Performativity and counter-performativity of a knowledge strategy discourse

CAHIER DE RECHERCHE n°2012-01 E1Performativity refers to the ability to "do things with words" (Austin, 1962). Latour (1996) suggested that management sciences are probably the most performative of all sciences as they design their objects. This piece of research asks what do strategy discourses "do" in an organization and how? Looking at the production, dissemination and consumption of a "knowledge strategy" in a multinational company, we explore how the knowledge strategy discourse and texts are interpreted, appropriated, transformed, and sometimes resisted in ways that influence their performative effect

Une petite histoire de gestion des connaissances : Les modalités d'appropriation d'un dispositif de gestion des connaissances

National audienc

A narrative framework for management ideas: Disclosing the plots of knowledge management in a multinational company

International audienceWe extend research on management ideas by providing a narrative framework for studying how management ideas are consumed. We dwell upon Certeau’s (1984) work on the practice of consumption and Ricœur’s (1983) concept of emplotment. Specifically, we study, over a 20-year time period, how Cement Inc., a multinational company, adopted and used knowledge management (KM) ideas and practices. We disclose the consumption of KM at Cement Inc. through four plots that provide an account not only in terms of adopting and using, but also in terms of organizational and individual experiences. We show that knowledge management ideas are co-consumed through multiple, iterative, continuous emplotments, unfolding at multiple levels across time, people and practices.We argue that our narrative framework makes two contributions. First, it provides an integrative view of the consumption of management ideas and proves a helpful device for making sense of an enormous amount of data. Second, it allows unity as well as multiplicity in analysis of the consumption process: one story is told from many different perspectives and results in broader understanding