Master thesis on stumble stones online!

The master thesis of Loreta Vaicaityte (in the middle) is finished (see attachment)! In her research she examined personal factors that might inhibit the process of knowledge productivity in group work. She calls these inhibiting factors ‘stumble stones’. She found twelve stumble stones and gave them intriguing names. That makes it nice to work with them. The practitioners we worked with to validate the set of stumble stones recognised them from their own work.

Interesting is the link with the principles of knowledge productivity she made (page 55). Loreta makes a distinction between principles that offer a ‘solution’ to the stumble-stones, principles that ‘prevent people from’ certain stumble stones and stumble stones that ‘block’ certain principles. One of the conclusions is that “the sixth principle ‘starting from strengths’ is the principle, offering most solutions to the personal stumble-stones”. Tomorrow I will discuss the relationship between the stumble stones and the principles for knowledge productivity more in depth together with Loreta and my colleague Marloes.

An overview of the stumble stones (page 3):

• ‘catch the scapegoat’ indicates the tendency to shift responsibility of action to various external sources,
• ‘follow the herd’ presents group thinking phenomenon, which results in conformation to group’s norms and values,
• ‘it is easier than 2+2’ explains the consequences of the personal attitude that an individual knows everything,
• my well in the desert’ presents fear of sharing knowledge and perception of knowledge as a commodity,
• ‘my house is my fortress’ indicates tendency to get used to comfort and resistance to change,
• ‘a banana instead of a carrot’ illustrates the contradiction between individual and group motives,
• ‘how big are your earplugs?’ presents a form of miscommunication, when an individual does not listen and misunderstands speaker’s words,
• ‘dig a hole of distrust’ indicates how distrust in each other inhibits knowledge productivity process in a group,
• ‘the time flies’ shows how wasting time on insignificant issues influences the process of knowledge productivity,
• ‘a trunk or a leg?’ presents misunderstanding when people talk from different perspectives,
• ‘a distorted mirror’ indicates group member’s doubt in himself or doubt that the particular idea can be put into practice,
• ‘obey the policeman’ presents manipulation with one’s political or managerial power and indicates how it affects the process of knowledge productivity.