Posted by Kees de Vos on July 14, 1999 at 06:09:57:

In Reply to: Why KM is not a science (yet?) posted by Lauri Grohn on July 12, 1999 at 11:22:30:

Hi Lauri,

my view;

1. No, knowledge management (as well as other management) is not technology. It's about communication. Technology is only an enabler/disabler. Our best KM "technology" might well be our corporate bar which detached consultants and office flock on friday afternoon. Yes, communication often has the goal of changing people's behavior, but this is a two-way street.

2a. No, working habits doesn't NEED changing if these habits are/feel right in the first place. If the people in an organization already have a "Caring is Sharing" attitude it might not need changing. It also depends on the business of your organization. Where does your added value come from?

2b. Yes, there will be a second round, and a third, and a fourth, as KM is a process not a project.

2c. Hmmm, do we want it to be a science??? I don't. To prescriptive and non-adaptable for my taste. I don't like absolute truths :-)

3. We do have a working accounting system. It serves OUR purposes (more or less like the research Arie de Geus describes in The Living Company; perhaps not methodologically correct, but it serves our needs). So make your own and stop caring about what all the accounting firms say. They also just make their own systems (in september the Dutch Ministery for Economic Affairs will have a translation ready on these systems, a Dutch version is already available at their website, http://info30.minez.nl/cgi-bin/pu2-retrieve.pl?25B19).

• De Vos Knowledge Management Repository

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Follow Ups:

• Re: Why KM is not a science (yet?) Lauri Grohn 08:19:51 7/14/99 (2)
  • Re: Why KM is not a science (yet?) Dan Cohen 17:20:23 7/14/99 (1)
    • Accounting or just statistics? Lauri Grohn 03:00:13 7/15/99 (0)

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