Investigating the appropriateness of the theory of organisational knowledge creation as a management model for practice-led research
Abstract
This article explores ways in which current practice of conducting multipractitioner practiceled
research projects in the creative disciplines (Graphic Design, History of Art and Creative
Writing) at the North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, may benefit from the application
of a specific managerial theory which focuses on knowledge creation. To this end, the concepts
propounded in the theory of organisational knowledge creation, as conceptualised by Nonaka
and colleagues, are investigated and a number of compatible and complementary aspects
shared by this theory and practice-led research are highlighted. Guiding this article was the
argument that the conceptualisation of knowledge as a subjective and socially constructed
phenomenon is central to both this theory and research mode. Furthermore, I argue that an
integration of tacit and explicit knowledge provides for a holistic view of knowledge that would
not be possible if one were to view knowledge in reductively scientific terms. Consequently,
the transdisciplinary practice-based research project, Transgressions and boundaries of the page
is analysed in terms of the socialisation, externalisation, combination and internalisation
(SECI) knowledge conversion modes, which are the driving force, facilitating the move from
tacit to explicit knowledge by means of social interaction. The aim of the Transgressions and
boundaries of the page project was to create an exhibition of artists’ books, which would form
the beginning of a knowledge creation cycle. Forty artists were invited to create artists’ books
for exhibitions held in Stellenbosch, Potchefstroom and Johannesburg in 2010. Those artists
involved were selected from various fields of arts as well as related fields. It is concluded that
the utilisation of knowledge management in multipractitioner practice-led research projects
such as this one, within the creative disciplines at the North-West University, Potchefstroom
Campus, will facilitate a better understanding of knowledge management and will yield more
effective knowledge creation in that both tacit and explicit knowledge is utilised optimally
Collections
- Faculty of Humanities [2033]