Knowledge Management Practice in Organizations: The View from Inside
Reviewed by Barbie E. Keiser, Information Resources Management consultant in the Washington, DC area
Knowledge Management Practice in Organizations: The View from Inside is part of IGI Global’s (http://www.igi-global.com) Advances in Knowledge Acquisition, Transfer, and Management (AKATM) Book Services, bringing “together research on emerging technologies and its effect on information systems and knowledge management.” In this text’s eleven chapters, seven information and knowledge management professionals, including the editor, Ulla de Stricker, president of a Toronto-based knowledge management consultancy, present both concepts and examples to illustrate how those KM plays out in the “real world.”
The Preface begins by defining knowledge management (KM) in the broadest of terms, explaining that the book is designed to support groups of professionals working in KM or assuming an associated role, including:
- Organizational leaders
- Analysts and planners
- Information professionals and librarians
- Information technology professionals
- Students aiming for information and knowledge management careers, as well as the instructors teaching those students
- Researchers
- Knowledge workers.
This last, the knowledge worker, “refers to individuals whose work consists primarily of finding, applying, and producing information and knowledge in support of the organization’s goals” (p. x). The book “is derived from real life experience. The contributors intend to add their voices of pragmatism to the many existing conversations… They speak from extensive experience working in organizations” (p. xiii). Indeed, one of the best features of the book is the inclusion of examples from real-life, presented not as formal case studies, but to illustrate specific aspects of knowledge management activities, techniques, or implementation of tools used for KM purposes.
The focus of this book is the practical application of knowledge management understanding to the processes of decision-making, planning, and many other aspects of organizational activity. In Chapter 1, Ms. de Stricker indicates the growing recognition by organizational leaders that throwing new technology and more money in an effort to harness “what the organization knows” does not work. Subsequent chapters address specific KM concepts and activities. Recognizing that the authors have just skimmed the surface of knowledge management tools and techniques, there is plenty of room for a follow-on book utilizing the same approach, covering different KM techniques and tools.
Most of the contributors to this book are former special librarians/information managers. Ulla points out that their specialized education and expertise benefit business operations in many ways and these individuals are ready to assume roles in building organization taxonomies, customizing document management systems, designing user interfaces, and making sure that their organizations/institutions adhere to content license terms, avoiding copyright law violations.
Volume… inundates and paralyzes… management of an organization’s intellectual capacity (p. 8). Many times, individuals in need of a “quick overview” turn to colleagues whom they believe will have “the answer.” At first, they might have sent out an all-company email: “Say, does anyone know about______?” In Stage 2 of KM development, they might choose a likely “community” to approach for assistance; today, they might be turning to directories of expertise within their firm to identify:
- Who is doing what?
- Who knows what?
- Who can teach what?
Often, it’s an issue of getting individuals to recognize what they know (and take for granted) that may not be known by others (or assumed that “everyone knows this”) and is valued by the organization. Some may be reluctant to share, for a number of reasons ranging from personality (shyness) to fear (of losing their job if everyone can do what they can do). Others may not find it easy to share, with barriers relating to technology, their own technical skills using the technology, or work that is compartmentalized (“silo-ed”) so that individuals don’t know what is being done elsewhere in the organization. In her discussion of the silo challenge and the fast pace of work these days, Ulla recognizes that staff often develop “creative workarounds” to practices and procedures. She warns the reader not to assume that everyone thinks the way you do. This has enormous effect when it comes to taxonomies and search, for example, and the product names, acronyms, and keywords someone might employ.
In “Knowledge Culture” (Chapter 2), Ulla explores how organizational culture can affect the aspects of KM an organization addresses first and/or best, encouraging or inhibiting knowledge acquisition and exchange. She highlights two of the most common KM interventions today:
- Onboarding, where “this is how we do X here” is explained to new staff
- Harvesting insights from those nearing retirement.
Cindy Shamel stresses the importance of the knowledge assessment in Chapter 3, one of the initial steps in the planning stage as an organization embarks on its KM journey. She enumerates its benefits to the organization and describes implementing a process designed to gather the information needed to assure that KM projects are targeted to help the organization eliminate barriers for knowledge exchange, for example.
In Chapter 4, Connie Crosby, a former law firm library manager turned consultant (http://crosbygroup.ca) looks at communities as effective instruments for knowledge sharing and transfer in the workplace. Ms. Crosby explores a range of community types, both formal and informal, highlighting benefits to individuals, groups, and entities; activities (e.g., meetings, storytelling); and how to improve engagement (e.g., taxonomy, administration, leadership).
In Chapter 5, Ms. Crosby looks at the increasingly important role of social media for KM. Perhaps the most important sections of this chapter deal with how one makes the business case for social, pointing out its value to KM and the 21st Century organization. Connie walks the reader through the necessary steps to assure efficient rollout and effective use of social media, including: Finding a champion; Getting buy-in; Selecting technology; Establishing governance; and setting the rules for engagement. She also stresses the possible need for learning to collaborate, how gamification can increase engagement, and the importance of a mobile strategy.
Gordon Vala-Webb (National Director, Innovation and Information, with the Canadian law firm McMillan LLP) picks up on the “social” theme in Chapter 6, “Building Smarter Organizations,” describing the use of Enterprise Social Networks to build smarter organizations. In this context, being smart means being nimble, always ready to learn and make changes to take advantage of opportunities, and having the ability both to learn quickly and translate that learning rapidly into action. Vala-Webb proposes we use the Results-Achieved, Context-Centered (RACC) model for KM and he illustrates how such a model could be applied to facilitate change. The “new” collaborative leaders, with the emphasis on humans supported by technology, can change the culture of an organization.
In “The Learning Organization” (Chapter 7), Deborah Keller “explores how…barriers to successful knowledge management include such obvious elements as high level ownership and a culture valuing the learning every employee can contribute to the organization’s future” (p. 183). The chapter begins with an introduction to Peter “Senge’s pairing of systems thinking with team learning, the “fifth discipline,” created the framework for seeing interrelationships and patterns of change” (p.183). Keller expands on the importance of capturing lessons and how collaboration fosters innovation and the creation of new knowledge. An enterprise approach to KM means that the organization needs a coordinated approach to meet the needs of multiple teams; reduce/eliminate duplication; promote financial savings; and connect teams with similar interests. This chapter contributor describes the reasons why many organizations fail to approach KM at the enterprise level (e.g., barriers concerning boundaries, coordination, expense, delay in appearance of results, organizational politics/turf wars, lack of a champion), hypothesizing how each can be overcome.
In Chapter 8, Karen Huffman (manager of SaaS/Cloud Apps and Collaborative Technologies for National Geographic Society’s Campus Technology team) introduces “Tools for Talking” by exclaiming, “conversations are critical to knowledge management” (p. 199). Her “predisposition to KM is closely tied to intentional acts that imitate conversations as well as to methodologies and tools for fostering conversations to affect change” (p.200). The author describes six conversation-fostering tools, providing an overview of each, examples, key learnings, and links to where readers can “learn more” about:
- Unconferences
- Mind mapping
- Pecha Kucha
- Audio conferencing
- Web conferencing
- Virtual communities
Constance Ard and Ulla de Stricker examine the benefits organizations derive by “Levering External Consulting Expertise” (Chapter 9). Where chapters 1-8 discuss KM initiatives “conceived and orchestrated internally in the organization… this chapter focuses on situations in which knowledge management is planned a possibly kickstarted from outside in the form of consultants” (p. 220). This occurs when internal expertise is not up to what is required “to achieve specific goals in specified time frames” (p. 221). The chapter presents guidelines for working with external consultants that are applicable beyond km initiatives, including developing partnerships, leveraging external expertise, describing the need in an RFP, selecting promising candidates, and creating a “project charter, monitoring and supporting progress, managing the final report, and transitioning new operations.
The Postcript (Chapter 10) allows four of the book’s contributors to “comment on their experience of leadership in the field of knowledge management” (p. 236), giving advice to new KM leaders. In the “Summation” (Chapter 11), information professional turned consultant Constance Ard (http://answermaven.com) “summarizes the book’s chapters into a concise statement of the value and benefits of KM” (p. 249).
There is a “readability” to the chapters for anyone not steeped in KM, an appropriate and consistent tone through the book, and the expert writing style exhibited by all indicates the work of a real pro when it comes to editing. Each chapter had a useful bibliography of resources for those interested in learning more; some had glossaries of terms that were aggregated at the end of the book as well. (This is important for any e-book, making it easier for the reader to read a chapter rather than toggle back-and-forth to the book’s glossary in a separate section.)
Navigation to the book online was easy: Click on “View Details” to see each chapter as HTML or use the PDF download capability of the online system. The online system provided easy chapter citation (APA, MLA, Chicago style) and export (RefWorlds, EasyBib, EndNote, Mendeley). The two-column formatting is awkward for reading lengthy chapters online – more suited to a shorter article. I read the work on my laptop, and I recognize that it may present better on a mobile device, but I found having to scroll up to view the second column quite tedious after a while.
The editor and contributors of Knowledge Management Practice in Organizations: The View from Inside have just scratched the surface in terms of highlighting a few knowledge sharing and transfer techniques. There is room for a sequel here and I shall be eagerly awaiting the next installment.
de Stricker, U. (2014). Knowledge Management Practice in Organizations: The View from Inside (pp. 1-318). Hershey, PA: IGI Global. doi:10.4018/978-1-4666-5186-9
