Yu, Ai
(2011)
Facilitating organisational change and innovation: activating
intellectual capital within a learning paradigm.
PhD thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science.
Abstract
Emanating from the mainstream accounting and managerial thinking, which hinges upon
the “command and control” assumption, a firm’s Intellectual Capital (IC) is understood as
an objective reality. Influenced by this understanding, advocates of the measuring
paradigm attempt to posit IC under parsimonious conditions within a reporting system.
This thesis contributes to an emerging critical trend that seeks to counterbalance the
limitations of the measuring paradigm and explores the possibilities of constructing a
learning paradigm.
A series of high-level questions that confront both paradigms, including their ontological
assumptions, methodological considerations, foci of practice, and criteria for ICinformation disclosure, are considered. Whilst the measuring paradigm prioritises the
activities of assessing and reporting individual IC elements, a learning paradigm is
concerned with nurturing a learning motive in IC practice for organisational change and
innovation. The analysis of a learning paradigm draws on the works of three processphilosophers: Habermas, Vygotsky and Deleuze.
This thesis engages with the case study of “InCaS”: a project combined IC research and
practice, involving researchers and 25 SMEs from 5 European countries. Data were
collected through qualitative survey and administrative documents, interviews, and group
discussions over a 30-month-period. Thematic analysis and reconstructed stories analysis
were applied where suitable.
The findings reveal that a learning paradigm does not stand against the measuring
paradigm, but transforms it by enabling a flowing process of IC in SMEs. This flowing
process contributes to the generation and development of new knowledge, new practice,
and a new sense of positive energy. Based on this, the thesis suggests that the future of IC
practice should focus on “IC flow management”, i.e. activate a non-linear process of
learning-by-reflection, learning-by-participation, and learning-by-affection. In doing so, IC
would not be perceived as a lifeless commodity, but as a metaphor of life that
accommodates different pathways to value.
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