| Organizations hoping to leverage intellect need to think | | | | cultures. |
| less in terms of knowledge and more about | | | | What Data is Important? |
| encouraging communication, hence a networked | | | | Using business intelligence data to evaluate and |
| economy. A networked economy co-creates a | | | | ultimately improve corporate performance requires |
| shared understanding, perspective and language | | | | knowing exactly what data should be examined and |
| among people from a diversity of disciplines, priorities, | | | | what should be ignored. You only need a certain |
| growth stages and cultures. This is why the paradigm | | | | amount of data to make the right decision. Therefore, |
| needs to move towards emphasizing a | | | | specific business needs must be kept in mind when |
| "communicating", "connecting" or "networking" rather | | | | developing business intelligence strategies. |
| than a "knowledge" economy. | | | | The key question, according to Mark Smith, CEO of |
| Technology: Blessing or Curse? | | | | San Mateo, California--based Ventana Research, is |
| The role of technology in assisting with capturing | | | | what specific data is necessary to measure the |
| knowledge will increase in the future. IT executives and | | | | effectiveness of each department, e.g., what data is |
| professionals now bring substantial business | | | | needed for finance and what data is needed for |
| experience to their jobs. This suggests that chief | | | | manufacturing. It's easier to determine what data is |
| information officers (CIO's) may play a bigger role in | | | | needed and create the proper metrics and key |
| overall business strategies. | | | | performance indicators if you break things down in this |
| However, some experts suggest reliance on | | | | fashion. |
| technology obscures the crucial human issues in | | | | What is Knowledge? |
| learning and teaching. In the early 1990s, executives at | | | | But this is only the beginning. Most of the "knowledge" |
| London's water supplier sought to improve efficiency | | | | on which the knowledge economy is built is actually |
| by giving inspectors hand-held computers and | | | | just information--data, facts and basic business |
| eliminating the central dispatching station. However, | | | | intelligence. Knowledge itself is more profound. As |
| research revealed the depot had been more than a | | | | management guru Tom Davenport once put it, |
| place for the inspectors to change clothes and pick up | | | | "Knowledge is information combined with experience, |
| their trucks. It was also where they learned vital tricks | | | | context, interpretation, and reflection." It's the |
| of their trade. Dave Snowden, then a | | | | knowledge derived from information that gives you a |
| knowledge-management consultant for IBM, found that | | | | competitive edge. |
| need was so great that the inspectors soon began | | | | Political, economic, and social forces in conjunction with |
| meeting on their own at a local restaurant and jotting | | | | rapid technological advancements are shaping today's |
| tips in a notebook they stashed behind the counter. | | | | organizational operating environment. These forces |
| A few years earlier, Julian Orr, an anthropologist then | | | | have accelerated the speed and frequency of change. |
| working for Xerox, heard remarkably similar stories | | | | This new reality requires the community to be |
| from copier technicians. Xerox supplied manuals, but | | | | innovative, adaptable, and poised to take advantage of |
| the employees told Mr. Orr they more often relied on | | | | a fast-changing environment. Coupled with the |
| tips gleaned from colleagues. Backed by Mr. Orr's | | | | increasing lack of time and attention workers have |
| research, Xerox gave the technicians radios so they | | | | available to commit to traditional competency-based |
| could confer while confronting a malfunctioning | | | | learning, there is a deep recognition that learning |
| machine. | | | | methods must keep pace with the needs and |
| As in the HP-China study--research seem to suggest | | | | expectations of the organization's community. |
| adding a technology piece--after creating a robust | | | | Technology bridges the gap. However, technology |
| knowledge exchange program. | | | | along cannot do the job. Astute, savvy, and intelligent |
| Don't Forget the Human Factor | | | | people are needed for a knowledge management |
| Many leaders fail by putting the lion's share of their KM | | | | program to be complete. |
| investment in technology solutions intended to make it | | | | Summary |
| easier to search and find information, capture lessons | | | | Organizations hoping to leverage intellect need to think |
| learned, and share best practices. So, it's now easier to | | | | less in terms of knowledge and more about |
| find content, but content doesn't deliver | | | | encouraging communication, hence a networked |
| performance--people do. Managers can't avoid the | | | | economy. A networked economy co-creates a |
| daunting people aspects of what it takes to transfer | | | | shared understanding, perspective and language |
| and use knowledge. | | | | among people from a diversity of disciplines, priorities, |
| Experts agree that it is of immense importance to | | | | growth stages and cultures. The operative words here |
| understand how to design knowledge management | | | | are "among people." Reliance on technology alone |
| systems so that they mesh with human behavior at | | | | obscures the crucial human issues in learning and |
| the individual and collective levels. By allowing users to | | | | teaching. |
| see one another and to make inferences about the | | | | As the role of technology in assisting with capturing |
| activities of others, online collaboration platforms can | | | | knowledge increases in the future, it is imperative that |
| become environments in which new social forms can | | | | organizations not forget the human factor. And, while |
| be invented, adopted, adapted, and propagated, | | | | technology now makes it easier to find |
| eventually supporting the same sort of social innovation | | | | content--managers must keep in mind that content |
| and diversity that can be observed in physically based | | | | doesn't deliver performance--people do. |