Knowledge, Organisation and Suggestion Schemes

After briefly reviewing the nature and status of suggestion schemes, the paper describes the significance of the paired concepts of “tacit and explicit knowledge” and “individual and collective knowledge” for suggestion schemes. It continues by considering the relationship of suggestion schemes to four ideal forms of organisation. This paper is grounded in fieldwork which has investigated both private sector and public sector suggestion schemes. The evidence of the field work is analysed in relationship to types of knowledge and idealised organisational forms. The purpose of this analysis is partly to improve the understanding of suggestion schemes, so that questions about their design and efficacy can be answered. It is also to show how suggestion schemes can be deployed within a knowledge management strategy. Suggestion schemes are based on exploiting the insights of employees as a source of innovation and quality improvement, and they predate concern with knowledge management. Recently they have received increased attention. National organisations to promote suggestion schemes in the UK and in Germany have attracted new members, National Surveys have been carried out, and the UK Government has promoted suggestion schemes in the public sector. However the topic has attracted little academic interest, and what has been published is not concerned with knowledge management [Dunn and Lloyd, 1997; Frese et al, 1999; Sander, 1997; Smith, 1989]. This paper offers an analysis of suggestion schemes in a framework derived jointly from business organisation and