Care of the other: knowledge-creation through care in professional teams

This paper presents a study in a major pharmaceutical company of how team-based, knowledge-intensive work is positively affected by what we refer to as care. Organization theory directs much effort toward understanding how values, norms and cultures are shared, how they construct meaning and make sense within an organization. In addition, the ability to share experiences and know-how is a crucial activity in organizations. This paper presents a framework for knowledge-creation in a relational, sensemaking perspective where the notion of care, the ability to establish interpersonal, sensemaking mechanisms, is the underlying key factor behind knowledge-creation in team-based organizations.