Knowledge Moves: a Communication Perspectiv

This paper develops a vision of knowledge distinctively rooted in communication theory. We propose a conception of knowledge that, built on a view of communication as constitutive of organizational reality, transcends the opposition between cognitive and performative models of knowledge. We argue that meanings both emerge from interactions involving actors in context and shape those contexts in turn. The continual (re)formation of the mutual context introduces possibilities for ambiguity and instability into each communication episode. Knowledge is thus both a resource for, and a product of, situated interactions. The paper illustrates middle managers’ efforts to negotiate and generate intersubjective knowledge in a large municipality undergoing restructuring. Our case clearly illustrates that knowledge construction is a goaldirected, pragmatic accomplishment. The creation of new knowledge is triggered by dilemmas and ambiguities, to which actors feel compelled to respond.