Antarctic sledging preparations and tacit knowledge
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 9224855 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Ronald Savitt (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2004 |
| Volume | 40 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 153-165 |
| Publication date | 2004-04-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Polar Record (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0032-2474 • E-ISSN: 1475-3057 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0032247403003346 |
| OpenAlex | W2032525331 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 11 |
The article discusses how organisational structure and culture affected the preparations for sledging in three Antarctic expeditions between 1901 and 1904. The central focus is how expedition leaders sought tacit knowledge, ‘the knowledge of how we do things.’ Two organisational types were derived from a study of 36 major polar expeditions. These – the industrial organisation and the innovative organisation – were used to analyse how sledging practices evolved in the British National Antarctic Expedition, German South Polar Expedition, and Scottish National Antarctic Expedition. Robert Falcon Scott, in great part as a result of his naval heritage, did not fully understand the need for and the methods required to gain the operational knowledge required for sledging in Antarctica. He applied the traditional command-and-control system based on naval tradition. Erich von Drygalski and William Speirs Bruce applied Fridtjof Nansen's scientific approach, in which the scientific staffs were integrated into sledging operations. In this approach, every variable that could possibly affect the outcome of the research was incorporated into preparations, much as is the case in classical experimental design. While no attempt is made to judge sledging success in the study, the results clearly indicate the importance of knowing how to use the tacit dimension in sledging. The implications go far beyond sledging and suggest the need for managers to have an intimate understanding of how things work
Archaeology · Dimension (graph theory) · Environmental ethics · German · Knowledge management · Management · Social science · Sociology · Sociology of scientific knowledge · Tacit knowledge · Computer Science · History · History of Science and Natural History · Philosophy · Polar Research and Ecology
The Great Frozen Sea
Northward over the Great Ice
The Tacit Dimension
An evolutionary theory of economic change
The Siege of the South Pole
The Heart of the Antarctic
The South Pole
Sledges and sledging in polar regions
Saga of the Discovery
The Southern Ice-Continent
Three Years' Exploration in Franz Josef Land
| Citations per year | 0.16 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2007 - 2022 (16) |
| Highly cited | No |