The influence of organisational control practices on knowledge production

Abstract

This study explores the relationship between knowledge creation and organisational and managerial control. I explore how organisational control impacts, influences, shapes, fashions and lay the foundation for the creation of the various types of knowledge within a research organisation. In particular, the aim of the study is to explore the influence that organisational control systems have on knowledge workers’ capacity to generate new research knowledge. The literature on knowledge management reveals that there has been a lot of focus on knowledge creation. However, from my review of the literature there have not been sufficient research studies that explore organisational control mechanisms in facilitating or inhibiting the creation of knowledge. In addressing the research problem, this study intends to explore this gap. From an organisational control aspect, I draw on the Foucauldian toolbox using disciplinary power, pastoral power, and technologies of the self. Thereafter I develop a conceptual model in which I integrate knowledge creation and organisational control mechanisms.