On Social Knowledge and Its Empirical Investigation in Contemporary Organisations

The focus of knowledge management theories on codification and quantification and aspirations to manage knowledge in a similar manner to managing physical resources did not create a stable ground for knowledge management practices in organisations as was expected. Consequently, the theories of social knowledge work take the place of the theories of knowledge management and instead of simplifying they promise to address the issues of complexity. This paper presents a conceptual model of social knowledge – its observable characteristics and associated organisational processes – and aims to help in adopting and contextualising the new theories of knowledge work in organisational research and practice.