If Only We Knew What We Know: The Transfer of Internal Knowledge and Best Practice - Hardcover

O'dell, Carla; Grayson, C. Jackson

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0684844745 ISBN 13: 9780684844749

Publisher: Free Press, 1998

Synopsis

While companies search the world over to benchmark best practices, vast treasure troves of knowledge and know-how remain hidden right under their noses: in the minds of their own employees, in the often unique structure of their operations, and in the written history of their organizations. Now, acclaimed productivity and quality experts Carla O'Dell and Jack Grayson explain for the first time how applying the ideas of Knowledge Management can help employers identify their own internal best practices and share this intellectual capital throughout their organizations.

Knowledge Management (KM) is a conscious strategy of getting the right information to the right people at the right time so they can take action and create value. Basing KM on three major studies of best practices at one hundred companies, the authors demonstrate how managers can utilize a visual process model to actually transfer best practices from one business unit of the organization to another. Rich with case studies, concrete examples, and revealing anecdotes from companies including Texas Instruments, Amoco, Buckman, Chevron, Sequent Computer, the World Bank, and USAA, this valuable guide reveals how knowledge treasure chests can be unlocked to reduce product development cycle time, implement more cost-efficient operations, or create a loyal customer base. Finally, O'Dell and Grayson present three "value propositions" built around customers, products, and operations that could result in staggering payoffs as they did at the companies cited above.

No amount of knowledge or insight can keep a company ahead if it is not properly distributed where it's needed. Entirely accessible and immensely readable, If Only We Knew What We Know is a much-needed companion for business leaders everywhere.

About this title

About the Author

Carla O'Dell is president of the American Productivity & Quality Center and director of the Center's International Benchmarking Clearinghouse in Houston, Texas. Dr. O'Dell is co-author with C. Jackson Grayson, Jr., of American Business: A Two Minute Warning.

Reviews

O'Dell and Grayson are, respectively, the president and the founder and chairman of the American Productivity and Quality Center, a 300-member, nonprofit organization in Houston, Texas. In 1992, when the Center's International Benchmarking Clearinghouse began to search for best practices among its members, it discovered to its surprise that many of its members had found numerous examples of "unknown and unshared knowledge" in their very own organizations. This finding led to research on why knowledge and practices failed to transfer even in organizations that were noted for innovation. The authors report on this research and offer recommendations for taking advantage of internal best practices. They identify three barriers to internal knowledge transfer, explain which three value propositions are best-suited for harnessing internal knowledge, and describe the four "enablers" that facilitate transfer. They also provide case studies and offer a detailed methodology for "making best-practice transfer and knowledge sharing a mainstay of your company." David Rouse

The authors, heads of the American Productivity and Quality Center, focus on the notion of internal best practices, discussing the barriers to internal knowledge transfer and offering detailed recommendations for overcoming these barriers. Of particular value is their Knowledge Management Assessment Tool (KMAT), a device to help organizations assess their strengths and weaknesses in managing internal knowledge. A good starting point for those new to KM.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Free Press
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0684844745
• ISBN 13: 9780684844749
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256