Posted by Robert Benjamin on August 20, 1998 at 04:38:12:

In Reply to: Re: Intranet design to induce a new culture in which Knowledge can thrive posted by Hans Koenig on August 18, 1998 at 11:23:51:

Hello Hans

Thanks for clarifying some aspects for me. You state the question should be "...how technology can
manipulate human behaviour, but how humans can use and manipulate existing and future technology to create a new
culture." and I agree with you. We should continually bear in mind though that the originators of technology are individuals, groups and businesses, each with their own interest to serve. They probably would like to affect corporate culture more, by deploying their technology, than most companies believe possible. Let's take the Data Warehouse (not warehousing) as an example of such "culture" effect. The theory of the Data Warehouse has been clearly set out in many publications of Bill Inmon, yet!, many "companies" view the data warehouse incorrectly to the point of distraction. The technology view (culture) of many such companies are of a direct result of marketing programs and actual products they "beta" test and then later adopt. Once the technology "chooser" in an organization deploys a chosen technology the rest of the "users" have to align to the technology. It thuis follows that a technologically unsound choice can have as much effect on the culture "way" of the business process as a technologically sound choice. So who is trying to "manipulate" whom with what? The point is a "manipulation" chain exists that has to be considered before deploying technology at scale.

Does this mean we should "mistrust" technology vendors and idea makers? No. It means we need to get smart enough to understand which technology would really add corporate (cultural) value or not. The intranet adds infrastructure, costs, complexity, communication potential, headcount increase etc. It may be "enabling" more problems than solutions. An intranet, as per example, should be a deliberate choice based on a well understood analysis. It should feature in the IT Strategy as an offensive tactic, and probably not defensive. The idea of "Keeping up with the Jones'" has its limits.

Now. Let me attempt to add some value to your discussion. One main question remains. Can the cultures (as in growing biological cultures), which would develop naturally across the intranet, be controlled to serve the corporate strategy? In my mind this epitomizes the question you're asking. If KM existence depended upon this answer, which I'm glad it doesn't, it would've been the end of KM. I think the continual attempt to embody (bring alive?) KM in a mere networked technology shows a lack of understanding for the bases of KM, one of which I think is complex systems theory. The aspect of complex systems theory alone indicates the need for smarter "delivery" networks. The intranet can already enable corporates (cultures) to communicate and develop. This is an example of a thinking network. As such, "culture" has been enabled and the quest has been satisfied. In my opinion, this is NOT KM. It may be a small aspect of KM, maybe the collection part of information. A collaborative architecture (which I vote for as a possible KM enabling technology) would essentially be "dynamic" in that parts can be added and removed at strategic whim. This means that technologies, like the intranet, may be enabled for a time period, paused or disabled and re-enabled etc. It is treated as a communications signal. The telephone is a great technology, poorly used, yet offered to most corporate employees. Maybe we should re-think the role of mature, obvious technologies and research the use of advanced technologies, to find the enablers of KM. Every time I look in a mirror, I am reminded of the only cheap enabler of KM, man's combined thinking and doing and vision, in a single image. How we individually, and collectively, benefit from the application of this technology.

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Follow Ups:

• Re: Intranet design to induce a new culture in which Knowledge can thrive Jules Delambre 17:31:31 9/10/98 (4)
  • On Effectiveness of 'Sales Hype' vs 'Marketing Concept' Dr. Yogesh Malhotra 08:15:46 9/12/98 (0)
  • On Effectiveness of 'Sales Hype' vs 'Marketing Concept' Dr. Yogesh Malhotra 08:11:20 9/12/98 (0)
  • Re: Intranet design to induce a new culture in which Knowledge can thrive Robert Benjamin 10:11:08 9/11/98 (0)
  • Re: Intranet design to induce a new culture in which Knowledge can thrive Robert Benjamin 10:04:31 9/11/98 (0)

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