Knowledge and Critique - a Foucauldian Perspective

In the literature on organizational learning and knowledge, one often finds reference to the pivotal role of critical reflection. While critical reflection is much talked about, it seems that less attention is given to critical practices in general. We argue that critique should not be reduced to critical reflection, as this might unduly limit our understanding of the actual effects of critical practices. In the paper, we resort to the work of Michel Foucault to illustrate, first, the intrinsic connection between power and knowledge and, second, the ambiguous role of critique as both a practice of opening up power/knowledge systems and as an effort to govern the actions of others. Rather than to make a prescriptive plea for more critique and critical reflection, we suggest that organization theory should try to understand the manifold effects that critical practices can bring about in organizations.