Modes of Knowing in Practice: The Relationship between Knowledge and Learning Revisited

The emphasis placed in recent years on knowledge and learning as the new sources of wealth (Badaracco, 1991; Drucker, 1993; Sveiby, 1997; Boisot, 1998) has led to a preoccupation with ways in which knowledge and learning can be ‘managed’ so that their contribution to organizational performance can be best predicted and achieved. This preoccupation has resulted in knowledge and learning’s being treated like entities to be manipulated at will. Moreover, as a result of this preoccupation, the attention has shifted more towards the outcome of learning and knowledge, away from the process of learning and knowing itself. The ongoing challenge in knowledge management debates remains the need to identify ways we can better understand the dynamic nature of knowing in action. Although practice-based approaches (Bourdieu, 1980; Orlikowski, 1992; Turner, 1994; Gherardi, 2000) have enabled us to capture some of the forces which shape the nature of knowing, we have yet to fully understand how knowing is put into practice. This chapter contributes to this debate and argues that a better understanding of the relationship between learning and knowledge can provide valuable insights into knowing in practice.