Knowledge and organisations: review of three challenges to the conventional logic and a philosophical agenda for future research

In this paper, I bring together three modes of understanding knowledge and its construction in the organisational context that emerged out of the critique of the conventional view promulgated, in particular, by strategic management literature (e.g. Grant, 1996; Kogut & Zander, 1992, 2003; Teece, Pisano & Shuen, 1997). Drawing on their core concepts I label them ‘tacit-explicit continuum’, ‘communities of practice’ and ‘interrelated practices’, respectively. Despite their shared origin, their relationship over the years has become increasingly distant and in some cases even antagonistic. Plurality has been replaced by factionalism that undermines the overall critical effort. I propose that rather than perpetuating such state of affairs we theorise from the dissonance between the three traditions and set out an abductive philosophical research agenda that will enable it.