Institutional and Operational Knowledge in Work

Abstract

A drstinction is made between institutionalized occupational knowledge and operational knowledge applied in work. On this basis, a broadly conceived "sensitizing" framework for the analysis of operational knowledge and its sources is developed. Operational knowledge, based on the practitioner's sense of certaintv concerning objects and events encountered in work, varies in terms of the complex interactive influences of (I) institutionalized knowledge in the occupation and its degree of adequacv, (2) characteristics of formal socialization programs; (3) socialization outcomes; and (4) conditions associated with the workplace. These components combine at the level of the occupational task to produce varied forms of operational knowledge among practitioners in the same occupation.