Perspective Making and Perspective Taking in Communities of Knowing

Richard J. Boland and Ramkrishnan V. Tenkasi
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Richard J. Boland: Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio 44106-7235
Ramkrishnan V. Tenkasi: School of Business Administration, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089-1421

Organization Science, 1995, vol. 6, issue 4, 350-372

Abstract: Knowledge-intensive firms are composed of multiple communities with specialized expertise, and are often characterized by lateral rather than hierarchical organizational forms. We argue that producing knowledge to create innovative products and processes in such firms requires the ability to make strong perspectives within a community, as well as the ability to take the perspective of another into account. We present models of language, communication and cognition that can assist in the design of electronic communication systems for perspective making and perspective taking. By appreciating how communication is both like a language game played in a local community and also like a transmission of messages through a conduit, and by appreciating how cognition includes a capacity to narrativize our experience as well as a capacity to process information, we identify some guidelines for designing electronic communication systems to support knowledge work. The communication systems we propose emphasize that narratives can help construct strong perspectives within a community of knowing, and that reflecting upon and representing that perspective can create boundary objects which allow for perspective taking between communities. We conclude by describing our vision of an idealized knowledge intensive firm with a strong culture of perspective making and perspective taking, and by identifying some elements of the electronic communication systems we would expect to see in such a firm.

Keywords: knowledge work; organization learning; distributed cognition; communication systems (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1995
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