Knowledge Construction in an Australian Software Development Enterprise: Developing the Knowledge Bases for Innovative Renewal

This paper describes the transformation of a software development organization in Australia and theorizes the learning and knowledge construction processes which this entailed. Faced with changes to the regulatory environment of the organization, key stakeholders engaged in the processes of learning how to create the conditions under which a new ‘insurgent’ organization, focused upon innovation, could emerge from the old ‘incumbent’ organization without disruption to revenue flows during the twoyear transitional period. The paper explicates these learning processes, and the form of praxis that underpinned them, and shows the critical role played by external stakeholders, such as customers, to the success of the praxis. A key insight gained from the project was the crucial role played by social capital in particular, relational and identity resources – in the collaborative learning practices through which knowledge, relevant and pertinent to the purpose of the project, was constructed and is being re-constructed as the contexts of its application transform.