Control, value, sense and system : dimensions of hierarchy in selected knowledge management theories

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Knowledge management is an organisational science field that is viewed by many as apanacea to the challenge of successfully managing knowledge intensive organisations.Knowledge management is marked by a clear departure from traditional managementthinking that viewed the ideal organisation as a bureaucracy with a clear hierarchicalstructure. Much of this has been the natural result of advances in informationtechnology making new ways of working possible, but frequently, flatter structures areadvocated on the assumption that knowledge work is necessarily stifled in hierarchicalstructures.The thesis sets out to show that whilst this assumption might be true, it can also beideological if based on a naive conception of hierarchy and organisation. This is done bydescribing various notions of hierarchy that go beyond the pure bureaucratic form.Thereafter it is demonstrated that these more nuanced notions of hierarchy lie at the coreof some of the foundational knowledge management theories.The first chapter gives an overview of management thinking; connecting andcontrasting scientific management with knowledge management. The case is made forwhy many assume that knowledge management is inherently anti-hierarchical.The second chapter describes the various notions of hierarchy by tracing the historicalorigins of the word and exploring how it has found multiple meanings in the context ofsociety and organisations. Four prominent usage contexts of the notion of hierarchyemerge. The first usage is that of control where hierarchy refers to bureaucracies. Thesecond usage examines the use of hierarchy in identifying various organisationalcultures (Markets, Clans, Adhocracies and Hierarchies). The third usage applies toorganisation sensemaking levels. The fourth usage refers to the use of hierarchy as itapplies to organisations as the coupling of systems and subsystems.In the third chapter it is demonstrated to what extent each of these notions of hierarchyinforms selected mainstream knowledge management theories. It is argued that there aremultiple contexts in which the notion of hierarchy can be used and observed inknowledge management thinking.The fourth chapter concludes by restating the multiple meanings of organisational hierarchy and discussing the implications for knowledge management. The thesis comesto the conclusion that the notion of hierarchy is readily acknowledged and used inknowledge management thinking, albeit in different contexts and in more nuanced waysthan merely as control. What is needed is to take these various contexts into accountbefore a claim can be made that hierarchy is bad or good for knowledge management. Abetter conceptualisation of what is meant by hierarchy shows that such blanket claimsare neither accurate nor instructive.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University