Perspective Making and Perspective Taking in Communities of Knowing

TLDR

Knowledge‑intensive firms consist of multiple specialized communities and typically exhibit lateral rather than hierarchical structures. The study argues that innovation in such firms depends on both strong internal perspectives and the capacity to adopt others’ perspectives. The authors propose models of language, communication, and cognition that guide the design of electronic communication systems, emphasizing narrative construction of strong perspectives and boundary objects to enable perspective taking between communities. They envision an ideal knowledge‑intensive firm with a culture of perspective making and taking, outlining key electronic communication system elements that would support this culture.

Abstract

Knowledge-intensive firms are composed of multiple communities with specialized expertise, and are often characterized by lateral rather than hierarchical organizational forms. We argue that producing knowledge to create innovative products and processes in such firms requires the ability to make strong perspectives within a community, as well as the ability to take the perspective of another into account. We present models of language, communication and cognition that can assist in the design of electronic communication systems for perspective making and perspective taking. By appreciating how communication is both like a language game played in a local community and also like a transmission of messages through a conduit, and by appreciating how cognition includes a capacity to narrativize our experience as well as a capacity to process information, we identify some guidelines for designing electronic communication systems to support knowledge work. The communication systems we propose emphasize that narratives can help construct strong perspectives within a community of knowing, and that reflecting upon and representing that perspective can create boundary objects which allow for perspective taking between communities. We conclude by describing our vision of an idealized knowledge intensive firm with a strong culture of perspective making and perspective taking, and by identifying some elements of the electronic communication systems we would expect to see in such a firm.