Posted by Vaughn P Fox on November 16, 2000 at 00:25:55:

In Reply to: Needs driven KM posted by Denham on November 15, 2000 at 08:48:48:

Denham,
Are you telling me that you know what you need to know to succeed? If you do, you are the only person I know that has the luxury of knowing everything they need to know. Even successful people learn from others and gain knowledge they believe is necessary to refine or enhance their success.
As I have stated in previous postings, I believe there are four primary aspects of KM…all of which involves the ability to learn. Those four aspects include:
1. Professional growth, which includes mentoring that, fosters the ability to harness tacit knowledge.
2. Discover of Critical Requirements, which enables people to recognize what they need to do to achieve desired results.
3. Organizational Structure/Design, which enables people to be aware of relationships between people that form their organizations.
4. Intellectual capital/memory, which enables people to learn prom experience and plan accordingly to support anticipated needs.
If people consider all four of these aspects when institutionalizing KM within their organization, they will most likely be successful. If you look at each aspect listed above, the ability to learn, fostered by teamwork and a cultural mindset embedded in trust guided by leaders willing to share information across organizational, functional and political boundaries promotes knowledge they need to succeed.
I agree w/ your assessment that knowledge is much more than information, but information in the proper format can promote knowledge. So…the question for you is: Is it critical to recognize what information people need to gain knowledge they require to achieve understanding, which may lead to wisdom? I find it very difficult to see how knowledge can be effectively managed without a clear recognition of what needs to be done and a clear recognition of information needed to gain knowledge.
I believe it is information that is transferred, but that transfer of information in the proper format (for that person) promotes knowledge. Recognizing what information is required is a technique to effectively manage knowledge.
For those that would say this action does not support management of tacit knowledge I would agree, but then I would ask them if they had a mentor program in their organization. A good mentor promotes management of tacit knowledge with his or her apprentice. After all a good mentor ensures his or her apprentice understands his or her intent, which is often conveyed and interpreted through the sharing of tacit knowledge and reinforced through positive responses and exchange of information/conversations.
Everything we address concerning KM is focused on people. The same information presented to you and me would most likely generate a different response. You, being much wiser and educated than I, would most likely gain knowledge from that information, whereas I would need an explanation and pictures to support/reinforce that same information before I would gain any knowledge…if any. Effective KM must consider people, how they are organized and relationships that form between people that create those organizations.
Commonly understood terminology can be extremely powerful KM tool…so can be inflection of the voice. The same words spoken softly or in a crazed rage could be interpreted differently by the same people. Do we need to converse to gain knowledge used to achieve understanding…or can we gain knowledge from reading information contained in a book?
I got the impression from reading your posting that you think managing knowledge requires people to actually transfer knowledge. If my interpretation is correct (and please correct me if I am wrong), I don’t promote that action. To me, trying to manage knowledge transfer can be a waste of time and resources, especially when you are dealing w/ people…who are all different. I have always focused on managing information that people need to gain knowledge they require to complete tasks used to satisfy critical requirements. That action may seem primitive to you, but it produces results that allow people to sink their teeth into and use to learn and gain knowledge they need to succeed. From this experience they gain wisdom they can use to plan and implement actions and issues used to shape the future. Please remember this response is only one person’s view of the answer. Most likely you will determine what information from this response (and other postings) you will retain, learn from that retention and apply objective reasoning and judgment against that information to gain knowledge you will need to determine your views on the subject. Hopefully this information promotes knowledge you will need to succeed.
Thanks for the exchange of thoughts. Respectfully, Vaughn.

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Follow Ups:

• Re: Needs driven KM Denham 11:10:13 11/17/00 (3)
  • Re: Needs driven KM Vaughn P Fox 01:22:49 11/20/00 (2)
    • Re: Needs driven KM Denham 10:29:44 11/21/00 (1)
      • Re: Needs driven KM Vaughn P Fox 23:08:33 11/21/00 (0)

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