De‐Essentializing the Knowledge Intensive Firm: Reflections on Sceptical Research Going against the Mainstream
回顾了1993年关于知识密集型企业与修辞斗争的论文，探讨知识工作的模糊性及其引发的身份不确定性，并介绍了问题化研究方法。
abstract This paper provides an updated summary and discussion of my 1993 JMS paper ‘Organization as rhetoric: knowledge‐intensive firms and the struggle with rhetoric’, and relate this to my own and others' later work in the area explored in the paper: knowledge‐intensive work and discourse. A key aspect of knowledge work is the ambiguity of what it stands for, what people working with ‘knowledge’ are doing, and what they accomplish. This fuels identity uncertainties, which is also addressed and reflected upon in the paper. As part of my broader reflections, I also provide a brief overview of some methodological ideas on how to do problematization: a key theme in the original piece but which is more generally a research approach that may lead to contributions that generate interest.