Organizational ignorance: Towards a managerial perspective on the unknown

Management Learning

Volumn 44, Issue 3, 2013, Pages 215-236

  Roberts, Joanne ^a  

^a NORTHUMBRIA UNIVERSITY   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

ignorance; ignorance management; knowledge; organizational ignorance; the unknown

Indexed keywords

EID: 84879401883     PISSN: 13505076     EISSN: 14617307     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/1350507612443208     Document Type: Article

References (100)

1. Alge BJ,Ballinger GA,Tangirala S, et al.Information privacy in organizations: Empowering creative and extra role performance.Journal of Applied Psychology. 2006;91 (1): 221-232.
2. Anand V,Rosen CC.The ethics of organizational secrets.Journal of Management Inquiry. 2008;17 (2): 97-101.
3. Antonacopoulou EP.Knowledge impact and scholarship: Unlearning and practising to co-create actionable.Management Learning. 2009;40 (1): 421-430.
4. BBC (2009) Leading questions: Sir Victor Blank - interview with Robert Peston, 22August. Available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8214677.stm (accessed 12 December 2010).
5. BBC (2010a) Deepwater Disaster - the untold story. Horizon, 16November2010, BBC 2. Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00w5qs8 (accessed 20 March 2012).
6. BBC (2010b) US Senate lifts 'don't ask, don't tell' gay soldier ban. BBC News, 18December2010. Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-12028657 (accessed 19 December 2010).
7. Beck URisk Society: Towards a New Modernity. London: SAGE; 1992:.
8. Benders J,van Veen K.What's in a fashion? Interpretive viability and management fashion.Organization. 2001;8 (1): 33-53.
9. Bernstein JH.Nonknowledge: The bibliographical organization of ignorance, stupidity, error, and unreason: Part One.Knowledge Organization. 2009a;36 (1): 17-29.
10. Bernstein JH.Nonknowledge: The bibliographical organization of ignorance, stupidity, error, and unreason: Part Two.Knowledge Organization. 2009b;36 (4): 249-260.
11. Berry WThe Virtues of Ignorance: Complexity, Sustainability, and the Limits of Knowledge. Vitek BJackson W, ed. Lexington, KY: University of Kentucky Press; 2008:37-49.
12. Blackman D,Saddler-Smith E.The silent and the silenced in organizational knowing and learning.Management Learning. 2009;40 (5): 569-585.
13. Brocas I,Carrillo JD.Influence through ignorance.RAND Journal of Economics. 2007;38 (4): 931-947.
14. Brunsson K.Non-learning organizations.Scandinavian Journal of Management. 1998;14 (4): 421-432.
15. Chesbrough HWOpen Innovation: The New Imperative for Creativity and Profiting from Technology. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press; 2003:.
16. Chia R,Holt RHandbook of Managerial and Organizational Wisdom. Kessler EBailey J, ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE; 2007:505-526.
17. Child JOrganization: Contemporary Principles and Practice. Oxford: Blackwell; 2005:.
18. Clegg SR,Kornberger M,Pitsis TManaging and Organizations: An Introduction to Theory and Practice. 2008) Managing and Organizations: An Introduction to Theory and Practice. 2nd edn.London: SAGE.London: SAGE; 2008:.
19. Congleton RD.Rational ignorance, rational voter expectations, and public policy: A discrete informational foundation for fiscal illusion.Public Choice. 2001;107:35-64.
20. Davis S,Meyer CBlur: the Speed of Change in the Connected Economy. Oxford: Capstone; 1999:.
21. de Holan MP,Phillips N.Remembrance of things past? The dynamics of organizational forgetting.Management Science. 2004;50 (11): 1603-1613.
22. Drucker PPost-Capitalist Society. New York: Harper; 1993:.
23. Dufresne RL,Offstein EH.On the virtues of secrecy in organizations.Journal of Management Inquiry. 2008;17 (2): 102-106.
24. Einarsen STranscending boundaries: Integrating people, processes and systems. Sheehan MRamsay SPatrick J, ed. Brisbane, Australia Nathan, Queensland: School of Management, Griffith University; 2000 2010:.
25. Featherstone MKnowledge and the Production of Nonknowledge: An Exploration of Alien Mythology in Postwar America. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press; 2002:.
26. Festinger LA Theory of Cognitive Dissonance. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press; 1957:.
27. Foucault MThe Order of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciences. London: Tavistock; 1970:.
28. Galison P.Removing Knowledge.Critical Inquiry. 2004;31:229-243.
29. Gherardi SOrganizational Knowledge: The Texture of Workplace Learning. Oxford: Blackwell; 2006:.
30. Giroux H.'It was such a handy term': Management fashions and pragmatic ambiguity.Journal of Management Studies. 2006;43 (6): 1227-1260.
31. Gross M.The unknown in process: Dynamic connections of ignorance, non-knowledge and related concepts.Current Sociology. 2007;55 (5): 742-759.
32. Gross MIgnorance and Surprise: Science, Society, and Ecological Design. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press; 2010:.
33. Halbesleben JRB,Wheeler AR,Buckley MR.Understanding pluralistic ignorance in organizations: Application and theory.Journal of Managerial Psychology. 2007;22 (1): 65-83.
34. Harvey GM,Novicevic MM,Buckley MR, et al.A historical perspective on organizational ignorance.Journal of Managerial Psychology. 2001;16 (6): 449-468.
35. Hedberg BHandbook of Organizational Design. Nystrom PCStarbuck WH, ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 1981:3-27.
36. Heffernan MWillful Blindness: Why We Ignore the Obvious at Our Peril. New York: Walker; 2011:.
37. An Anthropological Critique of Development: The Growth of Ignorance. Hobart M, ed. London; New York: Routledge; 1993:.
38. The Oxford Handbook of Organizational Decision Making. Hodgkinson GPStarbuck WH, ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2008:.
39. Janis ILBoston, MA: Houghton, Mifflin; 1972:.
40. Jensen MC,Meckling W.Theory of the firm: Managerial behaviour, agency costs, and capital structure.Journal of Financial Economics. 1976;3 (4): 305-360.
41. Jones C,Hecker R.E-extinction: An illusion of knowledge, the presence of ignorance, or evolutionary fate?.Journal of Enterprise Culture. 2003;11 (4): 359-378.
42. Keating T.On managing ignorance.Public Administration Review. 1975;:593-597.
43. Kidder TThe Soul of the New Machine. London: Allen Lane; 1982:.
44. Kieser A.Rhetoric and myth in management fashion.Organization. 1997;4 (1): 49-74.
45. Knopper SAppetite for Self-Destruction: The Spectacular Crash of the Record Industry in the Digital Age. New York: Free Press; 2009:.
46. Knorr Cetina KEpistemic Cultures: How the Sciences Make Knowledge. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; 1999:.
47. Koestler AThe Act of Creation. London: Hutchinson; 1976:.
48. KohnLTCorriganJMDonaldsonMS (eds) (1999) To Err Is Human: Building a Safer Health System - Executive Summary. Committee on Quality of Health Care in America, Institute of Medicine, Washington, DC: National Academy Press. Available at: http://www.providersedge.com/ehdocs/ehr_articles/To_Err_Is_Human_%20Building_a_Safer_Health_System-exec_summary.pdf (accessed 9 January 2011).
49. Kruger J,Dunning D.Unskilled and unaware of it: How difficulties of recognizing one's own incompetence lead to inflated self-assessments.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 1999;77 (6): 1121-1134.
50. Lambe P.Ignorance management: The lessons of small enterprises for knowledge management.Journal of Information & Knowledge Management. 2002;1 (1): 41-47.
51. Latour BReassembling the Social. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2005:.
52. Loasby BJChoice, Complexity and Ignorance: An Enquiry into Economic Theory and the Practice of Decision-Making. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 1976:.
53. Loch CH,DeMeyer A,Pich MTManaging the Unknown: A New Approach to Managing High Uncertainty and Risk in Project. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley; 2006:.
54. LongstaffPH (2005) Security, Resilience, and Communication in Unpredictable Environments Such as Terrorism, Natural Disasters, and Complex Technology. Cambridge, MA: Center for Information Policy Research, Harvard University. Available at: http://pirp.harvard.edu/pubs_pdf/longsta/longsta-p05-3.pdf (accessed 10 December 2010).
55. LoweA (2009) Motor Vehicle Owners' Right to Repair Act: Legislation Aimed at Preserving Competition for Consumers in the Vehicle Repair Market. Bethesda, MD: Automotive Aftermarket Industry Association. Available at: http://www.righttorepair.org/downloads/docs/whitepaper_righttorepair.pdf (accessed 9 January 2011).
56. McDonald LRobinson PA Colossal Failure of Common Sense: The Incredible Story of the Collapse of Lehman Brothers. London: Ebury Press; 2009:.
57. McKenna BHandbook on the Knowledge Economy. Rooney DHearn GNinan A, ed. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar; 2005:37-53.
58. March J,Simon HOrganization. 1993) Organization. 2nd edn.Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell; 1993:.
59. March JGAmbiguity and Choice in Organizations. March JGOlsen JP, ed. Bergen, Norway: Universitetsforlaget; 1976:69-81.
60. Michaels DAgnotolology: The Making and Unmaking of Ignorance. Proctor RNSchiebinger L, ed. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press; 2008:90-107.
61. Miller S,Selgelid MJ.Ethical and philosophical consideration of the dual-use dilemma in the biological sciences.Science and Engineering Ethics. 2007;13 (4): 523-580.
62. Moore WE,Tumin MM.Some social functions of ignorance.American Sociological Review. 1949;14 (6): 787-795.
63. Morgan GImages of Organizations. London: SAGE; 1986:.
64. Morrison EW,Milliken FJ.Organizational silence: A barrier to change and development in a pluralistic world.Academy of Management Review. 2000;25 (4): 706-25.
65. Mullins JW.Discovering 'unk-unks'.MIT Sloan Management Review. 2007;48 (4): 17-21.
66. Nelson RR,Winter SGAn Evolutionary Theory of Economic Change. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press; 1982:.
67. Nonaka I,Takeuchi HThe Knowledge-creating Company: How Japanese Companies Create Dynamic Innovation. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 1995:.
68. Nooteboom BA Cognitive Theory of the Firm: Learning, Governance and Dynamic Capabilities. Chelmsford: Edward Elgar; 2009:.
69. O'Driscoll GP,Rizzo MJThe Economics of Time and Ignorance. London; New York: Routledge; 1996:.
70. OED. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2003:.
71. Penrose ETheory of the Growth of the Firm. New York: Wiley; 1959:.
72. Polanyi M.The logic of tacit inference.Philosophy. 1966;41 (155): 1-18.
73. Polanyi MThe Tacit Dimension. London: Routledge; 1967:.
74. Prahalad CK,Hamel G.The core competence of the corporation.Harvard Business Review. 1990;68 (3): 79-91.
75. PrestonP (2011) Twitter and WikiLeaks have made a mockery of the courts: A showdown between the law and common sense is brewing as a footballer takes legal action over Twitter's injunction breach. The Observer, 22May, 28. Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/may/22/twitter-wikileaks-mockery-of-the-courts (accessed 22 May 2011).
76. Proctor RNAgnotolology: The Making and Unmaking of Ignorance. Proctor RNSchiebinger L, ed. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press; 2008:1-33.
77. Ren Y,Carley KM,Argote L.The contingent effects of transactive memory: When is it more beneficial to know what others know?.Management Science. 2006;52 (5): 671-682.
78. Roberts J.The drive to codify: Implications for the knowledge-based economy.Prometheus. 2001;19 (2): 99-116.
79. Roberts J,Armitage J.The ignorance economy.Prometheus. 2008;26 (4): 335-354.
80. SherwellP (2010) BP disaster: Worst oil spill in US history turns seas into a dead zone. The Telegraph, 29May. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/oilandgas/7783656/BP-disaster-worst-oil-spill-in-US-history-turns-seas-into-a-dead-zone.html (accessed 20 May 2010).
81. Simmel G.The sociology of secrecy and of secret societies.American Journal of Sociology. 1906;11 (4): 441-498.
82. Simon HA.A behavioural model of rational choice.Quarterly Journal of Economics. 1955;69 (1): 99-118.
83. Simon HA.Applying information technology to organizational design.Public Administration Review. 1973;33 (3): 268-278.
84. Smithson MNew York: Springer; 1989:.
85. Smithson M.Ignorance and science: Dilemmas, perspectives, and prospects.Knowledge: Creation, Diffusion, Utilization. 1993;15 (2): 133-156.
86. Somin I.Knowledge about ignorance: New directions in the study of political information.Critical Review. 2006;18 (1): 255-278.
87. Swartz M,Watkins SPower Failure: The Rise and Fall of Enron. London: Aurum Press; 2003:.
88. Taleb NNThe Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable. London: Penguin; 2007:.
89. Tsang EWK.Transferring knowledge to acquisition joint ventures: An organizational unlearning perspective.Management Learning. 2008;39 (1): 5-20.
90. Ungar S.Ignorance as an under-identified social problem.British Journal of Sociology. 2008;59 (2): 301-326.
91. Unger PIgnorance: A Case for Scepticism. Oxford: Clarendon Press; 1975:.
92. The Virtues of Ignorance: Complexity, Sustainability, and the Limits of Knowledge. Vitek BJackson W, ed. Lexington, KY: University of Kentucky Press; 2008:.
93. Wegner DMTheories of Group Behavior. Mullen BGoethals GR, ed. New York: Springer; 1986:185-205.
94. Wegner DM,Erber R,Raymond P.Transactive memory in close relationships.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 1991;61 (6): 923-929.
95. Westphal JD,Bednar MK.Pluralistic ignorance in corporate boards and firm's strategic persistence in response to low firm performance.Administrative Science Quarterly. 2005;50:262-298.
96. Wheldon HOrson Welles: Interviews. Estrin MW, ed. Lafayette, MS: University of Mississippi Press; 2002:77-95.
97. Witte MH,Crown P,Bernas M, et alThe Virtues of Ignorance: Complexity, Sustainability, and the Limits of Knowledge. Vitek BJackson W, ed. Lexington, KY: University of Kentucky Press; 2008:251-272.
98. WoodD (2002) Citizen Kane (1941) Review, updated 4March2002. Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2000/12/15/citizen_kane_1941_review.shtml (accessed 6 February 2009).
99. Wylie AAgnotolology: The Making and Unmaking of Ignorance. Proctor RNSchiebinger L, ed. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press; 2008:183-205.
100. ZackMH (1999) Managing organizational ignorance. Knowledge Directions1, (Summer): 36-49. Available at: http://web.cba.neu.edu/~mzack/articles/orgig/orgig.htm (accessed 8 March 2009).