Organization Studies as Applied Science: The Generation and Use of Academic Knowledge about Organizations Introduction to the Special Issue

Abstract

The relationship between theory and practice has been discussed in the social sciences for generations. Academics from management and organization studies regularly lament the divide between theory and practice. They regret the insufficient academic knowledge of managerial problems and their solutions, and criticize the scholarly production of theories that are not relevant for organizational practice (Hambrick 1994). Despite the prevalence of this topic in academic discourse, we do not know much about what kind of academic knowledge would be useful to practice, how it would be produced and how the transfer of knowledge between theory and practice actually works. In short, we do not know how we can make academic work more relevant for practice or even whether this would be desirable. In this introduction to the Special Issue, we apply philosophical, theoretical and empirical perspectives to examine the challenges of studying the generation and use of academic knowledge. We then briefly describe the contribution of the seven papers that were selected for this Special Issue. Finally, we discuss issues that still need to be addressed, and make some proposals for future avenues of research.

Creating a Space for the Co-Existence of Multiple Knowledge Systems: Indigenous Knowledge in Academia

“…Linh-Chi Vo (2012:79) states that many theoreticians (Jarzabkowski, Mohrman & Scherer 2010;Wicks & Freeman 1998) believe that there are basically two main schools of thought that can be used to define the concept of knowledge. These are positivism and non-positivism perspectives and are discussed in the following section.…”

“…Positivist assumptions which permeate many academic disciplines advocate the notion that knowledge exists prior to and independently of knowing the subject (Chiva & Alegre 2005) and that knowledge precedes action and is distinguishable from action (Jarzabkowski et al 2010). Lambe (2003:315) observes that subjective influences such as emotions, personal experience and tradition are substituted by logic and reason.…”

Pragmatist Perspective on Knowledge and Knowledge Management in Organizations

“…It is assumed to be translatable into actions that help solve practical problems and advance organizational practice (Tranfield & Starkey, 1998). Seen from this perspective, knowledge precedes action and is distinguishable from action (Jarzabkowski et al, 2010).…”

“…They critique the positivist viewpoint that knowledge precedes action. The construction of knowledge is rooted in practice and the development of theory is a systematic extension of practice (Scherer & Steinmann, 1999in Jarzabkowski et al, 2010. We cannot know an independent, objective world that stands apart from our experience of that world (Avenir, 2010).…”

“…We can identify three main schools of thought about knowledge and knowledge management: positivism, non-positivism, and pluralistic perspective. Non-positivism includes constructivism, phenomenology, interpretivism, idealism, and hermeneutics (Jarzabkowski et al, 2010;Wicks & Freeman, 1998), but the name non-positivism is used here because the development of these paradigms has not come to a stable state (Avenir, 2010;Guba & Lincoln, 1994). Scholars in pluralistic perspective identify themselves in both positivist and non-positivist schools since they advocate a pluralistic epistemology.…”