Reflecting on quality practices through knowledge management theory: uncovering grey zones and new possibilities of process manuals, flowcharts and procedures

Abstract

Process manuals, flowcharts, blueprints and procedures have been commonly employed by quality-oriented organizations as a way to represent, organize and control their work. These tools, which are the output of a documenting process, supposedly capture the practical knowledge of the organization. However, the possibility of expliciting practice has been and still is a controversial issue. This article aims to shed light on some aspects related to the possibility of expliciting knowledge through an empirical study and to inquire to what extent these formalized documentation gather the actual practice. One of the most relevant contributions of this paper is its empirical work, which covers both the knowledge and quality perspectives, providing a refreshing and integrated view to practical organizational issues.