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solutions, when we experience that something cannot be explained by our existing meanings.
Likewise people use the development of little k knowledge when their ethical views wrestle with other interests or with an appeal that is made on him or her. The litera- ture that I reviewed, reveals that the development of little k knowledge is being ham- pered when people feel insecure, uncertain, vulnerable, anxious or shamed. Then peo- ple are tempted to hold on to their existing meanings and views or indeed subject themselves to the will of the other.
The last part of my research consists of a cooperative study in which I studied together with a few professionals how the perspective of the interplay between Big K and litte k knowledge can help them and their colleagues to deal with inadequacy in providing professional support. The professionals were active in the same organisation I am working at, and support people with an intellectual disability who live independently. The way they deliver this support and the organisation they are working at, changed considerably over the past years and amongst the professionals an inadequacy had been identified to cope with these changes. In focus groups and interviews I have been talking to the participants of this study about the changes, inadequacy of themselves and colleagues and the findings from my research about the meaning of the interplay between Big K and little k knowledge. In addition the participants devised an assign- ment to try these findings in practice.
The findings of this study demonstrate that insistence on existing meanings and views plays a significant role in the inadequacy to deal with the changes in their work. To- gether with the other participants in this study, I found that professionals can be helped to let go of existing meanings by an orientation on the client’s needs, support from colleagues and connectedness in an organization. At the same time, however, these factors can also make people stick to their existing meanings. What a client needs, for example, can encourage a professional to look differently, but at the same time it can be used in order to disguise the professional’s own fear or need. Colleagues are important for new ideas to try out. On the other hand, however, people tend to conform to each other to prevent mutual friction. Organisations give people a sense of belonging, but at the same time decisions taken from above may be resisted. Because of these ambiguities situations are never stable and people inevitable have to cope with uncertainty and developments that they cannot predict or control.
I have presented the approach of this cooperative study as an example of how the in- terplay between Big K and little k knowledge can contribute to the coping with inade- quacy in providing professional support. That means that someone needs to take the initiative to discuss an issue, interest or value that is under pressure from existing meanings and tries to meet what people have in common. To be effective, all involved have to feel that the others are attuned to him or her and that they help each other to look at things in a different way. This can only succeed when the person who took the initiative is prepared to change his or her views.
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