Practice cannot be reduced to theory: Knowledge, representations, and change in the workplace.

Abstract

Changing views of the nature of human knowledge change how we design organizations, facilities, and technology to promote learning: Learning is not transfer; using a plan is not executing a program; explanation is not reciting rules from memory. Such rationalist views of knowledge inhibit change and stifle innovate uses of technology. Representations of work (plans, policies, procedures) and their meaning develop in work itself. Representations guide, but do not strictly control human behavior. Every perception and action involves new, nonlinguistic conceptualizations that reground organizational goals and values. This essay explores how the epistemology of situated cognition guides business redesign.