¹INHOLLAND University of Professional Education, Diemen, The Netherlands

Correspondence: Daniel G. Andriessen, Centre for Research in Intellectual Capital, INHOLLAND University of Professional Education, Saturnusstraat 2-24, 2132 HB Hoofddorp, The Netherlands. Tel: +31 6 52375658; E-mail: daan.andriessen@inholland.nl, www.weightlesswealth.com

^†This position paper is the edited text of a keynote address delivered to the 8th European Congress on Knowledge Management 2007 held on 6 and 7 September in Barcelona, Spain.

Received 12 October 2007; Accepted 15 October 2007.

Abstract

This position paper addresses the way knowledge is conceptualised in knowledge management (KM) literature and practice. Using the work of Lakoff and Johnson on metaphors it will show how people use metaphors to think and talk about knowledge. In KM literature at least 22 different metaphors for knowledge are used. Further research shows that these metaphors are primarily Western metaphors while in Eastern philosophy many other metaphors for knowledge are used. The choice of metaphors for knowledge has great influence about the way we think about KM. They determine what we diagnose as KM problems in organisations and what we develop as KM solutions. To illustrate this, this paper presents the results of an exercise set up to determine the effect of metaphors on KM approaches in which two challenging metaphors for knowledge were used: knowledge as water and knowledge as love.