From Knowledge-Creation to the Perfecting of Action: Tao, Basho and Pure Experience as the Ultimate Ground of Performance

The idea of knowledge-creation and knowledge management has become an important area of research in management studies. This preoccupation with the creation and accumulation of knowledge in its written form is underpinned by the epistemological priorities of a literally-based Western culture which takes such prior established knowledge as the only justifiable basis for effective action. Knowledge necessarily precedes action and performance. This metaphysical orientation precludes the possibility of attaining direct unmediated understanding through the ongoing perfecting of action. In predominantly non-literal cultures such as in East Asia, knowing is more often achieved directly through the immediate engagement of tasks rather than through the acquisition of linguistic signs and symbols. Consequently, there is little systematic documenting and accumulation of knowledge in the explicit written form that one finds in abundance in Western cultures. Yet this apparent lack has not prevent these predominantly non-literal cultures from achieving exceptional levels of performance and productivity both in leisure and business. This, in turn, suggests that the presumed route of knowledge creation-application-performance can actually be bypassed if effective action, and not justification, is what is ultimately sought. Performance often depends upon direct sustained application and not on the acquisition of written knowledge. The implication of this for understanding the world of business practice is explored here in some detail.