However, this book is likely to disturb people who have read and formed ideas about KM by reading works of the American thought leaders.
In the start of the book the authors try and make the difference explicit.
In a passage titled "what's wrong with knowledge management?" they spell it out :
Pitfall I: KM relies on easily detectable, quantifiable information.
Pitfall II: KM is devoted to the manufacture of tools.
Pitfall III: KM depends on a Knowledge Officer.
While the premises of Knowledge Enabling and Creation are:
Premise I: Knowledge is justified true belief, individual and social, tacit and explicit.
Premise II: Knowledge depends on your perspective.
Premise III: Knowledge Creation is a craft , not a science.
The authors reiterate that organizational Knowledge Creation involves five main steps :
1. Sharing tacit knowledge
2. Creating concepts
3. Justifying concepts
4. Building a prototype
5. Cross-leveling knowledge.
To facilitate this the following 5 enablers need to be in place :
1. instill a knowledge vision
2. manage conversations
3. mobilize knowledge activits
4. Create the right context
5. Globalize local knowledge
The book is rich in case studies which show how different companies that follow these concepts are growing in leaps and bounds and innovating over others who remain stuck in the KM paradigm.
The authors note that in the Knowledge journey companies can be mapped in 3 phases, which might or might not be sequential.
1. The Risk Minimisers , whose focus is capturing and locating knowledge. The tools they use are data warehousing, datamining, Yellow pages, IC-Navigator, Balanced Scorecard, Knowledge Audits, IC-Index, Business Information Systems, Rule-based systems [these firms still view knowledge as a resource that needs to be collected and managed]
2. The Efficiency Seekers, who focus on transferring and sharing knowledge. The tools they use are internets, intranets, Lotus Notes/Groupware, Networked organization, knowledge workshops, knowledge workbench, Best Practice Transfer, Benchmarking, Knowledge-gap analysis, Knowledge sharing culture, Technology transfer units, Knowledge transfer units, Systems Thinking
3. The Innovators who enable Knowledge creation are typically those who embrace a knowledge vision, managing conversations, creating the right context, mobilize knowledge activists, globalize local knowledge, professional innovation networks, new organizational forms, New HRM-systems, new corporate values, project management systems, corporate universities, communities and storyboards.
This book is a clear showcase of these elements. It provides a profound yet pragmatic guidance on the road to becoming a learning organisation. Where capturing & locating, and transferring & sharing knowledge are essential in achieving competitive advantage through knowledge, the real source of sustainable advantage is, as the authors claim, the continuous creation of new knowledge, as a result of developing a strategic vision and an enabling organisation and culture to realise that (evolving) vision.
Being involved in implementing a number of the concepts in our organisation, I am convinced this book provides many ideas and tools that will help today's corporate world in reshaping our business for the knowledge economy.
Highly recommended!