Article ID: | iaor201525852 |
Volume: | 13 |
Issue: | 2 |
Start Page Number: | 160 |
End Page Number: | 167 |
Publication Date: | May 2015 |
Journal: | Knowledge Management Research & Practice |
Authors: | Burnett Simon, Williams Dorothy, Grinnall Andy |
Keywords: | education, management |
The use of narratives and stories has been growing in popularity in the field of knowledge management. Narratives may be used as useful vehicles for several knowledge‐based activities within organisational (and other) contexts. These include acquiring and sharing knowledge in the form of personal experiences; the storage of explicit knowledge; and significantly, the development of personal knowledge and understanding through the use of narratives for sense‐making. This paper presents research into the development and application of a method for the construction of a ‘learning narrative’: an organisational narrative developed for the specific purpose of sharing experiential knowledge. The paper presents a rationale for the use of narratives within knowledge management; details a methodological approach for the development of learning narratives; and highlights a number of benefits of the use of learning narratives, notably their use in sustaining and enhancing the quality of project‐based work.