Abstract
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 289-310 |
| Number of pages | 22 |
| Journal | Management learning |
| Volume | 40 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2009 |
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Keywords
- practice-based theories
- situated knowledge
- Consulting
- IR-61647
- knowledge transfer
- knowing
- METIS-257714
- Situated learning
Cite this
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What if we shifted the basis of consulting from knowledge to knowing? / Hicks, Jeff; Nair, P.; Wilderom, Celeste P.M.
In: Management learning, Vol. 40, No. 3, 2009, p. 289-310.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review
TY - JOUR
T1 - What if we shifted the basis of consulting from knowledge to knowing?
AU - Hicks, Jeff
AU - Nair, P.
AU - Wilderom, Celeste P.M.
PY - 2009
Y1 - 2009
N2 - In this article, we argue that a focus on the debunking of consulting knowledge has led to a disconnect between the research and the practice of management consulting. A renewed focus on consulting practice, that is, the doing of consultancy itself, affords an opportunity for bringing clients, practitioners and researchers of consulting closer together. We sketch an outline of an alternative approach to consulting practice, based not on knowledge, but on knowing, the socially situated activity whereby knowledge is applied and created. Borrowing from the practice-based theories of organizational knowledge and knowing, we explore how key aspects of consulting practice—problem solving, participation and knowledge transfer—might be handled differently when we give primacy to practice. We discuss the viability of this alternative approach, and argue that despite established relations of power and politics, the dynamic and indeterminate nature of practice environments does afford some space for this and other alternative forms of consulting practice to take hold.
AB - In this article, we argue that a focus on the debunking of consulting knowledge has led to a disconnect between the research and the practice of management consulting. A renewed focus on consulting practice, that is, the doing of consultancy itself, affords an opportunity for bringing clients, practitioners and researchers of consulting closer together. We sketch an outline of an alternative approach to consulting practice, based not on knowledge, but on knowing, the socially situated activity whereby knowledge is applied and created. Borrowing from the practice-based theories of organizational knowledge and knowing, we explore how key aspects of consulting practice—problem solving, participation and knowledge transfer—might be handled differently when we give primacy to practice. We discuss the viability of this alternative approach, and argue that despite established relations of power and politics, the dynamic and indeterminate nature of practice environments does afford some space for this and other alternative forms of consulting practice to take hold.
KW - practice-based theories
KW - situated knowledge
KW - Consulting
KW - IR-61647
KW - knowledge transfer
KW - knowing
KW - METIS-257714
KW - Situated learning
U2 - 10.1177/1350507609104341
DO - 10.1177/1350507609104341
M3 - Article
VL - 40
SP - 289
EP - 310
JO - Management learning
JF - Management learning
SN - 1350-5076
IS - 3
ER -