Posted by Gautam Ghosh on November 05, 2002 at 03:57:11:

In Reply to: Re: Al Qaeda and KM posted by Prac on November 04, 2002 at 04:01:53:

hi,

Systems that are organically formed like communities, communes, a network of freedom fighters or terrorists, with an overriding purpose that is emotive and yet cold-headed , having the capability to touch each and every person to voluntary become a member would not need explicit KM systems.

In my view, organizations are not natural systems, they are much more intolerant, more result focussed and less egalitarian , with too much of a "us vs them" mentality, and the problem is that the boundaries between us and them keep shifting.

Why speak of Al Qaeda...think of the whole lot of freedom fighters in the developing world who fought the military and influence of the super powers of their time like Britain.

Think of the civil rights activists in the SOuth of US.

There are causes to which people belong fully in their emotional, intellectual and social sense. These causes are in the very nature distillable to "good vs bad" and this gives the energy to sustain them without resources that the bigger , more resourceful , opponent has.

Look at people working in organizations. Who gets emotional about what their firm does? Who sees it as a cause ? People in organizations don't even know how their firms affect the world outside..so how can they tie up to a larger purpose ? How can they rid themselves of a silo mentality and share knowledge?

They ask themselves, if I am going to be paid on the number of widgets I make in a day, how does it matter if I help the finance guy do his job better. If I contribute an idea and it is shot down without testing out, because everybody is playing safe, everybody is bothered about doing just incremental jobs, taking their salary and going home...can you expect him to share knowledge selflessly ? And on top KM enthusiasts ask him to be incentivized on measuring the Knowledge he shares...
Who'll share knowledge, make a better tomorrow if this is the context that they operate in???

Regards,
Gautam

• Gautam's Web Page

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Follow Ups:

• Re: KM in organizations vs communities Barry 17:53:41 11/10/02 (0)
• Re: KM in organizations vs communities Prac 11:22:02 11/05/02 (0)

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