An investigation of epistemological concept of practical knowledge within service organization
The literature of knowledge and practice is both extensive and rapidly growing. While this is a positive situation within which to understand the idea of practical knowledge, but there is still confusion regarding the role and complementary, and/or contradiction of the concept and theories. There...
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| Format: | Conference or Workshop Item |
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| Online Access: | http://eprints.uthm.edu.my/3400/ http://eprints.uthm.edu.my/3400/1/MGT053.pdf |
| Summary: | The literature of knowledge and practice is both extensive and rapidly growing. While this is a
positive situation within which to understand the idea of practical knowledge, but there is still confusion
regarding the role and complementary, and/or contradiction of the concept and theories. There are three
shortcomings have been identified. First, there is no agreement has yet been reached about which theory
of practice is best used in which specific situation despite the existence of many theories of
practice(Argyris & Schön, 1978; Bourdieu, 1977; Garfinkel, 1967; Giddens, 1984; Raelin, 2000). Second,
even though there are many practice types, there is still no agreement as to which theory of practice is
congruent with what types of practice. Finally, while important work has been undertaken within the area
of practical knowledge in terms of the related concepts and theories for both nursing and management, no
communication of practical knowledge has occurred between these fields. Hence, the goal of this paper is
to close these gaps and to propose a better understanding of the main conceptual dimensions and concepts
of practical knowledge. The analysis of the literatures have come out with the idea that practical
knowledge is derived from years of experience, without reference to whether the person has formal or
informal theoretical knowledge. It also appears that practical knowledge is dependent on a specific
context, and resulted by mixing or combining knowledge with practice and the action elements. Thus,
practical knowledge also brings together the explicit and the tacit practice dimensions into the
epistemological concept (Polanyi, 1966, 1983). To conclude, practical knowledge is a knowledgeable
action skill that is deep-rooted in the mind and physical body, and practiced in everyday life of an
individual, in a specific situation. |
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