Working Knowledge: How Organizations Manage What They Know - Hardcover

Davenport, Thomas H.; Prusak, Laurence

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0875846556 ISBN 13: 9780875846552

Publisher: Harvard Business Review Press, 1998

Synopsis

The definitive primer on knowledge management, this book will establish the enduring vocabulary and concepts and serve as the hands-on resource of choice for fast companies that recognize knowledge as the only sustainable source of competitive advantage. Drawing on their work with more than 30 knowledge-rich firms, the authors - experienced consultants with a track record of success-examine how all types of companies can effectively understand, analyze, measure, and manage their intellectual assets, turning corporate knowledge into market value. They consider such questions as: What key cultural and behavioral issues must managers address to use knowledge effectively? What are the best ways to incorporate technology into knowledge work? What does a successful knowledge project look like - and how do you know when it has succeeded? In the end, say the authors, the human qualities of knowledge - experience, intuition, and beliefs - are the most valuable and the most difficult to manage. Applying the insights of "Working Knowledge" is every manager's first step on that rewarding road to long-term success.

About this title

About the Author

Thomas H. Davenport is the President’s Distinguished Chair at Babson College and a research fellow at the MIT Center for Digital Business. He is the author of the worldwide bestseller, Process Innovation (HBS Press, 1993) and Mission Critical (HBS Press, 2000). Laurence Prusak is a managing principal of the IBM Consulting Group in Boston and the worldwide competency leader in knowledge management for IBM. He formerly was a researcher/consultant at Ernst & Young and Mercer Management Consulting.

From the Back Cover

Knowledge management is a business issue for competitive advantage, not just an information technology issue. It will become increasingly important, especially for large enterprises needing to create, share, and reapply knowledge on a global scale. Working Knowledge is as thorough and complete a book on this subject as exists today. --Todd A. Garrett, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer, Procter & Gamble

Davenport and Prusak have successfully addressed the knowledge management initiative with a practical eye toward helping readers to understand the advantages and value of this emerging field. Business readers will benefit from the attention paid to presenting the structure and concepts of knowledge management in a coherent, realistic fashion. --Pete Tierney, Chairman, CEO and President, Inference Corporation

Managers who have grown weary from a diet of fascinating but abstract discussions of intellectual capital and organizational learning will do well to pick up a copy of Working Knowledge. Davenport and Prusak tackle the practical issues of how companies can generate, codify, and transfer knowledge, providing a blueprint of how to put knowledge to work as a source of competitive advantage. This book is a must read for corporate- level executives and information management specialists alike. --Christopher Bartlett, Professor, Graduate School of Business Administration, Harvard University

Reviews

Having consulted more than 30 companies involved in KM initiatives, the authors pack their book with information on successful projects and cover issues ranging from corporate culture and employee behavior, to the role of information technology in KM and how to measure a project's success. A practical and thorough approach makes this one of the best books for readers new to the topic.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Harvard Business Review Press
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0875846556
• ISBN 13: 9780875846552
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 224