Working Knowledge: How Organizations Manage What They Know

Citation

Bradley, M. (2000), "Working Knowledge: How Organizations Manage What They Know", New Library World, Vol. 101 No. 6, pp. 282-287. https://doi.org/10.1108/nlw.2000.101.6.282.4

From the Harvard School cover logo, to the thick cream paper and “head of chapter” quotes, this book suggests a serious read – its target audience being any and all managers wanting to discover why and how to introduce knowledge management into their organisations.

The authors are Thomas H. Davenport, a Professor of Information Management at the University of Texas and Laurence Prusak, Managing Principal of the IBM Consulting Group in Boston. They bring a wealth of academic and managerial experience to the subject, having written – singularly and jointly – books and journals, including the Harvard Business Review and International Journal of Information Management. Whilst catering for the US market, they strike a global rather than parochial note, with a welcome absence of jargon.

Their primary aim is “ … to develop a preliminary understanding of what knowledge is within an organisation”. They believe knowledge is the only sustainable advantage of the modern organisation and set out to offer practical advice as to how the reader can help his/her organisation to start to use knowledge more effectively and efficiently right now. A general perspective is provided on how firms work, enabling managers to improve performance decisively, and explanations are given as to why there is a new emphasis on this age‐old subject.

It is logically structured, with an informative introduction, leaving the reader in no doubt as to what to expect in the following nine chapters. It also lists the 39 international organisations, such as Hewlett‐Packard and Mobil Oil, used to illustrate theoretical principles.

The authors define main concepts and explain the role of knowledge within the organisation, how to recognise it and what to do with it. This is followed by a thorough discussion on the knowledge market place, including methods of codification and coordination. Three important points are emphasised throughout the book. First, that top management must be committed; otherwise any efforts are doomed to failure. Second, information professionals possess key skills which are often under‐utilised, and lastly, that IT is purely a conduit or tool for knowledge management and should not be used as an end in itself.

Appealing to readers whose “time is money”, the clear layout is enhanced by the liberal use of headings, subheadings and bullet points. The busy reader is further aided by the presence of emboldened key points set into the body of the text. General principles tend to be re‐addressed in every chapter, allowing the reader to target a particular aspect without having to read additional chapters to add context. However, readers wishing to read the book from cover to cover will find this repetition annoying, making the book about a third longer than necessary.

Whilst essentially not adding anything new to the debate, the authors succeed in providing a very comprehensive overview of the subject, reinforced by plenty of hands‐on project results. References in the text are unobtrusive, and explanations and citation details are easily found, listed chapter by chapter, over five pages at the back of the book. It also contains a very comprehensive index, followed by blank end pages, handy for taking notes.

A good buy for anyone wishing to obtain the latest essential thinking on this subject, drawn together in one trusted source.