Summary
Our methodological basic framework can be characterized as a ‘lens’
through which we look at knowledge management in project-based companies.
The framework covers both epistemological assumption and a
view concerning the notion of the human actor – in particular, the
project team member. Basically our perspective is organic, which means
that knowledge is assumed to emerge within a certain context through
interactions among participants involved.
Epistemology or theory of knowledge is a branch of philosophy concerned
with the nature and scope of knowledge. It deals with such
core questions as, what is knowledge, how is knowledge acquired, and
what are the conditions for knowledge to develop. Therefore, what
kind of epistemological assumptions we adopt influences decisively, how
we interpret what is knowledge. Our choice here was the autopoietic
epistemology.
Autopoietic epistemology differs sharply from the traditional and conventional
cognitivist epistemology. The latter is based on the idea that
the human mind has the ability to exactly represent reality in a way that
corresponds to the outer world. Knowledge is seen as a representation
of the world, and the more knowledge an organization – or a project
team – gather, the closer the presentation will be to reality. The world is
considered to be a pre-given for the project team member, and perceived
by her in an objective way