How to Implement Nothing-ness as a Pathway to New Knowledge: Ma – The Forgotten Dimension in Modern Knowledge Management

While the concept of Ba in the sense of “enabling spaces” is quite common in the field of knowledge management, the concept of Ma is almost completely overlooked in the academic literature. In this paper we argue that in modern knowledge management it is just as important to focus on the aspect of Ma as an in-between space and as a place of nothingness and as a kind of pause as it is to focus on the aspect of Ba. This paper acknowledges the value of existing and conventional approaches of Knowledge Management, especially Ba and builds upon it, yet introduces Ma as a further refinement, a concept that emphasizes the intervals, pauses, and spatial-temporal qualities through which meaning and resonance arise. In this sense, the implementation of nothing-ness could literally be seen as a pathway to new knowledge. It can be shown that there is an interesting connection between Ma and the constructs of selflessness and psychological safety. This triad could have interesting implications for modern knowledge management. As a first step, we discuss a concrete implementation of Ma in the field of education, which can be seen as a solid foundation for further work.