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Complex Knowledge: Studies in Organizational Epistemology »

Book cover image of Complex Knowledge: Studies in Organizational Epistemology by Haridimos Tsoukas

Authors: Haridimos Tsoukas
ISBN-13: 9780199275571, ISBN-10: 0199275572
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Date Published: January 2005
Edition: (Non-applicable)

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Author Biography: Haridimos Tsoukas

Haridimos Tsoukas is the George D. Mavros Research Professor of Organization and Management at ALBA in Greece, and Professor of Organization Theory and Behaviour at the University of Strathclyde Graduate School of Business, UK. Previous positions held include Lecturer at Warwick Business School (1990-5), and Associate Professor at the University of Cyprus.

Book Synopsis

Tsoukas (organizational studies, U. of Warwick, UK) presents a collection of previously-published essays and conference presentations which he wrote or co-authored during the past decade. The text employs Gregory Bateson's view of epistemology to examine the notion of organizational knowledge. Coverage includes the different forms of organizational knowledge and the forms of life in which they are embedded; the nature of tacit knowledge; the limitations of a purely information-based understanding of knowledge; the implications for organizations when the latter are seen as makers of knowledge claims put forward for public adoption; the problems of a Cartesian understanding of knowledge; aspects of organizational complexity; and meta-theoretical issues in organizational and management research. For academics, researchers, and students of knowledge management, organization studies, management studies, strategic management, and applied epistemology. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Table of Contents

Introduction : Professor Bleent, the Floon Beetle, and organizational epistemology1
1The tyranny of light : the temptations and the paradoxes of the information society13
2David and Goliath in the risk society : making sense of the conflict between Shell and Greenpeace in the North Sea39
3Forms of knowledge and forms of life in organized contexts69
4The firm as a distributed knowledge system : a constructionist approach94
5What is organizational knowledge?117
6Do we really understand tacit knowledge?141
7Understanding social reforms : a conceptual analysis165
8On organizational becoming : rethinking organizational change181
9Chaos, complexity, and organization theory210
10Complex thinking, complex practice : the case for a narrative approach to organizational complexity230
11What is organizational foresight and how can it be developed?263
12Noisy organizations : uncertainty, complexity, narrativity280
13Refining common sense : types of knowledge in management studies299
14The practice of theory : a knowledge-based view of theory development in organization studies321
15The conduct of strategy research : meta-theoretical issues340
16New times, fresh challenges : reflections on the past and the future of organization theory378

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