Posted by Denham on October 18, 1999 at 13:18:38:

In Reply to: Knowledge management technologies posted by ShellB on October 18, 1999 at 12:30:35:

Greetings Shelly,

The crux of the problem IMO is trying to control for 'soft forces' i.e., culture and practice while comparing different technologies. There is strong anecdotal evidence that relationships, leadership expectations, external threats, rewards & recognition, hiring policy & profiles and the general 'culture' within an organization will have a greater influence than technology on knowledge sharing.

How you measure the extent and influence of knowledge sharing is also an open question? Do you quantify the creation of collaborative artifacts? (will you really know if knowledge was acquired equally and can by applied with equal effect by team members?), do you try pre and post assessment, as is done in training measurement how (tests, portfolios, 360 reviews)?, can you really account for sharing the many facets of knowledge? (relationships formed, mental models & conceptualizations changed, competencies acquired, awareness stimulated......), will you seek an indirect measure? (time to market, % revenue generated by new products, patents granted, new software programs & processes implemented.....)

How will you design the experiment or inquiry? by conducting a longitudinal comparison, keeping the people and the firm the same? If so, how will you account for exposure and experience carry over?. If you go the other route, and look across firms, each using a different knowledge sharing technology, how do you normalize for past experience, current culture and different environmental and internal drivers?

An intesting question is, how will you rate the knowledge sharing functions of different technologies? These are embedded in the architecture and situated in the practice, are co-dependent on the use (abuse?)of other closely related products. Different technologies use a range of representation and inference techniques that makes it hard to consider side effects and rate their effectiveness.

Sorry to sound so negative, but you have not chosen a question that is very ameanable to classical analysis via experimental design or to using alternative approaches, such as, action research.

Good luck. Please let me know if you have further questions.

---

Follow Ups:

• Re: Technology & sharing Shelley Beeston 06:02:18 10/19/99 (6)
  • Re: Technology & sharing Kees de Vos 09:21:13 10/19/99 (0)
  • Re: Technology & sharing Denham 07:59:02 10/19/99 (0)
  • Shared vs. "digested" L.Grohn 07:57:59 10/19/99 (3)
    • Re: Shared vs. ShelleyB 07:38:23 10/25/99 (2)
      • how knowledge is shared Valdis Krebs 22:39:11 10/30/99 (0)
      • Information access vs. knowledge sharing Denham 09:33:53 10/25/99 (0)

---

Click Here to Post Follow Up in New Forums

    Knowledge Management Think Tank (New)

  

 Subject: 

Message: