Knowledge Management: Classic and Contemporary Works

Citation

Smith, A.G. (2001), "Knowledge Management: Classic and Contemporary Works", Online Information Review, Vol. 25 No. 6, pp. 406-421. https://doi.org/10.1108/oir.2001.25.6.406.3

The problem with reviewing any work on knowledge management is that it means different things to different people, depending on their discipline. There are at least three dimensions to knowledge management: in computer science it refers to the technology for organising knowledge, librarians associate it with the structuring of information that is done through metadata and cataloguing, and in the management field it is associated with the enabling of organisations to use their explicit and tacit knowledge to promote productivity and innovation. Knowledge Management: Classic and Contemporary Works is firmly in the management camp, although at least one author is nice enough to mention that the “traditional corporate library” should not be overlooked in knowledge management initiatives.

There are in fact only three “classic works” in the book: Senge (1990); an extract from Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995); and an extract from Kaplan and Norton (1996). Each work is used to introduce a section, dealing respectively with strategy, process, and metrics. Each section starts with an introduction; and in the case of Senge, Nonaka and Takeuchi, the authors contribute a contemporary commentary on their work. The rest of each section consists of previously unpublished essays by authors who are largely from the business consulting area.

The strategy section is mostly concerned with the “learning organisation” and how this concept gave rise to knowledge management; it is refreshing that Senge considers knowledge management to be a “fad” and points up the potential contradications of technology initiatives that claim to be“capturing tacit knowledge”. This point is amplified by David Skyrme’s accompanying essay which argues that “management of tacit knowledge is an oxymoron” but points out that the organisational environment can enhance the exchange of tacit knowledge through better interactions between workers. This is aided by “active information management” by librarians (or, if you are looking for a new job title, “knowledge editors”) who ensure that the organisation’s explicit knowledge is well structured and relevant. The value of informal communication, and the challenge of finding ways to integrate it into knowledge management, is pointed out by a statement in the essay by Ives, Torrey and Gordon of Andersen Consulting: “the best knowledge sharing technology is the coffee pot, but it doesn’t scale”.

The section on process has some interesting insights into the fostering of innovation. The introduction by Bipin Junnarkar suggests that knowledge management needs to be less concerned with “content management” than with “context management” – creating the organisational environment that fosters knowledge sharing.

Nonaka and Takeuchi’s (1995) “classic work” provides a Japanese perspective, arguing that in the West, managers concentrate on knowledge as a thing, and ignore tacit knowledge. Nonaka and Takeuchi provide many examples from their research into the ways in which Japanese research and development groups foster innovation through socialisation; arguing for experiential research and group “brainstorming” sessions. A group tasked with designing a disposable drum for the Canon mini‐photocopier modelled their design on the aluminium beer cans that fueled their brainstorming sessions, and the key innovation in the design of the Matsushita home baking machine was made by an engineer apprenticed to a Tokyo master baker as part of the project. She noted that the master’s kneading action included twisting, as well as pulling, leading to a successful redesign. Interestingly, Nonaka and Takeuchi’s contemporary commentary on their classic gives the impression of bemusement that they have been included in a work on knowledge management, which in its current form has had little acceptance in Japan.

The section on metrics brings together a number of perspectives. Kaplan and Norton’s (1996) extract on the “balanced scorecard” approach to measurement of innovation is a little difficult to follow for readers not already familiar with the concept. The accompanying pieces describe several different approaches to valuing “intellectual capital” in its various forms, but leave unresolved the question of whether measuring the sharing of tacit knowledge is tantamount to measuring the unmeasurable.

The material in the work appears to date from about 1998. References given are generally prior to 1999, and references to the success of Amazon.com seem to date the writing to before the burst of the dot.com bubble. Editing has been fairly light: one paper seems to have been written for a specifically Australian audience, and a variety of citation styles are used, including the intriguing reference: “missing reference – AU please supply”!

While Knowledge Management: Classic and Contemporary Works provides some valuable perspectives, the various authors have made little attempt to integrate their vision, and it would have been useful for the editors to have contributed a concluding chapter to bring some kind of synthesis to the work. One is left with the intriguing thought that it would be useful for a group of knowledge management experts to write a book on knowledge management by applying knowledge management principles: putting into practice in a writing task their theories of knowledge sharing and coordination. In the meantime, practitioners looking to get an overview of the field need to read widely, including, for instance, Srikantiah and Koenig (2000), which provides management, information technology and library perspectives.