Knowledge Management in the SocioTechnical World

Elayne [oakes, Dianne Willis andSteve Clarke The effectiveuse of knowledge management in organisations is an essential factor in their successful operation, but knowledge management is a many faceted domain, in which there is a danger of emphasising only a limited view. The purpose of this book is therefore to present for discussion those issues which practitioners and researchers havefound to be critical to understanding and progress within the knowledge management domain. This seems to haveled quite naturally to the study of knowledge management from three perspectives: tech- nology, organisationsand people, which in turn makes this the first text to present a sociotechnical view of knowledge management. Knowledgemanagement has been a major topic for managementacademics and practitioners alike in the 1990s.It may be seen as the extraction and conversion of tacit knowledge on an individual and organisational levelinto explicit knowledge, the latter often taking the form of specific electronic tools or assets which can be manipulated for competitive gain (e.g, intranets, groupware and knowledge repos- itories). There is some scepticism about the extent to which this often highly sub- Tacit knowledge is often described as the jective knowledge and learning can "hunches, intuition and know-how"ofpeople;or actually be made explicit, and a feeling "skills, routines, competencies". that knowledge management is no more than a new form of technology. But knowledge is much more than technology: it is personal, often dormant or unconscious and closely bound up with learning and organisation theory.

From the reviews:

Knowledge Management in the SocioTechnical World: the Graffiti Continues
Elayne Coakes, Dianne Willis, Steve Clarke
Star Rating ¬¬¬¬¬

Traditional information systems approaches tend to view knowledge management (KM) as a purely technical problem to be solved by appropriate methodologies and tools.

Consequently, many projects fail because they do not take into account the social contexts in which knowledge is created and managed in organisations. This book is recommended for anyone interested in understanding the social dimension to KM and how to make KM more effective.

It notes that the sociotechnical approach puts people and groups in organisations at the heart of KM, showing that in realising that knowledge resides in the people as well as in artefacts, more effective use can be made of KM methods to reach organisational 'goals. Thus, what appears to be a radical break with traditional approaches actually enhances their effectiveness.

This well written and integrated collection of papers provides a rounded introduction to sociotechnical knowledge management. The sociological, psychological,  and organisational background material is succinct and accessible to those of a technical bent. The overall emphasis is very practical and there are well developed accounts of real case studies.

It is well suited to supporting continuing professional development and for advanced use.

Greg Michaelson MBCS
Senior lecturer, Heriot-Watt University

The Computer Bulletin, November 2003

"Traditional Information systems approaches tend to view knowledge management (KM) as a purely technical problem to be solved by appropriate methodologies and tools. ... This book is recommended for anyone interested in understanding the social dimension to KM, and how to make KM more effective. ... This well written and integrated collection of papers provides a rounded introduction to sociotechnical knowledge management. ... The overall emphasis is very practical and there are well developed accounts of real case studies." (Greg Michaelson, Computer Bulletin, November, 2003)

"I enjoyed this book; if you are interested in knowledge management, you probably will too. ... Overall, there is plenty of material here for both academics and practitioners interested in knowledge management. The book will also serve as useful source material to support knowledge management teaching. One unusual stylistic feature is the highlighting of key points in speech bubble call-outs from the main text." (J. Edwards, Journal of the Operational Research Society, Issue 54, 2003)

"The book ... is about knowledge management from the socio-technical perspective. If you are interested in looking at the critical factors for the success of knowledge management systems in organizations from socio-technical perspective, this book will be of great use for you. This book gives a good collection of case studies and observations based on the individual and organizational experiences. ... The best part of the book is looking at the real application of social aspects of knowledge management in this domain." (Bhavani Sridharan, Educational Technology and Society, Vol. 3 (5), 2002)