Stumble-stones on the way to knowledge productivity

Loreta Vaicaityte is a master student in the field of Human Resource Development at the University of Twente. Her research investigates the stumble stones on the way to knowledge productivity. What keeps people from being knowledge productive? What are ways to overcome this? The research project started in May 2006 and was finished in November 2006. The final thesis gives an overview of the the research approach and the findings. 

"To start with, I will confess: I, myself, feel slightly in love with the project… You will ask why? Being a creative person and having analytic mind, I am passionate about understanding the mechanisms of knowledge productivity, especially innovation part. Already having a background in Psychology and Organisational Psychology combined with consultant’s work, I found how to add value to the knowledge productivity research.

It truly drives me that I have the possibility to create a theoretical model myself and validate it in practice. Thus, I chose a deductive approach and investigate individual stumble-stones which might slow down the improvement or innovation in a project group. It is exciting as the project is interesting and challenging!"

Thus, to show you a little bit knowledge productivity from the other corner, here are the names of the stumble-stones:

• ‘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,
• and lastly, ‘obey the policeman’ presents manipulation with one’s political or managerial power and indicates how it affects the process of knowledge productivity.