Is KM finished?

Every now and then, something comes along to shake people out of complacency. This month’s case report – and related debate between Jerry Ash and David Snowden – is just such an occurrence.

Initially, we had planned to make the future centres feature our cover story, but when David Snowden requested a right of reply to Jerry Ash’s opinion piece we immediately changed tack.

Snowden’s contention is not that knowledge management (KM) is dead, but that it has ceased to be cutting edge and is now entering the so-called ‘long tail’ – the twilight years of life for any idea. KM, argues Snowden, is merely following ‘quality management’ and ‘business process re-engineering’ (BPR).

However, it could likewise be argued that neither quality management, nor BPR are dead. Rather, their central principles have become universally accepted and while there may be arguments over methodology and approach, both have become integral parts of modern management theory and practice.

What this means, perhaps, is that the principles of KM have become widely accepted just at the time that the technology is finally delivering – social-media software especially has made collaboration more universal and affordable than ever, for example.

Maybe what Snowden really means is that he has moved on and that, while retaining a strong interest in KM, the epicentre of his intellectual (and business) endeavours has shifted, as he says, to such KM-derived concepts as sense-making – how we make sense of the world so we can act in it.

In the meantime, the increasing acceptance of KM – or at least, its main principles – may well entail great change for practitioners in the field.

Either way, I urge you to read the debate between David and Jerry and to form your own opinions – and to e-mail me with them at the usual address.

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