The Infinite Resource: Creating and Leading the Knowledge Enterprise (Jossey-Bass Business & Management) - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0787910155 ISBN 13: 9780787910150

Publisher: Jossey-Bass, 1998

Synopsis

Harness the Boundless Power of Knowledge

Take a fascinating glimpse into the not-too-distant future. In The Infinite Resource, seventeen visionary thinkers explore knowledge--the only inexhaustible source of competitive advantage--as the juggernaut of an remarkable new order whose advent is fast rAndering today's business conventions obsolete. Their incisive observations include up-to-the-minute examinations of knowledge-change initiatives currently under way at Bell Atlantic, MCI, Lufthansa, and other forward-thinking companies. Filled with fresh ideas, perspectives, and voices, it's a state-of-the-art appraisal of emerging organizational forms vital to anyone grappling with the challenges and possibilities posed by the Information Age.

About this title

About the Author

WILLIAM E. HALAL is professor of management at George Washington University. A respected management scholar, consultant, and author of three previous books, including The New Management (1996), he lives in Washington, D.C.

From the Back Cover

In all of history, there has been no resource resembling knowledge. Unlike commodities or industrial capital, knowledge is inexhaustible and only increases when shared. And now that the Knowledge Revolution has taken hold, organizations are scrambling to find ways to capture and leverage this most important of competitive advantages. In this unprecedented volume, nineteen of the best minds on business and government cut through the myriad myths and theories surrounding the knowledge phenomenon. Each offers today's shell-shocked managers and civic leaders a clear vision of how organizations must reinvent themselves to remain viable in the not-too-distant future―to thrive in a world remarkably different from the one we have come to know.

From the Inside Flap

Like Alice before the looking glass, the world now stands at the portal of a fantastic new reality. Information technology is fast usurping the conventions of the Industrial Age, and the organizational structures that have governed our lives and livelihoods for nearly two hundred years are giving way to a future order. The question is, what form will that order take? In The Infinite Resource, nineteen of the best minds in business and government explore that question in fascinating detail. They explain how knowledge―the coin of the Information Age and mankind's first inexhaustible, self-perpetuating source of wealth and competitive advantage―will replace capital as the cornerstone upon which modern economies are built. Each examines the critical implications that reality holds for individuals, businesses, institutions, and nations.A collection of new and powerful voices―including Indianapolis mayor Stephen Goldsmith and Chiat/Day CEO Robert Kuperman, to name but two―present promising new concepts, lessons, and suggestions for grappling with the myriad challenges the knowledge revolution now poses. An up-to-the-minute examination of initiatives underway at Bell Atlantic, MCI, Lufthansa, and other progressive companies constitutes a state-of-the-art survey of corporate knowledge change efforts. Looking ahead, readers will also learn how the principles of this "new management" will result in three corresponding revolutions: from control to freedom, conflict to community, and materialism to spirit. And they will see how these principles will redefine organizations in terms of internal enterprise systems, cooperative communities, intelligent infrastructures, and other new paradigms. Finally, The Infinite Resource is a visionary source of insight and information of consequence to leaders, managers, and others who must wrestle with the challenges these changes present―changes that could come full term by the year 2005.

Reviews

This is a collection of papers presented at the George Washington University conference "Creating the New Organization," with other material added later to round out the content. These papers, written by leading executives, academics, and consultants active in knowledge management initiatives, represent some of the best advanced thought on the subject. Essential for academic and special collections.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Jossey-Bass
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0787910155
• ISBN 13: 9780787910150
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 284
• Editor: Halal William E.