The Organizational Dynamics of Knowledge Production

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study examines the organizational dynamics of knowledge production within the Dutch intelligence community, particularly as it aims to produce local and non-kinetic knowledge. Through the use of qualitative research methods, it is found that knowledge production is practiced based on the assumption that knowledge is neutral and can therefore be used to the advantage of the organization by knowledge management. Such practices induce knowledge to be produced through an infrastructure that collects local 'data' and aggregates it up to the central level where it has to be fused into a concise prognosis for the staff at the central Head Quarters. Through such practice, the military organization constructs a 'sense of neutrality' of knowledge that legitimizes the decisions they base on it. However, this study demonstrates that such a neutral separation between intelligence and decision-making is ambiguous, because it is demonstrated that knowledge is produced through the constant negotiation over the boundaries between the two.