152 Posts Found

Peter Drucker was the most renowned management thinker of the 20th century, but his greatest insights came not from his considerable knowledge, but from his ignorance. In this excerpt from his new book A Class with Drucker, William A. Cohen, a longtime protégé of Drucker, recounts how the “father of modern management” once illustrated to his students the value of ignorance.

Content: Article | Author: William A. Cohen | Source: American Management Association (AMA) | Subjects: Knowledge Management, Management

One of the most lucrative assets companies own could be the data they possess. The challenge is turning it into relevant, usable information. Analytics can be a powerful tool in this effort. Accenture profiles a five-step model for putting analytics at the center of corporate decision making.

Content: Article | Authors: Elizabeth Craig, Jeanne G. Harris | Source: Outlook Journal (Accenture) | Subjects: IT / Technology / E-Business, Knowledge Management

Designing a manufacturing network entails devising and managing flows of innovation and know-how—not just determining what to produce and where—and organizing the resulting logistics flows.

Content: Article | Authors: Ann Vereecke, Arnoud De Meyer | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subjects: Knowledge Management, Operations

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To help corporations create knowledge more consciously, the author of Managing Flow draws on Western and Eastern philosophic traditions.

Content: Article | Authors: Ikujiro Nonaka, Sally Helgesen | Source: strategy+business | Subjects: Knowledge Management, People

Alliances will have a major impact on management in the 21st century. In an alliance, managers will have to make difficult decisions about when to partner and with whom, as well as how to structure and manage the partnership. Those managers who can leverage information and knowledge across each stage of the alliance process will find that a knowledge-based approach is critical to the success … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Authors: Lis Sasson, Salvatore Parise | Source: Ivey Business Journal | Subject: Knowledge Management

Increasingly, companies are spreading “knowledge work” tasks – such as research and product development – overseas as a means to increase competitiveness, reduce costs, access new talent pools and establish a presence in emerging markets. Yet many struggle to achieve the performance to which they aspire.

This paper describes how a structured approach for understanding the link between decision-making (how work is governed) and workflow (how … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Authors: Bhushan Sethi, Frederick D. Miller, Vivek Sethia | Source: Deloitte | Subjects: International, Knowledge Management

Informal networks can play a pivotal role in how organizational decisions are framed and executed. But they can also result in too much collaboration—the kind of lengthy and expensive decision making that can cost companies dearly in missed opportunities.

Content: Case Study | Authors: Rob Cross, Robert J. Thomas, Yaarit Silverstone | Source: Outlook Journal (Accenture) | Subjects: Knowledge Management, Organizational Behavior

This paper surveys a number of different Knowledge Management (KM) strategies and a range of driving forces for knowledge management activities. The authors then attempt to produce a simple classification tool that will allow us to link the drivers to the KM strategies, using a number of published heuristics. Finally, a case study is presented which applies the method suggested and discuss its usefulness.

Content: Article | Authors: John Kingston, Knox Haggie | Source: University of Edinburgh | Subject: Knowledge Management

Knowledge management concerns two important activities. One is to define ways to capture and convert knowledge into a form useful within business processes. This includes the definition of knowledge objects and knowledge creation activities. The second is how to integrate the knowledge creation activities into the business process. The paper concentrates on such integration and ways to model it. The paper defines a knowledge creation … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Igor Hawryszkiewycz | Source: University of Technology Sydney | Subject: Knowledge Management

A significant area of KM (Knowledge Management) systems research is the development of systems with the potential to bridge the knowledge application gap in organizations. In this context, an important challenge is to develop design principles intended to keep KM systems alive – updated, current, maintained – by encouraging use. In addressing this challenge, this paper reports lessons learned from evaluating KM systems in a … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Dick Stenmark | Source: Göteborg University | Subject: Knowledge Management

Knowledge sharing allows teams and individuals to more quickly develop solutions to difficult problems, reduce costly duplication of effort, and create new, innovative solutions through collaboration. But, most knowledge sharing practices neglect the group or individual who will receive and hopes to leverage the knowledge. Written to help the reader empathize with and understand the particular needs of the knowledge sharer, this article suggests what … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Nancy M. Dixon | Source: Ivey Business Journal | Subject: Knowledge Management

Employees come and go with greater frequency than ever before. When they leave, years of invaluable experience and knowledge are lost. Companies that systematically identify “key knowledge holders” and work to retain the knowledge of these employees will gain an advantage over their less farsighted peers. The retention of key knowledge takes on even greater importance as the Baby Boom prepares to retire.

Content: Article | Authors: Anders Fahlander, Angela Schwartz | Source: Boston Consulting Group (BCG) | Subjects: Human Resources, Knowledge Management

CEOs do believe that knowledge can indeed heighten competitive advantage – particularly if that knowledge is of a certain kind. Preliminary findings from a study of Spanish firms, by IESE’s Rafael Andreu along with Joan Baiget and Agustí­ Canals, confirm this. Yet at the same time, the authors discover a paradox: the majority of the so-called “knowledge management initiatives” deployed by firms do not seem … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Authors: Agustí­ Canals, Joan Baiget, Rafael Andreu | Source: IESE Insight | Subject: Knowledge Management

Managers who have difficulty either believing or appreciating that knowledge management delivers tangible benefits would do well to read this article by a consultant and academic at the United Kingdom’s Cranfield School of Management. Mr. Murray’s four-step program for delivering intangible benefits include making knowledge management a demand-led activity keyed to business results; focusing on areas where investments in knowledge management will yield the best … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Peter Murray | Source: Ivey Business Journal | Subject: Knowledge Management

Metrics are essential for the advancement of research and practice in an area. In Knowledge Management (KM), the process of measurement and development of metrics is made complex by the intangible nature of the knowledge asset. Further, the lack of standards for KM business metrics and the relative infancy of research on KM metrics points to a need for research in this area. This paper … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Authors: Atreyi Kankanhalli, Bernard C.Y. Tan | Subject: Knowledge Management

It takes years for your company’s best people to acquire their expertise — but only seconds for them to leave. And when they go, they take their deep smarts — or intuition — with them. Here’s how to make sure you keep wisdom in-house.

Content: Article | Sources: BNET, Harvard Business Review | Subjects: Best Practices, Knowledge Management

This online diagnostic tool is part of a Harvard Business Review package on organizational learning aimed at helping you judge your own organization’s learning capabilities. It will help you answer key questions, including: To what extent is your unit functioning as a learning organization? and what are the relationships among the factors that affect learning in your unit?

Content: Online Resource | Authors: Amy Edmondson, David Garvin | Source: Harvard Business School (HBS) | Subjects: Knowledge Management, Management, Organizational Behavior

Knowledge management is a tad passé if all we imagine is managing the brainpower of our colleagues. More important these days, according to this book, is for individuals to actually lead the creation of knowledge in their organizations in a systematic and pragmatic way: That’s how innovation and competitive advantage take hold. This serious book offers a comprehensive framework in that direction, helping you first … [ Read more ]

Content: Book | Authors: Lee W. Lee, Sharon Seivert, Steven Cavaleri | Subject: Knowledge Management

For nearly two decades, consulting firms, technology companies, R&D-driven corporations and other knowledge-intensive organizations have made significant investments in “knowledge management” initiatives. These initiatives are intended to facilitate the capture and transfer of company expertise as a way to spur learning and innovation. But research by Wharton management professor Martine Haas and a colleague indicates that knowledge sharing efforts often fail to result in improved … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Authors: Martine Haas, Morten T. Hansen | Source: Knowledge@Wharton | Subject: Knowledge Management