Visualizing Knowledge in Project-Based Work
Introduction
Traditionally, knowledge has been viewed as something that can be captured, codified and transferred.1 However, in the recent literature on organizational knowledge and learning an alternative ‘practice-based’ view is proposed, where tacit and codified knowledge are seen as inseparable, and knowledge is understood as emergent, developed through interactions between people and objects.2 Our work builds on this latter perspective, focusing on the role of a particular class of objects – visual representations. These have particular characteristics as they are made to convey meaning. They provide a ‘holding ground’ for different types of practitioner knowledge and are often changed and evolved as knowledge develops.3
With the widespread adoption of project-based forms of organization there is a pressing need to deepen our understanding of how knowledge is developed and evolved within projects, and how that knowledge and the associated learning is shared across projects. This article explores the roles that visual representations play through a detailed qualitative study of project-based work in two contrasting settings: a capital goods manufacturer (which we have given the pseudonym HighTech) and an architectural design practice, Edward Cullinan Architects (ECA). The overall question that guides our work is: How are visual practices used to manage knowledge in project-based work? We approached our data with a number of related questions: What kinds of visual representations are used in the project-based work? What is the focus of visual practice (i.e. what is made visible and what remains invisible)? Who ‘owns’ the different visual representations? What are the patterns of interaction with the visual material?
Recent interest in strategizing and organizing as practical activities draw attention to the hands-on crafting work that undertaken by the practicing manager, and highlights the power of deliberately using objects or symbolic artefacts in strategizing and planning activities.4 Our empirical work shows ways in which visual representations become mobilised as objects in practical activities and draws out the implications of their use for managing through projects. Through an analysis of the findings we develop and ground the argument that visual tools can help project teams to step between exploration and exploitation within a project, bringing into view new connections with organizations, communities and networks across project boundaries. The next section describes practice-based approaches to knowledge, in which interactions with objects (such as visual representations) are seen as important in knowledge development and learning. The next section outlines the literature on project-based learning and innovation, which identifies the challenges associated with learning through projects in various contexts. The following sections give details of the two cases that are the focus of empirical work, and then describe our findings, which show the important roles visual materials play in project-based work. Here we explain how the nature of these practices is markedly different in the two setting, and articulate the types of representations, the foci of attention and the patterns of interaction that are involved. Finally, the practical implications of the work for both managers and researchers are drawn out.
Section snippets
Practice-based approaches to knowledge
Practice-based approaches to knowledge view it as a social accomplishment, situated in ongoing interactions between people and objects. Through these interactions the meaning of words, actions, situations and material artefacts are negotiated. Learning takes the form of a ‘conversation with materials’, involving interactions with an object that may itself be changed and reconfigured as part of this knowledge work, and it also involves story-telling and conversation between people and groups. It
Project based learning and innovation
Recent interest in project-based learning and innovation is challenging the dominant view of projects as fast and flexible ways of organizing knowledge resources.19 Rather, it shows how the episodic nature of projects can lead to the loss of knowledge as teams disband and go onto other projects, and highlights the dangers of disjuncture between the project and the wider context of organizations, communities and networks in and through which projects operate.20 This leads to questions about how
Our empirical study
We use design as a context for studying knowledge and learning in project-based work because new product development has been discussed as one of the most knowledge-intensive and dynamic processes in business.26 The two cases we study, HighTech and ECA, represent different kinds of project-based settings, within which work addresses contrasting kinds of design. HighTech (a pseudonym) is the UK division of a global high-tech equipment manufacturing firm, where the emphasis of project-based work
Findings: visual representations and design problems
The data suggests that visual practices play an important role in the project-based work of both firms. Exhibit 1 illustrates similar types of visual practices observed in the two settings, where project progress is being presented and explained, and work-in-progress is being discussed by the teams.
Analysing the data from each case we found that visual practices provided a bridge between project work and wider organizational processes. In both firms, multiple projects are being worked on and
Acknowledgement
We would like to thank the LRP editor and the Special Issue editors for their formative suggestions, guidance and encouragement in developing this article. The authors also gratefully acknowledge the support of the UK's ESRC under the Evolution of Business Knowledge (EBK) program, award no. RES-334-25-0007, and the support of the UK's EPSRC through the Innovative Manufacturing Research Centre, BEIC, held at the Tanaka Business School, Imperial College London. We would like to thank Jon Sapsed
Jennifer Whyte is Reader in Innovation and Design at the University of Reading, having previously been a Senior Research Fellow at the Tanaka Business School, Imperial College London, UK. Her research covers the fields of design, visualization, technologies and organization, and involves in-depth qualitative studies that explore decision-making processes within firms. She has a particular interest in engineering, architecture and construction contexts. School of Construction Management and
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Jennifer Whyte is Reader in Innovation and Design at the University of Reading, having previously been a Senior Research Fellow at the Tanaka Business School, Imperial College London, UK. Her research covers the fields of design, visualization, technologies and organization, and involves in-depth qualitative studies that explore decision-making processes within firms. She has a particular interest in engineering, architecture and construction contexts. School of Construction Management and Engineering, Whiteknights, PO Box 219, Reading, RG6 6AW UK tel: 0118 378 5228 e-mail: [email protected]
Boris Ewenstein is a consultant in the Berlin office of McKinsey & Company, having completed this research while working as a Research Associate at the Tanaka Business School, Imperial College London. His research interests include the epistemology of organizational knowledge and knowing, reflexivity theory and the sociology of formal and informal learning processes. McKinsey & Company Inc, Kurfürstendamm 185, 10707 Berlin Germany tel: +49 30 8845-2402 e-mail: [email protected]
Michael Hales is a Visiting Senior Research Fellow at SPRU (Science and Technology Policy Research) at the University of Sussex. His research interests centre on the contributions made by artefacts (notably representational artefacts and representational technologies) in knowledge work, design and management, interpreted to include activity by ‘ordinary’ members of organizations. SPRU (Science and Technology Policy Research), The Freeman Centre, University of Sussex, East Sussex BN1 9QE UK tel: 01273 324 650; email: [email protected];
Joe Tidd is Professor of Technology and Innovation Management at SPRU (Science & Technology Policy Research), University of Sussex, UK. He has worked for the CBI (Confederation of British Industry), is Managing Editor of the International Journal of Innovation Management, and author of six books and more than sixty papers, including Meeting the Innovation Challenge (Wiley, 2006). SPRU (Science and Technology Policy Research), The Freeman Centre, University of Sussex, East Sussex BN1 9QE UK tel: (01273) 877160 e-mail: [email protected]