Knowledge Dynamics During Planning Practices

What are the dynamics of knowledge during planning practices? This research aims to analyze the nature of knowledge dynamics during planning practices. Pierre Bourdieu’s praxeology (1990, 2000) provides a fruitful framework to understand the role and the interactions between knowledge and practice. Habitus, a set of dispositions for action, offers a dynamic view of knowledge, which is permanently used, constructed and restructured during practice and for practice. This framework is mobilized through an empirical case study. Its highlights knowledge dynamics involved in planning practices: mapping the field, assigning value to practice, developing dispositions and building causal relationship on action.Bourdieu; Control; Habitus; Knowing; Learning

Knowledge Dynamics During Planning Practices

Ce papier analyse la dynamique des connaissances organisationnelles au cours de pratiques de planification. Il mobilise la notion d'habitus (Bourdieu 1990, 2000) et propose une phase empirique qualitative.Apprentissage organisationnel ; Connaissances ; Contrôle ; Planification ; Pratique

A Bourdieusian Perspective on Strategizing

The use and the study of ‘practice’ has been widely developed in organization and strategic management research as an intermediary level of analysis between individuals, organizations, market fields and institutions. Bourdieu’s work has been largely mobilized in these studies, particularly within the attempt to define practice, for example by Jarzabkowski (2004), Johnson et al. (2003), Whittington (1996, 2006), Chia and Holt (2006). However, as asserted by Chia (2004), “advocates of practice-based approaches to strategy research may have underestimated the radical implications of the work of practice social theorists such as Bourdieu […] who they rely upon to justify this turn to practice” (Chia 2004: 30). Yet, authors mainly base on the characteristics of practice and on the relation between practice and habitus to understand how individuals develop their practical capacity to strategizing, but they mainly remain at a descriptive stage. They do not take into account the complete possibilities of the framework, mainly because they neglect the concept of field, which is nevertheless essential to understand the link between individuals and action. As Bourdieu puts it, “the ‘subject’ of what is sometimes called ‘company policy’ is quite simply the field of the firm or, put it more precisely, the structure of the relation of force between the different agents that belong to the firm”(Bourdieu 2005: 69). This highlights the struggling nature of strategy as a practice, a struggle for power, a political fight over time between agents. The aim of this paper is to propose a comprehensive perspective on practice by taking into consideration the core notions of field and habitus. I propose to consider strategizing as a practice. This emphasizes the ‘doing’ of multiple agents; the embodied and tacit aspects; the symbolic violence and power issues at stake. As a consequence, strategizing refers to the practice of motivated agents engaged in struggles and to account more completely for the relation of forces (and their development) between them.Bourdieu; Domination; Field; Habitus; Managers; Practice; Strategy

The Social Dimensions of Idea Work in Haute Cuisine: A Bourdieusian Perspective

This paper analyzes idea work in haute cuisine through three case studies. Mobilizing Bourdieu’s praxeology, we consider idea work as a practice, an activity that takes sense and meaning in the social world. Thus, idea work reflects the position of the agent in the field and the struggles to maintain or improve this position. In grand restaurants, the chefs play a key role in idea work, even if they involve other people. Idea work is rooted in their personal experience, but is also shaped by the restaurant’ style and haute cuisine rules. Idea work relates to chefs’ reflection as well as emotions and feelings.Bourdieu; Creativity; Field; Habitus; Haute Cuisine; Gastronomy; Practice

Unpacking Knowing Integration: A Practice-based Study in Haute Cuisine

Within a practice-based approach of organizations, we explore the knowing integration phenomena at the roots of competitive advantage. While former knowing integration studies have pointed to the importance of boundary objects across occupational communities, knowing integration inside a community to ground competitive advantage remains to be explored. How do individuals integrate their knowing in practice, in complex and important situations in order to contribute to competitive advantage for the firm? We ground our analysis on the ethnographic study of performed tasks in new dishes creation in two gourmet restaurants. We trace individual knowing in this creation to highlight how a new dish emerges from knowing integration, based on our understanding of knowing as processual, social, and situated. We propose a model of knowing integration as a combination of three phenomena: comprehending, interpreting and explicitating. We show that integration leads to the development of new dishes while knowing remains largely individual. We therefore suggest that there exists a clear distinction between knowing integration and knowledge sharing or transfer. We also contribute to a clearer delineation between integration and explicitation, the latter being only one and secondary means to achieve the former. Our study advances practice-based studies of organizations by highlighting the central role of integration in knowing dynamics and by bridging micro and macro perspectives on practice.Combination; Competitive Advantage; Integration; Knowledge; Learning; Restaurants; Transfer

The Social Dimensions of Idea Work in Haute Cuisine: A Bourdieusian Perspective

Nous proposons de définir la production d'idées comme une pratique, c'est-à-dire comme une activité qui prend son sens et sa valeur dans un contexte social, pour analyser le travail créatif dans les cuisines de trois grands restaurants.Créativité ; Gastronomie ; Idées ; Pratique

Unpacking Knowing Integration: A Practice-based Study in Haute Cuisine

Nous proposons d'analyser l'intégration des connaissances à la source d'un avantage concurrentiel avec une approche pratique des organisations. Alors que la littérature s'est focalisée sur le transfert de connaissances et les relations entre communautés par le biais des objets frontière, nous considérons les relations intra-communauté et la façon dont les acteurs mobilisent, restructurent et créent des connaissances pour l'action. Dans une perspective pratique, la dynamique des connaissances est un phénomène situé dans un contexte social donné. Nous nous appuyons sur une phase empirique qualitative, par l'analyse de l'intégration des connaissances lors de la création de nouveaux plats au sein des équipes de cuisiniers de restaurants tri-étoilés.Apprentissage ; Avantage concurrentiel ; Connaissance ; Créativité ; Gastronomie ; Integration ; Transfert

Organisation professionnelle : la gestion des compétences clés dans les Grands Restaurants.

Pourquoi le meilleur des apprentis ne parviendra-t-il jamais exactement au même niveau de maîtrise que son maître ? La question de l’application et du transfert des compétences est essentielle pour beaucoup d’organisations. Dans les organisations qualifiées de « professionnelles », cette question est véritablement fondamentale, d’autant plus que les compétences clés sont entre les mains d’un nombre restreint d’acteurs, parfois même d’un ou deux individus seulement. C’est le cas dans les grands restaurants, où le problème de la nature des compétences du chef, de son second et du reste de son équipe, est central. Dans ces restaurants, dirigés par des chefs au talent internationalement réputé, les caractéristiques des organisations professionnelles sont exacerbées. Ainsi, il existe un très petit nombre de ces restaurants. La qualité exceptionnelle de leur cuisine est un indicateur de la rareté des compétences au sein du secteur. Ces restaurants présentent des niveaux d’excellence comparables mais leur cuisine sera toujours différente : deux chefs, deux cuisines. Enfin, Ces différences reposent sur les compétences distinctives d’un homme, le chef. Cette communication présente les premiers résultats d'un projet de recherche plus large autour des compétences dans les grands restaurants français (soit la vingtaine d’établissements ayant trois étoiles au guide Michelin). Dans un premier temps, nous présentons notre projet de recherche global (centré autour de l’identification des compétences, leur dynamique et la création collective de valeur autour de compétences personnelles) et notre méthodologie qui s’appuie essentiellement sur des entretiens directs, des observations en cuisine et des données secondaires. Puis, nous identifions les compétences au travers de l’analyse d’un cas, en différenciant les compétences du chef, de son second, et des autres cuisiniers. Nous caractérisons les compétences spécifiques du chef et analysons leur coordination avec les compétences des autres cuisiniers ainsi que leur intégration dans l’activité collective.Compétence; Connaissance; Organisation Professionnelle; Savoir;

Keys to successful implementation of a French national quality indicator in health care organizations: a qualitative study

International audienceBackground: Several countries have launched public reporting systems based on quality indicators (QIs) to increase transparency and improve quality in health care organizations (HCOs). However, a prerequisite to quality improvement is successful local QI implementation. The aim of this study was to explore the pathway through which a mandatory QI of the French national public reporting system, namely the quality of the anesthesia file (QAF), was put into practice