عنوان

Discourses on knowledge and innovation :

TLets631377

Discourses on knowledge and innovation :

[Thesis]

Asimakou, Theodora

stories from shell global solutions

University of Manchester

2004

Ph.D.

University of Manchester

2004

This thesis departs on a trip into discourses of knowledge and innovation in postindustrialsocieties and knowledge-based organizations, and investigates the value ofknowledge and the question of innovation management in a fully commercialenvironment. The gaining momentum the discourses on the value of knowledge intoday's post-industrial societies and on the significance of innovation for knowledgebasedorganizations has attracted the attention of both practitioners and academics. Thestructural and discursive transformations it has caused so far indicate that it is aphenomenon that needs be further studied.This thesis explores the transformations the disciplinary discourse of knowledge andinnovation management causes in the research language game and the practicesorganizations develop in order to support the creation of new knowledge, and questionswhether innovation can be adequately supported in a fully commercial environment. Incontrast with most of the mainstream approaches to study innovation management,which assume the rationality of managers and the controllability of knowledge and of therelated processes, this research chooses as starting point to critically examine theseassumptions before we proceed with further suggestions on how to manage knowledge.Thus, the project starts by examining the nature of knowledge and the disciplinarydiscourses that shape our understanding of what knowledge is, and consequendy how itshould be supported.The research clearly adopts a discourse-centered approach to both the study of thesephenomena and the interpretation of the empirical findings. In other words, it assumesthat discourses are constructed by social and organizational realities, as well as in localinteractions, and recursively they transform them. Through these theoretical lenses, theinfluential discourse that describes knowledge in organizations as their most valuableasset to improve performance and profits, in other words, the discourse that equalsknowledge to power creates a contested arena, where the groups and individuals involvedwant to take control over this valuable resource. Thus, the rhetoric of the freeknowledge-sharing, which is based on the assumptions of trust and collaboration, isflawed, together with the technical models it suggests for innovation management.This thesis argues for the significance of addressing the political games and powerstruggles enacted in managing innovation processes, which result from the opportunitycertain groups see to acquire or extend their control over valuable resources; therationalistic models so far neglect this dimension of organizational life, or when theyaddress the politics of innovation, they reduce it either to the individual's ability tonegotiate and convince others about the value of the innovation, and/or to the socialnetwork that supports the 'innovation hero'. The empirical part of the project, conductedin two Business Groups of a technology knowledge-based organization, i.e. Shell GlobalSolutions, studies two different innovation mechanisms, which were based on twodifferent models of innovation management, and demonstrates that both mechanisms failto achieve the expected results, because they neglect the political dimension oforganizational reality. The research applied a range of qualitative data collectiontechniques, i.e. in-depth interviews, non-participant observations and documentaryanalysis, seeking the way multiple realities are discursively constructed and co-exist withinthe same context. Finally, the thesis discusses the conditions under which long-term anduncertain innovation can be supported in a fully commercial environment.

Asimakou, Theodora

University of Manchester

p

[Thesis]

276903

a

Y