hoarding’ for purposes of quantitative/deductive research. A ‘rhetorical theory’ lens is applied to reconsider ‘knowledge hoarding’ as a value-laden rhetoric that directs managers towards addressing assumed worker dysfunctionality. Design/methodology/approach - A qualitative study of practicing IT service professionals (assumed within IT service management ‘best practice’ to be inclined to hoard knowledge) was conducted over a 34 day period. 20 workers were closely observed processing IT service incidents and 26 workers were interviewed about knowledge sharing practices. Findings - The study found that the character of IT service practice is more one of pro-social collegiality in sharing knowledge/know-how than one of self-interested strategic knowledge concealment. Research limitations/implications - The study concerns a single occupational context. The study indicates that deductive research that reifies ‘knowledge hoarding’ as a naturally-occurring phenomenon is flawed, with clear implications for future research. Practical implications - The study suggests that management concern for productivity might be redirected away from addressing assumed knowledge hoarding behaviour and towards encouraging knowledge sharing via social interaction in the workplace. Originality/value - Previous studies have not directly examined the concept of knowledge hoarding using qualitative methods, nor have they considered it as a rhetorical device

The rhetoric of “knowledge hoarding”: a research-based critique

This paper was accepted for publication in the journal Journal of Knowledge Management and the definitive published version is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JKM-04-2017-0146Purpose - Via a study of IT service professionals, this article responds to a recent trend towards reifying ‘knowledge hoarding’ for purposes of quantitative/deductive research. A ‘rhetorical theory’ lens is applied to reconsider ‘knowledge hoarding’ as a value-laden rhetoric that directs managers towards addressing assumed worker dysfunctionality. Design/methodology/approach - A qualitative study of practicing IT service professionals (assumed within IT service management ‘best practice’ to be inclined to hoard knowledge) was conducted over a 34 day period. 20 workers were closely observed processing IT service incidents and 26 workers were interviewed about knowledge sharing practices. Findings - The study found that the character of IT service practice is more one of pro-social collegiality in sharing knowledge/know-how than one of self-interested strategic knowledge concealment. Research limitations/implications - The study concerns a single occupational context. The study indicates that deductive research that reifies ‘knowledge hoarding’ as a naturally-occurring phenomenon is flawed, with clear implications for future research. Practical implications - The study suggests that management concern for productivity might be redirected away from addressing assumed knowledge hoarding behaviour and towards encouraging knowledge sharing via social interaction in the workplace. Originality/value - Previous studies have not directly examined the concept of knowledge hoarding using qualitative methods, nor have they considered it as a rhetorical device

Some comments on the role of econometrics in economic theory

The basic tension facing econometricians is that structural models are necessary for addressing monetary policy questions. But all models are, by their very nature, false. Econometric programs that focus on testing whether models are true will be ignored by practicing macroeconomists. The critical task facing econometricians is to develop diagnostic tools for assessing the usefulness of models for addressing particular questions. This article reviews two diagnostic strategies.Econometrics ; Economics

A multi-layered approach to surfacing and analysing organisational narratives : increasing representational authenticity

This paper presents an integrated, multi-layered approach to narrative inquiry, elucidating the evolving story of organisational culture through its members and their physical, textual, linguistic and visual dialogue. A dynamic joint venture scenario within the UK hi-technology sector was explored to advance understanding of the impact of transformation level change, specifically its influence on shared belief systems, values and behavioural norms. STRIKE – STructured Interpretation of the Knowledge Environment is introduced as an innovative technique to support narrative inquiry, providing a structured, unobtrusive framework to observe, record, evaluate and articulate the organisational setting. A manifestation of narrative in physical dialogue is illuminated from which the underlying emotional narrative can be surfaced. Focus groups were conducted alongside STRIKE to acquire a first order retrospective and contemporaneous narrative of culture and enable cross-method triangulation. Attention was given to non-verbal signals such as Chronemic, Paralinguistic, Kinesic and Proxemic communication and participants were also afforded opportunities to develop creative output in order to optimise engagement. Photography was employed to enrich STRIKE observation and document focus group output, affording high evidential value whilst providing a frame of reference for reflection. These tools enable a multiplicity of perspectives on narrative as part of methological bricolage. Rich, nuanced and multi-textured understanding is developed, as well as the identification of connections, timbre and subjugated knowledge. A highly emotional and nostalgic context was established with actors’ sense of self strongly aligned with the pre-joint venture organisation and its brand values, norms and expectations. Credibility and authenticity of findings is enhanced through data triangulation indicating traceability across methods, and from the contextual preservation attained through STRIKE. The multi-layered approach presented can facilitate researcher reflexivity and sense-making, while for the audience, it may be employed to help communicate and connect research findings. In particular, STRIKE demonstrates utility, quality and efficacy as a design artefact following ex-post evaluation. This systematic method of narrative inquiry is suitable for standardisation and alongside a diagnostic/prescriptive capacity, affords both researcher and practictioner value in its application

The Medicalization of Nonhuman Animal Rights: Frame Contestation and the Exploitation of Disability

Nonhuman Animal rights activists are sometimes dismissed as ‘crazy’ or irrational by countermovements seeking to protect status quo social structures. Social movements themselves often utilize disability narratives in their claims-making as well. In this article, we argue that Nonhuman Animal exploitation and Nonhuman Animal rights activism are sometimes medicalized in frame disputes. The contestation over mental ability ultimately exploits humans with disabilities. The medicalization of Nonhuman Animal rights activism diminishes activists’ social justice claims, but the movement’s medicalization of Nonhuman Animal use unfairly otherizes its target population and treats disability identity as a pejorative. Utilizing a content analysis of major newspapers and anti-speciesist activist blogs published between 2009 and 2013, it is argued that disability has been incorporated into the tactical repertoires of the Nonhuman Animal rights movement and countermovements, becoming a site of frame contestation. The findings could have implications for a number of other social movements that also negatively utilize disability narratives

For a critique of neoliberal green economy a foucauldian perspective on ecological crisis and biomimicry

Este artículo pretende explorar cómo categorías foucaultianas como la biopolítica y la gubernamentalidad –tanto liberal como neoliberal– pueden arrojar nueva luz sobre las formaciones discursivas que en los últimos años han adquirido importancia, a saber, la economía verde y la biomimética. Mientras que el primero es un intento capitalista de incorporar el límite ambiental como nuevo terreno para la acumulación y la valorización, el último propone la imitación de los sistemas naturales para reducir los impactos ambientales negativos sin sacrificar el crecimiento económico. En suma, el artículo discute y critica las condiciones de posibilidad que permitieron que estas conceptualizaciones emergieran y funcionaran en las sociedades neoliberales contemporáneas.This article aims at exploring how Foucauldian categories such as biopolitics and governmentality – both liberal and neoliberal – can shed new light on discursive formations that have become mainstream in recent years, namely those of green economy and biomimicry. While the former is a capitalist attempt to incorporate the environmental limit as a new terrain for accumulation and valorization, the latter proposes the imitation of natural systems to reduce negative environmental impacts without sacrificing economic growth. Overall, the article discusses and criticizes the conditions of possibility that allowed these conceptualizations to emerge and function in contemporary neoliberal societies

Organizing the American domestic interior : 1978-2010

Over the past thirty years, organization has become one of the most popular ways to spend time and money on the home in the U.S. In part, this popularity and its attendant fixation on simplicity and stillness is a reaction to historical circumstances of the late twentieth century, in which consumption and time seem to have “sped up” as a result of the postindustrial economy. Situating home organization within the fields of American Studies, Design History, and Material Culture studies, this dissertation examines the contemporary preoccupation with organizing the domestic interior through five case studies: reality television shows about messy homes, the retail vendor The Container Store, Real Simple magazine, self-help books on de-cluttering, and interviews with professional organizers. Although its rhetoric and aesthetics seem to mimic the principles of design modernism, home organization is highly postmodern in its adoption of neoliberal values of self-improvement and its participation in an aestheticized landscape of consumer culture. Each case study in this dissertation exposes a number of tensions at the heart of the trend: home organization is a lucrative industry that relies on anxiety around overconsumption to sell products, often depending on corporate branding techniques that stress organization as an ongoing “lifestyle” of consumption; acknowledging gender inequity in domestic responsibility, home organization advice texts show women how to speed up, rather than delegate, housework, ultimately creating more work for women; de-cluttering manuals ask individuals to detach their sense of self-identity from their belongings, yet use the same principles to explain how editing objects results in the expression of one’s “true” self. Placing the discourse around clutter and order in the home within historical and cultural contexts, these case studies offer valuable insight into gender, middle-class culture, and the domestic interior at the turn of the twenty-first century.American Studie