A Leader's Guide to Knowledge Management Drawing on the Past to Enhance Future Performance (Strategic Management Collection) - Softcover

John Girard

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1606490184 ISBN 13: 9781606490181

Publisher: Business Expert Press, 2009

Synopsis

Today when most executives consider the intellectual capital of their organization, they focus on the present. They seek tools and techniques to exploit their organizational knowledge for some immediate gain. There is an emerging shift in thinking that will provide a lasting competitive advantage the shift is from the present to the future. This book is unique in that it focuses on what executives should be doing now (or soon) to ensure the next generation of organizational leaders know what we knew. In other words, are we creating organizational memories today, which will be useful to the next generation of leaders? Will today s baby-boomer based practices pass the test of time? Are our current processes the most relevant ones for the next generation of organizational leaders? To answer these questions the book is divided into three parts. Part 1 is introductory in nature and provides a concise overview of knowledge management: its genesis, the theory of knowledge, and the types of knowledge that exist. Part 2 builds on this foundation and highlights some of the successes and failures during the past two decades as baby-boomer executives struggled to develop effective ways of sharing what their organizations know. A review of projects suggests that many first generation knowledge management projects were based on collecting and classifying information. Second generation knowledge management projects shifted the focus to codifying tacit knowledge and combining explicit knowledge to create new knowledge. Part 3 focuses on emerging ideas that show great potential. Today we are seeing some very promising results from third generation knowledge projects, which focus on connecting people and facilitating collaboration. Some pioneering organizations are now reaping the benefits of using social media tools such as wikis for collaboration and commercial social networking tools, for connecting people. These emerging tools and techniques provide flexible, agile, and intuitive solutions for connecting people with people and facilitating coordination, communication, and collaboration.

About this title

About the Author

John Girard is an associate professor of management at Minot State University where he teaches graduate and undergraduate management courses. John is researching the relationships existing between information anxiety, organizational memory loss, and contemporary knowledge management theories. John is engaged in community activities such as Junior Achievement and the Military Affairs Committee.

From the Back Cover

This book is your guide to knowledge management for the future leaders of your organization. In other words, it ensures that they will know what you know and be able to apply your experiences to similar encounters in their time. It is replete with examples of successful knowledge management (with an eye toward the future) in current times and provides simple, time-tested steps. Two lines from a poem written in 1935 are the foundation for this book on knowledge management. How is it that a poem written in the early 20th century can be relevant in the quest for modern day management of our experience and talent? Perhaps you should ask yourself (and your organization) a similar question. Will the things we know now be available to the next generation of leaders or will the become victims of information overload? This book is your guide to ensuring future generations know what you know and can apply it in their time. In his poem The Rock, T.S. Eliot penned: Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information? Every organization faces this critical question and the loss of generational information can be the difference between success and failure. There are proven tools and techniques for managing today's knowledge, but little or nothing about managing tomorrow's information. It outlines the steps you can take to create organizational memories that will stand the test of time. Unlike other knowledge management books, this one is not about the present, but rather is a guide to creating value in the future. It deals with information overload and "enterprise dementia" and discusses the steps in discerning what things you want to know as opposed to suggesting tactics for managing everything (the Holy Grail). It uses examples from the most successful knowledge managers from around the world and is a simple, concise guide for this complex problem all organizations face.

Edition details

• Publisher: Business Expert Press
• Publication date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1606490184
• ISBN 13: 9781606490181
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 141