Continuity Management - Hardcover

Beazley, Hamilton; Boenisch, Jeremiah; Harden, David

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0471219061 ISBN 13: 9780471219064

Publisher: Wiley, 2002

Synopsis

"How can I keep knowledge from walking out the door when employees leave?"

This pressing question is insightfully answered in this landmark book. Operational knowledge has never been more critical to organizational success. Knowledge loss from downsizing, imminent baby-boomer retirements, and high job turnover have created a knowledge continuity crisis that poses an unprecedented threat to organizational productivity and profits. Based on extensive research, Continuity Management solves this crucial problem of knowledge loss for managers at any organizational level by describing an effective strategy for preserving knowledge continuity between employee generations. Revolutionary in its effect, but evolutionary in its practice, continuity management is fueling a new knowledge revolution. This book is about that revolution-and how to lead it.

About this title

From the Inside Flap

"How can I keep knowledge from walking out the door when employees leave?"

This recurring management question, perhaps the most pressing of the Information Age, is insightfully answered in this groundbreaking book. Acute knowledge loss from downsizing and imminent baby-boomer retirements has exacerbated chronic knowledge loss from high job turnover; together, these factors pose an unprecedented threat to organizational productivity, profits, even survival. The loss of knowledge that accompanies an employee's transfer, resignation, termination, or retirement is the single most pervasive and costly source of knowledge mismanagement in corporate America today.

But it doesn't have to be. Continuity Management describes a breakthrough process that transfers operational knowledge from departing employees to their successors. Knowledge continuity initiatives at Pfizer, Deloitte Consulting, EMC Corporation, the U.S. Army, and hundreds of other organizations are already under way. But such initiatives are just the beginning. They herald the sweeping change that continuity management will bring, revolutionizing how leaders manage and companies compete. Continuity management implementation generates decisive competitive advantages: faster ramp-up of new employees, improved customer satisfaction, greater innovation, a sustained commitment to learning, and increased productivity.

Until now, knowledge continuity has been the missing link in the new paradigm that recognizes the organization as a network of thoughts rather than a hierarchy of positions-and knowledge as the force that binds, directs, and vitalizes it. Revolutionary in its effect, but evolutionary in its practice, continuity management is central to the tidal wave that is reshaping organizational knowledge flow and creation in the new century and transforming the way we think about knowledge.

Based on extensive research, this book offers a solution to knowledge loss that managers at any organizational level can use. Continuity management is fueling a new knowledge revolution. This book is about that revolution-and how to lead it.

About the Author

HAMILTON BEAZLEY, PhD, is chairman of the Strategic Leadership Group and former associate professor of organizational sciences at The George Washington University. Prior to his academic career, he served in various financial and strategic planning positions in the American oil industry and as president of two nonprofit organizations.

JEREMIAH BOENISCH is a communications officer in the U.S. Air Force who has served on the staff of the Office of the Secretary of Defense at The Pentagon. He holds a master's degree in organizational management from The George Washington University.

DAVID HARDEN is a pilot in the U.S. Air Force who has served on the Joint Chiefs of Staff at The Pentagon. He holds a master's degree in organizational management from The George Washington University.

Edition details

• Publisher: Wiley
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0471219061
• ISBN 13: 9780471219064
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 269