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Simon and Polanyi on Rationality and Knowledge

Michigan State University, USA

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed.

	Abstract

Organizational researchers cite Simon and Polanyi without adequately acknowledging and dealing with the disparities in their perspectives on rationality and knowledge. This study explains the views of Simon and Polanyi and traces their disparities to differing underlying philosophical perspectives. Simon's research emphasized cognition over action, explicit knowledge over tacit knowledge, mechanistic information processing over human judgment, and means over ends. Polanyi provides counterbalancing emphases for each of these orientations in his explanation of skillful performance. The latter portion of this study draws conclusions about the perspectives of Simon and Polanyi and identifies implications for research on rationality and knowledge management.

Key Words: bounded rationality, tacit knowledge, epistemology, knowledge management, ethics, creativity

First published on May 20, 2008, doi:10.1177/0170840608090532

Organization Studies 2008;29:933.

A more recent version of this article appeared on July 1, 2008


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