Posted by Yogesh Malhotra on June 20, 1997 at 12:21:33:

In Reply to: Re: How to Harvest your Employees' Knowledge? posted by Mezei on June 20, 1997 at 11:00:57:

Don,

As I gather, Manville and Foote are suggesting a transition from the
traditional computer-computer networks to human-human networks powered
by computers... The key point which they emphasize, and which some participants
have also suggested in earlier discussion, is the need for shifting the emphasis
from 'communications' to 'communities'.

To accomplish this objective, they suggest a transition of emphasis from
systems that support processes (transaction processing, workflow, etc.)
to systems that can support competencies around sharing of knowledge and
experience through communication networks (a very elementary example being
a bulletin board such as this one).

One can sense the implicit suggestion that knowledge is created via
interaction of human minds and technologies can facilitate that process
of knowledge creation: "Communities of practice must have the necessary
tools to form, evolve, and develop as freely as possible. The paradigm
shift here is the IS department's surrender of "doing it for the user."
The more practitioners feel that they have to get in the queue for some
technical specialist to build what they need, the greater the barrier to
community formation."

On a related issue, they observe that instead of 'pushing' information
to the users, it may be desirable to enable the users to 'pull' whatever
information they need at any given time. This reminds me of the contrasting
models of intranets companies are trying to implement for KM. The contrast
is evident in two different models' 'vision' statements. While one model
believes in "packaging data into packets of information and passing on
those packets to the users," the other model states something like:

"There is a great big river of data out there... We give the users
compasses and canoes... and let them navigate the rapids..."

The key challenge, in my view, is striking the balance between the notion
of structure [& control] 'imposed' by the organization with the fluid,
virtual and dynamic structure [& control] that emerges within the
'communities of practice.' The focal appears to be passing of 'control'
to the users, who motivated by a sense of self-determination, are hopefully
more actively involved in the knowledge creation process.

Given their arguments, their point doesn't seem contrary to that being made by Denham.
However, as observed by him, their title doesn't seem to capture the essence of their
thinking.

- Yogesh

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Follow Ups:

• Re: How to Harvest your Employees' Knowledge? Albert Hong 19:21:58 6/02/98 (0)
• Re: How to Harvest your Employees' Knowledge? Mezei 12:38:47 6/20/97 (1)
  • Re: How to Harvest your Employees' Knowledge? Terence 09:10:16 4/07/98 (0)

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