Space, Vision and Organizational Learning: The Interplay of Incorporating and Inscribing Practices

• Published in: Management learning 2007-04, Vol.38 (2), p.193-210
• Main Authors: Edenius, Mats, Yakhlef, Ali
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Architecture; Baroque era; Built environment; Business management; Case Studies; Cognition & reasoning; Cognitive ability; Cognitive Processes; Communication; Communication (Thought Transfer); Imagination; Inscriptions; Interpersonal Relationship; Learning; Learning Processes; Listening; Management science; Management techniques; Office layout; Organization development; Organization theory; Organizational learning; Perceptions; Physical Environment; Power; Social interaction; Speech Acts; Studies; Thinking Skills; Vision; Work environment; Workplaces
• ISSN: 1350-5076; 1461-7307
• DOI: 10.1177/1350507607075775

The concept `open-plan office' has captured the corporate imagination. Most research in the area assumes that spatial layouts of work places enhance social interaction and communication among individuals, thereby facilitating learning, sharing and transfer of knowledge. However, absent from these discussions is the significance of visual aspects of space. Drawing on case studies, the article attempts to highlight the link between the visual, perceptual features of space and effects on organizational learning. Whereas Foucauldian vision models over-emphasize inscribing practices in the learning process, this article argues for the significance of incorporating spatial practices, suggesting that organizational learning is the outcome of an interplay of incorporating and inscribing practices. Incorporating practices, as responses to a body in a perceptual space, produce inscriptions that congeal into organizational learning, organizational rules, procedures and routines, and involve an intertwining of vision and movement, of active engagement of the body with the physical environment.