Kaleidoscopes of Reality

2014 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-20
Author(s):  
Sharon Franquemont

This article addresses the broad context of shifting definitions of how knowledge and reality can be described, including the transition from positivism to postpositivism in the 20th century. It provides an exploration of ways of knowing, from ancient Greek and yogic traditions to Barbara Carper’s Fundamental Patterns of Knowing in Nursing (1978). It examines three reported components of modern care (intuition, cultural knowing, and spirituality) which are simultaneously present and absent in nursing. It concludes with an imaginative exploration of how nursing might be changed by transdisciplinary scholarship and education, new knowledge creation through interactive online communities, and the emergence of collective wisdom.

2014 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 114-143
Author(s):  
Gabriel Crumpei ◽  
Maricel Agop ◽  
Alina Gavriluţ ◽  
Irina Crumpei

Abstract In this paper, we aim at an exercise that is transdisciplinary, involving science and religion, and interdisciplinary, involving disciplines and theories which appeared in the second half of the 20th century (e.g., topology, chaos theory, fractal geometry, non-linear dynamics, all of which can be found in the theory of complex systems). The latter required the reformulation of quantum mechanics theories starting with the beginning of the century, based on the substance-energy-information triangle. We focus on information and we also attempt a transdisciplinary approach to the imaginary from a psychological - physical - mathematical perspective, but the religious perspectives find their place along with the philosophical or even philological vision


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tibor Mandják ◽  
Zsuzsanna Szalkai ◽  
Erika Hlédik ◽  
Edit Neumann-Bódi ◽  
Mária Magyar ◽  
...  

Purpose The main goal of the paper is to describe the knowledge interconnection process embedded in an interactive business relationship. The purpose of this study is to understand the knowledge interconnection inside the supplier-buyer relationship in the field of contract manufacturing. The knowledge interconnection process is defined by the authors as a process linked to business relationships, which contains different types of knowledge and various sub-processes related to them. Design/methodology/approach The Industrial Marketing and Purchasing Group (IMP) research framework has been applied and the contribution is a better understanding of the role of knowledge in the interactive business world. The empirical evidence is based on a case study of a Hungarian contract manufacturing company. This paper describes empirical, qualitative research about knowledge interconnection processes applying an abductive research design. Findings The knowledge interconnection process is linked to business relationships. It is a complex process, which contains three types of knowledge and five sub-processes. The knowledge evolution indicates the links between the different types of knowledge. The sub-processes relate to different types of knowledge and allow the flow of knowledge between the supplier and the buyer. In the business relationship, this flow of knowledge makes possible the new knowledge creation. A model of the knowledge interconnection process has been developed. Research limitations/implications Single case studies can create rich descriptions of complex phenomena, but the possibility for generalization is limited. Another limitation is that the knowledge interconnection process has been studied only from the supplier’s perspective. The present research extends IMP’s knowledge of embedded knowledge. In addition, empirical research contributes to the emerging field of IMP research that explores knowledge as a resource but lacks an empirical foundation. Practical implications The knowledge interconnection process is a decisive factor in the development and maintenance of long-term customer relations in the field of contract manufacturing. The evolution of knowledge types – from the body of knowledge to knowledge in use – demands the management of different sub-processes. Knowledge selection, knowledge recombination, knowledge mobilization and new knowledge creation processes are more strongly related to the supplier-customer dyad, while the knowledge relocation process has a network character. The knowledge interconnection process influences the company’s body of knowledge and its relationship management capability. Originality/value The originality of the study is, on the one hand, an empirical examination of the process of knowledge interconnection. On the other hand, the development of a model of the knowledge interconnection process. A further feature is that empirical research has been conducted in the field of contract manufacturing.


Author(s):  
Bolanle A. Olaniran ◽  
Oladayo Olaniran ◽  
David Edgell

Knowledge construction, or new knowledge creation, is believed to be a way to allow learners to gain an in-depth knowledge and a greater control over the materials they are learning. E-learning technology platforms, that facilitate e-collaboration among learners, represent a way to foster knowledge construction. This chapter however, explores challenges facing knowledge construction especially when looking at “Culture” and how it affects two different learning philosophies or paradigms. This chapter elucidates some of the challenges and offers a new direction for accommodating different learners’ needs.


Author(s):  
Eng K. Chew ◽  
Petter Gottschalk

As described in Chapter X, fundamental to the company’s innovation capabilities is the level of collaboration and knowledge management capabilities available to support the innovation process. The ability of an organization to identify, acquire, and utilize external knowledge, known as knowledge absorption, can be critical to the firm’s operational success (Adams, Bessant, & Phelps, 2006). A survey by Adams et al. (2006) shows that three areas of knowledge management are critical for innovation management: idea generation, knowledge repository (including the management of tacit and explicit knowledge), and information flows (including information gathering and networking). Further they note that several researchers have found that the firm’s ability to “absorb and put to use new knowledge,” known as knowledge “absorptive capacity,” has direct impact on the firm’s innovation and performance (Chen, 2004; Tsai, 2001). Popadiuk and Choo (2006) have further shown that innovation and knowledge creation are related. Innovation is a result of knowledge creation. Innovation is related to the firm’s ability to combine new knowledge with existing knowledge to create new knowledge that is unique to the firm. It is also related to the firm’s ability to diffuse knowledge throughout the organization so that the organization as a whole increases its absorptive capacity. Knowledge diffusion can be facilitated by IT infrastructure and knowledge management system. Knowledge management is aimed at leveraging internal and external knowledge to create value from the firm’s intangible assets. According to Metaxiotis and Psarras (2006), knowledge management contributes to value creation by enhancing: intellectual asset management, operational efficiency, customer and competitor intelligence, continuous improvement, organizational learning, innovation in products and services, and time to market. They report of findings from American Productivity and Quality Center that greater emphasis should be made by firms on “using knowledge management to become more efficient innovators.” To leverage knowledge management for business innovation, IT managers must first understand the basic principles, theories, and practices of knowledge management. Next, they must understand how knowledge management will contribute to innovation. This chapter aims to address both topics to help make IT managers become the IT innovators.


2004 ◽  
Vol 03 (04) ◽  
pp. 297-316
Author(s):  
Lisa Soon ◽  
Yi-Ping Phoebe Chen ◽  
Alan Underwood

In this research, we investigate how knowledge in the export trading industry is created. Prior research focuses on general businesses in local market environment. This research specifically focuses on export trading with overseas market needs. These needs require attention to different types of control and requirements beyond that of a local market. In this paper, Nonaka et al.'s theory of organizational knowledge creation is explored. We specifically examine the processes of knowledge creation through four modes of knowledge conversion. Empirical investigations in export trading organizations are conducted. We examine how export firms obtain new knowledge for innovations based on collective knowledge being used in export trading. The findings indicate that the knowledge management processes in export firms allow for the creation of new knowledge. The collective knowledge (from groups and individuals) forms a basis for innovations and competitive intelligence. This collective knowledge also creates foresight, insight and hindsight in the export trading context.


2010 ◽  
Vol 09 (02) ◽  
pp. 119-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomoyoshi Yamazaki ◽  
Katsuhiro Umemoto

Healthcare is a knowledge-intensive service provided by professionals, such as medical doctors, nurses, and pharmacists. Clinical-pathways are used by many healthcare organisations (HCOs) as a tool for performing the healthcare process, sharing and utilising knowledge from different professionals. In this paper, case studies were performed at two HCOs that use clinical-pathways actively in the healthcare process. Theoretical model construction, sharing, utilisation, and creation of the knowledge by different professionals, were tested by the case study of two HCOs which use clinical pathways actively. The theoretical model was a knowledge creation model which creates new knowledge continuously. In this theoretical model, clinical-pathways are suggested to be an effective tool for knowledge management in healthcare.


Sociology ◽  
2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Prabhdeep Singh Kehal ◽  
Laura Garbes ◽  
Michael D. Kennedy

This bibliography curates scholarship around understandings people identify as knowledges—their production and legitimating institutions and their experiences and embodiments, with an emphasis on those excluded from the canonizations of knowledge. This “knowledge cultural sociology” (KCS) recognizes the importance of the Mannheimian tradition, and its extensions, that explains how social relations and positions shape the articulations and validations of knowledge. However, KCS also situates knowledge within systems beyond those who produce and consume it. KCS views knowledge as itself necessarily contested, as struggles over its qualities reflect social locations and articulate social practices. KCS works to understand how knowledges’ symbols, schemas, institutions, and networks shape the terms of social reproduction and transformations; as such, it demands consideration of different kinds of knowledge cultural products and modes of communication. KCS is thus necessarily grounded in the question of what constitutes knowledge, and for whom and with what interests and expectations. This KCS intervention focuses on 21st-century work. This decision aims to engage scholarship that extends and challenges a 20th-century canon, including works from the 20th century signals scholarship yearning for expansion. The bibliography is not comprehensive, though it marks how knowledge is valued and ignored. To focus on this century and move beyond sociology allows engagement with ways of knowing and being that sociology has historically minoritized, moving consideration to structures and processes validating some kinds of knowledge over others. KCS is not canonization, but works toward liberation, toward a knowledge activism mobilizing knowledge in consequential public ways alongside more familiar scholarly ambitions. KCS seeks to move scholarship beyond familiar networks and self-reproducing knowledge hierarchies grounded in race, gender, sexuality, religion, and world region. It seeks to move dialogue beyond familiar self-referential walls and identify new and ignored ideas, meanings, references, and authorities for constituting knowledges of consequence, reframing contests along the way. For example, instead of asking how excellence and diversity can be combined in knowledge production, KCS asks instead what anti-racist knowledge excellence looks like. Given the politics of epistemology, accounts of epistemology ought to foreground the contexts and power relations in which those sensibilities are formed and communicated; thus, the references below move generally from concept to context. Likewise, sections moving toward global, postsocialist, and postcolonial discussions inform ontologies and epistemologies organizing scholarly work and public consequence. But this begins with what might be identified, in this entry at least, as the greatest hits of KCS.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 63-80
Author(s):  
Ian M McGregor ◽  
Hilary Yerbury ◽  
Ahmed Shahid

The contributions of small local non-government organisations (NGOs) in countries at risk from climate change to knowledge creation and action on climate change are rarely considered. This study sought to remedy this by focusing on NGOs in member countries of the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF). Analysing data from Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs), NGO websites and email correspondence with NGO staff through a knowledge brokering typology, this study examines the ways in which local NGOs in five members of the CVF (Afghanistan, Bhutan, Kiribati, Nepal and Tuvalu) take action, generate new knowledge and understandings and contribute to the plans and actions of their government and the international community. The study found that local NGOs are involved in the creation of new knowledge both at the scientific and community level and engage in actions to support adaptation to climate change. However, there are differences in the approaches they take when making contributions to scientific knowledge and climate change debates. The findings of this study suggest the need to reconceptualise the role of local NGOs in small countries at risk from climate change.


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