This work explores the relationship among knowing, learning, and practice in the development of organizational knowledge. It explores the implications for intervention growing out of the notion that organizational knowledge cannot be conceived as a mental process residing in members' heads.

What are practice theories? Where do they come from? What do they say? Do they offer something new to the study of work and organization? Practice theories are a set of conceptual tools and methodologies for investigating, analysing, and representing everyday practice. They develop the idea that phenomena such as knowledge, meaning, science, power, organized activity, sociality, and institutions are rooted in practice. The volume provides a rigorous yet accessible introduction to this emerging area of study. Recognizing that a unified theory of practice does not exist, the book surveys the main scholarly traditions that have, collectively, contributed to the practice turn in social and organization studies. Each chapter examines the main assumptions and concepts of these traditions, discussing their distinctive contribution to work and organization studies. The chapters are accompanied by a fully worked example of how the theory can be applied to empirical research, making the text suitable for teaching purposes. The book will constitute a valuable resource for researchers and graduate students in organization studies and management, and scholars across disciplines who are interested to know more about the topic.

Although human lives towards the second half of the twentieth century became increasingly mediated by objects and artifacts and have depended heavily on the functioning of technical systems, materiality in a broad sense became relatively marginalized as a topic of research interest. This volume contributes to redressing the balance by drawing together the work of scholars involved in exploring the sociomaterial dimensions of organizational life. It will look at the way material objects and artifacts are conceived in organizations, and how they function in interaction with human agents. The book offers a new conceptual repertoire and vocabulary that allows deeper thought and discussion about the inherent entanglement of the social and material. Like the preceding volumes in the Perspectives on Process Organization Studies series, the book displays the richness that characterizes process thinking, and combines philosophical reflections with novel conceptual perspectives and insightful empirical analyses.

This book explores the relationship among knowing, learning, and practice in the development of organizational knowledge. Scholars and practitioners from the U.S. and abroad focus on organizational learning as a collective, social, and not entirely cognitive activity. These experts represent a wide range of disciplinary backgrounds (including management, IT/collaborative technology, sociology, psychology, and political science) and research traditions (symbolic interaction, activity theory, and actor network theory). They explore the implications for research and intervention growing out of the notion that organizational knowledge cannot be conceived as a mental process residing in members' heads, but rather as a form of social expertise, in which learning is situated in the historical, social, and cultural contexts in which it takes place. Their work provides a fresh, authoritative, and challenging look at the changing field of organizational learning that will be equally useful in any advanced level course in which knowledge management is a central concern.

Although human lives towards the second half of the twentieth century became increasingly mediated by objects and artifacts and have depended heavily on the functioning of technical systems, materiality in a broad sense became relatively marginalized as a topic of research interest. This volume contributes to redressing the balance by drawing together the work of scholars involved in exploring the sociomaterial dimensions of organizational life. It will look at the way material objects and artifacts are conceived in organizations, and how they function in interaction with human agents. The book offers a new conceptual repertoire and vocabulary that allows deeper thought and discussion about the inherent entanglement of the social and material. Like the preceding volumes in the Perspectives on Process Organization Studies series, the book displays the richness that characterizes process thinking, and combines philosophical reflections with novel conceptual perspectives and insightful empirical analyses.

What are practice theories? Where do they come from? What do they say? Do they offer something new to the study of work and organization? Practice theories are a set of conceptual tools and methodologies for investigating, analysing, and representing everyday practice. They develop the idea that phenomena such as knowledge, meaning, science, power, organized activity, sociality, and institutions are rooted in practice. The volume provides a rigorous yet accessible introduction to this emerging area of study. Recognizing that a unified theory of practice does not exist, the book surveys the main scholarly traditions that have, collectively, contributed to the practice turn in social and organization studies. Each chapter examines the main assumptions and concepts of these traditions, discussing their distinctive contribution to work and organization studies. The chapters are accompanied by a fully worked example of how the theory can be applied to empirical research, making the text suitable for teaching purposes. The book will constitute a valuable resource for researchers and graduate students in organization studies and management, and scholars across disciplines who are interested to know more about the topic.

The research-practice gap is a persistent problem in healthcare - significant new knowledge is created but only some of it is shared and even less is used. As a consequence, many innovative ideas fail to change practice in healthcare settings. Academics, practitioners, and governments alike, agree that finding new ways of mobilizing knowledge is critical to reducing this gap. Yet knowledge mobilization is especially difficult in such a complex setting. This is because knowledge is essentially social and contextual in its very nature. Straightforward, linear 'transfer' models fail to work. This book provides an alternative 'knowledge mobilization' view, that examines in detail how knowledge is circulated and negotiated among those involved in healthcare, and how it is used to actually transform practice. Building on the collective scholarship of some of the most prominent academics in this area, the chapters explore the dynamics of knowledge mobilization, focusing on the challenges these pose for organization and management and how these challenges can be overcome.