Posted by Prac on April 06, 2002 at 23:31:02:

In Reply to: A TOOL? OR A FOUNDATION? THE ROLE OF TECHNOLOGY IN KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT posted by Piotr Sochocki on April 06, 2002 at 19:35:51:

Hi Piotr

How did companies ever survive without IT? I think the degree of reliance of a company on IT is relative to the type of business the company is in.

There are a number of types of companies who cannot exist without technology. For example, IT training companies, Stock exchanges, Network outsourcing companies, Call centers, etc.

More pertinent to your question, here are some thoughts. If one viewed KM as an instance, a module if you wish, or even an object, then the scale of its application within organizations becomes irrelevant. The application of the KM "object" would be within a particular environmet. As such, KM could either be a tool or a foundation, enabled and supported by IT.

Where KM is adopted across a whole enterprise as a lifestyle philosophy, it would definitely fit the foundation role you mentioned, still supported by discreet and specific IT.

There may be many instances of KM where IT support and enablement are not explicitly required.

The degree of IT and employee knowledge would probably be relative to the application. There may be cases where IT plays a larger role than people, but IT would always be supported by people. On an existential level, there can be no IT without IT-related people (people around IT applications, but not IT people per se). This implies that IT is a function of people.

I think it is the class and quality of "people" we need to be concerned with, as well a the class and quality of IT. The role of knowledge in understanding this relationship, and managing it for success, becomes quite clear when viewed from this perspective.

Hope this helps.

Regards,

Prac

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