Topic 8 - HI2

The aim of this section of the course is to illustrate some of the concepts discussed in previous topics in a particular setting: Knowledge Management.

Knowledge Management has become a growth area for academics and consultants alike (see The Elvis Index for KM for a measure of the current popularity). This section of the course will address the question, is Knowledge Management simply the next 'Management Fad', and if not, could Communities of Practice be one solution to some of the current problems of Knowledge Management?

You might like to look at:

• Nonaka, I. (1994). A Dynamic Theory of Organizational Knowledge Creation. Organization Science, 5(1), pp. 14-37.
• Nonaka, I. and von Krogh, G. (2009). Perspective - Tacit Knowledge and Knowledge Conversion: Controversy and Advancement in Organizational Knowledge Creation Theory. Organization Science, 20(3), pp. 635-652.
• Lave J and Wenger E . (1991). Situated Learning. Legitimate Peripheral Participation, Cambridge University Press.
• Wenger E. (1998). Communities of Practice. Learning Meaning and Identity, Cambridge University Press.
• Wenger E and Snyder. WM. 2000). Communities of Practice: The Organizational Frontier. Harvard Business Review, Jan-Feb, pp 139-145.

You might also like to look at some of the publications from the MIS Research Group.

• The Duality of Knowledge (html version)
• An Analysis of Key Factors for the Success of the Communal Management of Knowledge. (pdf version)
• Communities of Practice in the Distributed International Environment (pdf version)
• Knowledge Management: Are We Missing Something? (pdf version)
• Computer Mediated Communications and Communities of Practice. (pdf version)
• Communities of Practice: Going Virtual. (pdf version)
• Knowledge Management in Non-Governmental Organisations: A Partnership for the Future. (pdf version)
• Knowledge Management in Online Distance Education. (pdf version)
• A Group Memory System for Corporate Knowledge Management: An Ontological Approach. (pdf version)

Knowledge Management

• The Fad that Forgot People -
  The focus is on Business Process Re-engineering rather than Knowledge Management, but it does illustrate how knowledge and skills can be lost in organizational re-structuring - and possibly also the risks in blindly following "The Next Big Thing" without thinking through the consequences ...
  "When the Next Big Thing in management hits, try to remember the lessons of reengineering. Don't drop all your ongoing approaches to change in favor of the handsome newcomer".

• Lessons from Japan -
  Is Knowledge Management simply the next management fad? Hirotaka Takeuchi paints a very similar picture to Davenport concerning the pressures on managers in the West to "jump on knowledge management bandwagon."
  

• What is Knowledge Management? (Sveiby Knowledge Management) -
  "Concepts are best defined from how people use them". Sveiby attempts to define Knowledge Management by looking at what "the people in this field" are doing - i.e. vendors (consultants and researchers) and users ".

• Knowledge Networking (David Skyrme Associates) -
  "In this era of tough global competition, organizations must look for ways of generating extra value from their assets. People and information are two critical resources increasingly being recognized as valuable".

• Harvest your workers' knowledge -
  "It's a brave new world out there. Call it post-modern reengineering, and to make your organization perform, you'll have to build systems that support knowledge - not data".

• KPMG Knowledge Management -
  KPMG (Netherlands) site. You can download reports on the "state of the art" of Knowledge Management in the Netherlands for 1998 and 1999 from this site if you look under publications.

• Knowledge Management for Training Professionals -
  Mostly focussed on the needs of trainers, but contains a useful section that defines Knowledge Management.

Communities of Practice

• The People Are the Company -
  Learning is less about absorbing information than it is about becoming part of a community. It is a social process built around informed participation

• Organizational learning and communities-of-practice -
  Conventional descriptions of jobs mask not only the ways people work, but also the significant learning and innovation that is generated in the informal Communities of Practice in which they work.

• Communities of Practice: the Invisible Key to Success -
  "Organizational learning depends on these often invisible groups, but they're virtually immune to management in a conventional sense - indeed, managing them can kill them".

• Balancing Act: How to Capture Knowledge Without Killing It (Abstract only) -
  "The goal ... is to tap into the creativity at work in every layer of an organization with a combination of process and practice".

• Where is the Action in Virtual Communities of Practice? -
  Communities of Practice have become increasingly popular as ways of sharing of knowledge effectively. This paper argues that the transfer of a concept that is deeply rooted in the lived-in world to the virtual involves significant conceptual problems.

• Extensively Computerized Work Groups as Communities-of-Practice -
  Two contrasting case studies of professional and clerical workers.

Assorted link sites

• Knowledge Management and Workflow -
  Links to many sources of information about Knowledge Management from the point of view of groupware.

• Knowledge Management (SocioSite) -
  Links to articles on Knowledge Management of interest to Sociologists and Social Scientists.

• Communities: Communities of Practice -
  Selection of articles on Communities of Practice from a Dutch site.

• Kennismanagement: Artikelen -
  Selection of articles on Knowledge Management from a Dutch site.

• Learning Organizations and Knowledge Management -
  Links to many sources of information about Knowledge Management from an Organizational Learning Viewpoint.

• Arthur Andersen Next Generation Research Group -
  Links + on line publications about Knowledge Management and Communities of Practice.

• Knowledge Management -
  Links to many sources of information about Knowledge Management - by Tripod

• Knowledge Management Link Collection -
  Links to many sources of information about Knowledge Management - by KnowledgeMedia

• Knowledge Management -
  Links to many sources of information about Knowledge Management - Academic site

• CoPs (Communities of Practice) -
  Links to many sources of information about Communities of Practice