Open AccessFormalizing Knowledge Creation in Inventive Project Groups. The Malleability of Formal Work Methods
Author(s) -
Arne Prahl
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
outlines/critical social studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1904-0210
pISSN - 1399-5510
DOI - 10.7146/ocps.v5i2.2153
Subject(s) - improvisation , artifact (error) , computer science , knowledge management , frame (networking) , interpretation (philosophy) , meaning (existential) , action (physics) , theory , empirical research , relation (database) , bridge (graph theory) , work (physics) , epistemology , management science , artificial intelligence , art , telecommunications , mechanical engineering , philosophy , physics , quantum mechanics , database , engineering , visual arts , programming language , medicine , economics
This paper investigates how participants in cross-functional project groups use a formal work method in their sense making when dealing with the complexity of innovative work, especially in its inventive phase. The empirical basis of the paper is a prospective case study in which three project groups in three different companies are followed as they try to frame and solve their innovation tasks consisting in problems of a relatively general and vague character. The data are analyzed by means of a modified version of the principles of grounded theory. This means that the lessons drawn from the empirical data are guided by a relational sense making perspective in which the formal method used by the participants is seen as a technological artifact. Among the lessons learned by using this frame of reference are that a formal method may be seen as an entity with a meaning depending on the relations it is embedded in; as an enacted cue for interpretation and action; and as a non-human actor. Compared to the tradition of organizational development, these lessons represent an alternative conception of the implementation of a work method and illuminate prevailing notions about the importance of improvisation in innovation.