Posted by Yogesh Malhotra on February 10, 1998 at 08:11:27:

In Reply to: Re: theories .vs. metaphors as creators and disseminators of knowledge posted by Ramesh on February 08, 1998 at 06:18:03:

Multiple theories could [and often do] address the same phenomena. Theories are... after all theories... abstractions of reality that help us understand scientific or social phenomena and communicate it to others. About the need for flexibility of 'spectacles,' your point rhymes with what we have discussed earlier on this forum. We have used words such as 'schemas,' 'lenses' and 'interpretive flexibility' instead of 'spectacles.' I'm sure if you do a search on the KM library and Think Tank, you will find articles that contain these words.

A small point on the determinism of theories, such determinism is being increasingly questioned given the emergence of the post-modernist thought. Even in case of scientific phenomena, there are instances where need for multiple 'lenses' is being suggested. The following article contains some references that provide further details on such issues.

Orlikowski, W. & Baroudi, J.J. (1991, March). Studying Information Technology in Organizations: Research Approaches and Assumptions. Information Systems Research, 2(1), 1-28.

The notion of 'white water rapid' is being discussed on this forum under the garb of 'discontinuous change' phenomena which in my view needs 'anticipation of surprise' rather than traditional emphasis on predictive models. You may like to review some of the articles on the WWW KM Library home page that elaborate on this issue. A keynote that I recently presented at the Knowledge Ecology Fair elaborates on such issues further and will be accessible on these pages very shortly.

• WWW Virtual Library on Knowledge Management

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