Posted by Ricky Van Onselen on November 08, 1998 at 04:41:39:

In Reply to: Knowledge Management Strategies posted by Bob Guns on August 22, 1998 at 10:17:55:

The purpose of this follow-up is to generate a discussion regarding the conceptual context of knowledge management within the larger corporate (business) strategy - or is Knowledge Management that larger conceptual context?

Asking strategic questions from the CEO's perspective should direct our strategic thinking in this regard.

1. Should all other business strategies centre around a Knowledge Management Strategy - or is a KM Strategy only a component of a larger integrated Corporate Strategy?

2. Is KM a strategy, or a principle/value orientation that manifests itself in corporate strategies, processes and capabilities/competencies?

3. It is one half of the journey to create Knowledge competencies - but then what? Perhaps we should expand our KM "strategy" to include the return on investment. Our organizational design, processes and performance measurement systems should be engineered to establishing an organizational culture that is conducive to maximum capitalization of knowledge assets. It is not good enough to create knowledge assets, we should strategise on how to use it optimally.

4. What is the strategic link between KM and chaos/complexity management? What should the organizational design look like to ensure a strategic fit between the two? Is the one a strategy and the other a value?

5. Perhaps vision/mission statements and strategic planning has become obsolete, given the challenges that rapid change, environmental complexities and ever changing global values pose to organizations.

6. Structure follows processes, follows strategy. What is the logical link/flow between the corporate strategy, business processes and enabling organizational competencies (structure) to support the corporate strategies and processes?

7. Organization perpetual existence, continuity, sustainability (organizational long term success/survival - competitive advantage) is ensured by its value orientation (core values/principles/beliefs). What is the link between KM and these core values? Again, is KM not perhaps a philosophy that should be incorporated within the organizational culture? Organizational culture is practically established through performance measurement systems and managerial styles. What should the content of these performance measurement systems (criteria) and managerial styles be in order to bring about a knowledge management culture.

From the above it is evident that my perception of strategic management includes the holistic makeup of the organization. Therefore I prefer to think strategically about KM in it's holistic context. I have to often experienced the unintentional setup for failure when brilliant concepts are institutionalized in isolation from the holistic perspective. The individual concept is often blamed for the lack of incorporating it into a holistic framework that ensures synergy.

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