Posted by Daan de Koning on September 19, 1999 at 15:44:07:

In Reply to: Re: Curious about Knowledge Management posted by Vaughn P. Fox on September 11, 1999 at 23:29:03:

I hope (trust) that the energy I put in this posting on KM is not misdirected! ;-)

I think the crucial statement in you posting is:

"Instead, there needs to be a focus on information provided in a form that promotes knowledge required to attain the level of "understanding" people need before they make decisions."

I agree that anyone managing knowledge should be concerned with the provision of the right information in order to (be able to or enable others to) act, decide and perform. But what is the right form of information to provide such knowledge? Is that covered in IM?

The decision making processes in organisations seem to be less (much less) structured, and therefor not as stable and predictible as predefined tasks. The latter being the primairy domain of IM.
It is more difficult to gather, combine and filter the data and interpret the data to form information for the more complex business processes. The traditional theories, systems, tools, methods of IM no longer apply to handle this increased complexity. Energy focused on more improving complex business processes can not be misdirected.

Another of your statements is important:
"Recognizing information needed to attain understanding that is linked to key decisions would allow people to increase efficiency in any organization. "

You presuppose that information (and therefor information management) is sufficient for key decisions, but is it?

Decision making processes in organisations have much to do with people, interacting, responding to one another. Are these "psychological" aspects covered suffiently with IM?

My idea is that Information Management, IT service providers, IS departments, but also business managers and consultants, are just at the beginning of understanding organisations and the capabilities of new technologies in organisations. My idea is that 'Knowledge Management' (the two words) is capable of attracting (luring) critical people with interesting ideas and tons of experience in a wide variety of areas to one and the same place to share their thoughts and opinions.

Even at days where I find nothing of immediate use, the energy put into it was worth it.

Daan de Koning

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Follow Ups:

• Re: Curious about Knowledge Management Vaughn P. Fox 00:24:48 9/20/99 (8)
  • Re: Curious about Knowledge Management Daan de Koning 11:20:52 9/20/99 (7)
    • Re: Curious about Knowledge Management Vaughn P. Fox 21:18:01 9/21/99 (6)
      • Re: Curious about Knowledge Management Daan de Koning 15:42:04 9/23/99 (5)
        • Re: Curious about Knowledge Management Vaughn P. Fox 23:16:38 9/23/99 (4)
          • Re: The philosophy of KM Diwakar Thakore 12:27:36 11/18/99 (0)
          • Re: Curious about Knowledge Management Daan de Koning 08:42:06 9/24/99 (2)
            • Re: Curious about Knowledge Management Vaughn P. Fox 08:21:10 9/25/99 (1)
              • another UTK Daan de Koning 10:34:24 9/26/99 (0)

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