How Philosophy can help Organisational Learning? – Experiment with Semiotic Learning

Author(s):

Angela Lacerda Nobre

Conference:

ECER 2008

Network:

13. Philosophy of Education - Standard submissions

Format:

Research Workshop

Session Information

13 SES 04B, "Bildung" and the Culture of Learning

Paper Session

Time:

2008-09-10

16:00-17:30

Room:

B3 336

Chair:

Roland Reichenbach

Contribution

Peirce’s pragmatism and Heidegger’s ontology come together in order to propose a social semiotics approach to Organisational Learning (OL). This is both a method and a methodology: it includes both practical instructions to be implemented in small organisational groups and broad foundational principles and theoretical orientations. Grim et al describe well a parallel proposal: «Perhaps those relational theories of meaning that have the most currency among contemporary philosophers are forms of representationalism. On such view, meanings are in the head, correspond to the outside world by representing it, may themselves have a linguistic structure and are communicated by way of a complex pattern of co-ordinated intentions. Our goal here is less to refute the representational picture than to develop an alternative in which meaning is crucially pragmatic and fundamentally social.» (Grim et al, 2004)(italics added). Semiotic Learning considers OL to be organisational community-level meaning-making. The main argument is that there is much to be gained by addressing the being-in the-world, situated, prereflexive, discursive and quotidian dimensions of organisational practice. Addressing these dimensions enables the proposal of a special kind of social practice at organisational level. This practice is distinct from the mainstream management thinking approach, which focuses on a narrow kind of ‘reflexive practice’. This dominant stream relies on cognitivist, analytical, subject-object, cause-effect approaches and results-oriented planning. The problem with this approach is that it ignores and neglects the role of practice-based knowledge and the social nature of organisational learning. There are two kernel questions to be considered: • Can philosophy, in general, contribute to the strengthening of organisational and management thinking and practice? – by disclosing the epistemic and ontological options that are already present in both practice and theory, it may help to disclose new conditions of possibility for thought and action; • Can educational philosophy, in particular social oriented approaches, help to counterbalance the excessive prevalence of mentalistic and individualistic approaches to management? – by addressing the social embedded and embodied nature of human knowledge and learning and by highlighting the prefiguring role that social, cultural and informal processes have in determining formal structures and procedures at organisational level, then philosophy can help to destabilise the subject and to deconstruct the modern rationale of current organisations.

Method

Semiotic Learning relies on the social tradition on OL (e.g. Yanow, Cook, Gherardi, Nicolini, Elkjaer), on social philosophy (Heidegger, Peirce, Wittgenstein) and on social semiotics (Halliday, Kress, Bakhtin, Foucault) in order to ground its theoretical proposal. At methodological level, it follows the inspiration of grounded theory, of ethno-methodologies and of action-research. Semiotic Learning as a practical method has been successfully applied and tested. Both public and private, and European and local organisations have been studied. The challenges of the post-industrial age (e.g. Castells, Touraine, Lyotard) imply that organisations have to rethink both their theories and their practices.

Expected Outcomes

The proposal of the present Workshop aims at stimulating debate over these critical issues. The possibility of motivating new initiatives that may enable the further development of this OL approach is also a key concern. More than a new commercial consultant’s tool to promote and improve OL, Semiotic Learning is a possible step for a new kind of organisational practice. This kind of practice needs a critical mass in several ways: it needs to motivate a circle of researchers interested in exploring this theoretical approach; it needs to create its own public through the offering of a specialised post-graduate course in the areas that Semiotic Learning broadly covers; and it needs to disseminate its findings through the creation of an on-line course that crucially explores the links between management and philosophy and between theory and practice.

References

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Information Systems and Learning Organisations - II International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems (ICEIS), Staffordshire University, Stafford, United Kingdom, July, 2000; 6. Learning Organisations and Knowledge Management – people and technology: the challenges of the Information Era - II International Conference on Human Resource Development “Research and Practice Across Europe”, University of Twente, Nijmegen, The Netherlands, January, 2001; 7. Learning Organisations and Knowledge Management. In Jan N. Streumer (ed.) Workplace Learning. 107-121, Enshede, NL: Ipskamp. ISBN 90 365 154 83, 2001; 8. The role of e-learning in higher education – 1st National Conference on Teaching Economics. Evora, Portugal, May, 2001; 9. Entrepreneurship as an attitude – a challenge to innovative managers - First International Conference of the International Entrepreneurship Forum on «Entrepreneurship and Learning», Naples, Italy, 2001; 10. The critical role of the relationship between emotions and learning - innovative perspectives on education in a changing environment – 2nd National Conference on Research and Training, ESE, Lisbon, Portugal, November, 2001; 11. Enhancing Organisational Effectiveness - III International Conference on Human Resource Development 2002, Napier University, Edinburgh, Scotland, January, 2002; 12. “Entrepreneurship as an attitude – a challenge to innovative managers”, The International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation (IJEI), ISBN 1465-7503, Vol. 3, No 1, February, 2002; 13. “Learning Organisations and Knowledge Management – people and technology”. The International Journal of Human Resource Development and Management (IJHRD), ISBN 1465-6612, Vol. 2, Nos. 1.2, 2002; 14. Breaking the ground in Organisational Learning – how the use of philosophical categories can help - 5th International Conference on Organisational Learning and Knowledge (OLK). Lancaster University, Lancaster, United Kingdom, May, 2003; 15. Beneath the surface of Knowledge Management and Organisational Learning – beyond informal learning through ‘Semiotic Learning’ - 3rd Knowledge Management Summer School. San Sebastian, Spain, September, 2003; 16. Learning Organisations and Network-based Innovation Promotion - European Conference on Educational Research (ECER), Hamburg, Germany, September, 2003; 17. In-house innovation – revisiting OL and KM from a Semiotic Learning perspective - Organisational Knowledge, Learning and Capabilities (OKLC), Innsbruck, Austria, April, 2004; 18. Organisational Learning – foundational roots for design for complexity - International Conference of Enterprise Information Systems (ICEIS), Porto, Portugal, April, 2004; 19. Computer ethics: what are we talking about? – possible contributions from philosophy of action, critical realism and modern hermeneutics – 5th International Conference of Enterprise Information Systems (ICEIS), Porto, Portugal, April, 2004; 20. Collaboration: is it only a metaphor? – an action perspective on how to make it real - 1st International Workshop on Computer Supported Activity Coordination (CSAC), Porto, Portugal, April, 2004; 21. Health and society – conceptual paradoxes and challenges for a business plan, for a new political agenda and for a strategy for action in the information age - International Workshop of Tele-Care and Collaborative Virtual Communities (TELECARE), Porto, Portugal, April, 2004; 22. Semiotic Learning: the way ahead - a social semiotics perspective to organisational learning innovation, European Consortium for the Learning Organisation (ECLO), Dublin, Ireland, May, 2004; 23. 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USA, Idea Group, 2005; 28. “Social Philosophy, Communities and Epistemic Shifts”. In E. Coakes & S. Clarke (eds.), Encyclopaedia of Communities of Practice in Information and Knowledge Management. USA, Idea Group, 2005; 29. “Psychoanalysis, Organisations and Communities”. In E. Coakes & S. Clarke (eds.), Encyclopaedia of Communities of Practice in Information and Knowledge Management. USA, Idea Group, 2005; 30. Reductive versus complex perspectives on effectiveness – a leadership challenge for managers - III International Forum CRITEOS, Lisbon, Portugal, November, 2006; 31. “Knowledge Processes and Organisational Learning: A Radical Shift in Management Thinking?”, in Claire McInerney & Ron Day (eds.) Re-Thinking KM: From Knowledge Management to Knowledge Processes, USA, Springer-Verlag, 2007; 32. Organisational Learning and Heidegger’s Ontology – Does Philosophy Matter for Information Systems Design? – 9th International Conference of Enterprise Information Systems (ICEIS), Funchal, Madeira, Portugal, June, 2007; 33. Semiotic Learning – A Conceptual Framework for Facilitating Learning in Knowledge-intensive Organisations – Doctoral Consortium, 9th International Conference of Enterprise Information Systems (ICEIS), Funchal, Madeira, Portugal, June, 2007; 34. Action, Language and Social Semiotics – A Theoretical Contribution to Collaborative Work and Learning. Fourth International Workshop in Computer Supported Activity Coordination (CSAC), Funchal, Madeira, Portugal, June, 2007.

Author Information

Angela Lacerda Nobre

ESCE-IPS Escola Superior de Ciências Empresariais do Instituto Politécnico de Setúbal

Department of Economics and Management

LISBOA

174

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