The aim of this article is to explore the different directions that the development of the management knowledge field could take and to suggest a reasonable direction for its further development. In particular, management knowledge, packaged in the form of labels consisting of more than one word (e.g. knowledge management, learning organization, and organizational learning), is addressed. Three approaches to the development of the field are discussed: (1) the fragmentary approach, (2) the wholeness approach, and (3) the interpretive approach. It is concluded that, to ensure sound development of the field, there must be a continuous trialectic between all three approaches. It is also suggested that management researchers take insights from paradox theory in their studies of management concepts and thus explore the paradoxical tensions that these concepts might possess, instead of dismissing them for being contradictory.
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