Posted by Vaughn P Fox on September 05, 2001 at 15:42:33:

In Reply to: Re: The End of Month KM Challenge posted by Dirk Schaele (Corporate Knowledge Facilitator) on August 31, 2001 at 08:19:52:

Dirk,
You state knowledge can be opportunistic. If my interpretation of those words is correct, you are insinuating people can gain knowledge without planning to gain knowledge. I would say that statement is a blinding flash of the obvious. People constantly gain knowledge as they progress through life, but how much of that knowledge is actually used to achieve organizational success? In the world of organizations concerned about productivity, KM is a technique to harness the efforts of many different individuals and focus their collective efforts to achieve desired results, which is often framed by the organizational vision. If you could objectively evaluate resource allocation expended by every person (forming an organizational entity) to gain knowledge they acquired on a daily basis and then used a gizmo to capture the type and amount of resources used by those people to gain knowledge actually applied to satisfy tasks achieving organizational success it would be relatively easy to determine KM solutions. But reality sheds a different light on the subject. Every person forming an organization is different. There is no magical gizmo. Every person has different beliefs, backgrounds, experiences and knowledge bases. KM can be effective to focus their talents, efforts and professional proficiency in an integrated manner promoting unity of effort through team-work and trust, which encourages them to be more willing to share information in a format generating productive knowledge i.e., knowledge influencing actions and issues achieving desired results. Recognizing ‘what” needs to be done often empowers people with knowledge they need to truly understand that “what” they thought were the core business processes are not exactly the same as the core business processes they do need to succeed and achieve organizational success. Used effectively this knowledge enables them to understand what needs to be adjusted and how to best influence actions and issues enabling the organization to effectively transition from where they are at today, to where they need to go tomorrow, while increasing productivity. When people share information in a format promoting knowledge they need to make decisions achieving desired results they often gain knowledge through opportunistic events and situations, especially when confronted with an ever-changing operating environment. Resources expended can be planned and linked to success, which becomes extremely useful knowledge for people forming organizations concerned about productivity. Two last thoughts: (1) If you focus the efforts of people labeled as “duty experts”, you are in a way harnessing the value of tacit knowledge through the application of explicit knowledge, especially when “duty experts” become willing to share their knowledge through the use of a disciplined mentoring program. (2) If evaluation criterion tethered to strengths and weaknesses are not relative to knowledge of the operating environment, which includes knowledge of the organic work force, knowledge about the threat and/or competition and knowledge of geopolitical issues that could adversely affect organizational desires and intent, then what value is it to the people forming an organization concerned about productivity? I hope this information promotes knowledge you need to succeed. Respectfully, Vaughn.

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