‘New’ Types of Knowledge in KM - Towards a Definition of Aesthetic Knowledge and Knowing

Abstract

The ‘soft’ side of Knowledge Management (Serenko, 2021) is currently witnessing a trend towards new types of knowledge, often grouped under the category of non-rational knowledge. This paper aims to contribute to this discourse by exploring organizational aesthetics as a form of such non-rational knowledge. Drawing from existing literature on organizational aesthetics, the paper proposes definitions for aesthetic knowledge and aesthetic knowing to make the concept of aesthetics more accessible for the realm of KM. Findings show that one of the core elements of aesthetic knowing and knowledge is that they allow for creative agency. This implies that aesthetics enables the creation, comprehension and enactment of a desired organi-zational image – a capacity that is advocated to be crucial in dealing with todays complex and dynamic environments.