Knowledge Construction and Risk Induction within a Large High-Tech Firm

Abstract

An ethnographic case study of two interacting workgroups within a large North American aerospace company allowed us to propose a dialogical model describing both verbal and non-verbal interactions between group members leading towards knowledge complexification on the one hand and risk mitigation on other hand. Factors leading towards dialogical breakdown and subsequent risk induction are also presented. This study attempts to bridge the areas of knowledge creation and risk induction at the interpersonal/workgroup level.