Home
| References: Stephen Denning, The Springboard: How Storytelling Ignites Action in Knowledge-Era Organizations(Butterworth Heinemann: October 2000) Carla O'Dell and Jack Grayson: If Only We Knew What We Knew: The Transfer of Internal Knowledge and Best Practice, (New York, Free Press, 1998) Larry Prusak and Tom Davenport, Working Knowledge: How Organizations Manage What They Know, (Harvard Business School Press, 1998) Etienne Wenger, Communities of Practice (1999) |
As knowledge management evolves from fad to business imperative, many organizations are discovering the limited ability of information technology to capture and share ideas, insights, and know-how. Richard McDermott presents communities of practice as a better vehicle for knowledge sharing and discusses ten critical success factors in building vibrant, effective communities.
Recent developments in information technology have inspired many companies to imagine a new way for staff to share knowledge and insights. Instead of storing documents in personal files and sharing insights with a small circle of colleagues, they can store documents in a common information base and use electronic networks to share insights with their whole community. But most companies soon discover that leveraging knowledge is actually very hard and involves more community building than information technology. This is not because people are reluctant to use information technology. It is because they often need to share knowledge that is neither obvious nor easy to document, knowledge that requires a human relationship to think about, understand and share. Ironically, while information technology has inspired the "knowledge revolution," it takes building human communities to realize it.
6 items | 36 visits
A beginning list of what I've found "of interest" for course participants in the Knowledge Management course at Empire State College, FORUM Management Development Program.
Updated on 2008-02-05
Created on 2008-02-05
Category: Cultures & Community
URL:
