Posted by Yogesh Malhotra on October 31, 1999 at 21:11:36:

In Reply to: Re: Knowledge Management for the New World of Business posted by Vaughn P Fox on October 31, 1999 at 16:35:56:

From your statement, it seems that you are using the constructs of 'information', 'knowledge', and 'management' in a different sense than one stated in my message. Hence, one may need to review the depth and breadth of the 'definition' before taking a position of agreement and disagreement. Personally, I always enjoy knowing about 'differences' as they help us develop better understanding of the phenomena and in refining our assumptions underlying the 'constructs' and their 'relationships.' However, an adequate understanding of any difference(s) has to be based on: (a) articulating what one interprets the issue, construct, concept, or the relationship to be; and (b) explicitly stating where is the point of disagreement. As observed in various contexts, often differences may also result from different perspectives ('lenses' used for understanding) of the same phenomena. As noted in earlier discussions, often, language [English more than many other languages], serves as an inadequate base for understanding the contrasts of 'meanings' underlying the constructs. In some ways, dialog [as discussed earlier on this forum] helps in reconciling the 'meanings' of constructs that are presumed as antithetical.

While your interpretations and arguments are congruent with the 'old world of business,' they are different than the interpretations of the same constructs in the context of the 'new world of business' [presuming you have already perused the related full-text articles that have available online]. Essentially, your arguments are based on the premises of prediction, top-down decision-making, centralized locus of control, and a deterministic and predictable world. In contrast, the proposed definitions are based on the premises of 'anticipation of surprise' (see earlier discussion related to this issue on this forum and posted links to full-text articles), fractals and holograms of self-regulated and emergent control and decision-making (see for instance, Gareth Morgan's 'Images of Organization' and Nonaka's invocation of Ashby's thinking about the complexity and diversity of the business environment), and a 'world of re-everything' that puts premium more on imagination than on any 'static' representation of [call it whatever] information or knowledge.

A quick overview of many of the above 'constructs' and their relationships as listed in many of the opinion columns accessible at:

http://www.brint.com/opinion/

On may like to acknowledge, as noted several times on this forum, that there is multiplicity of the constructs of 'information', 'knowledge' and 'management' and related composite definitions not only in different steams of practice, but also in different disciplines. Interestingly, such differences are also observed within the 'same' disciplines and practices.

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