denotes premium content | May 18 2013 Inside Knowledge Magazine /Knowledge Management Magazine Archive
Volume 2 Issue 10
Features
How knowledge management can help to wage peace in Kosovo
When war ravages a country, it does not only destroy a land and its people; it also brings down all networks of communication, educational structures, history, rules of law etc. In this article Barry Ryland Holmes shows how knowledge management was implemented effectively in Bosnia to reconstruct the free flow of information for those who needed it to rebuild the country. This approach will also be used to rebuild war torn Kosovo.
Is Knowledge Management the New Document Management?
It is no coincidence that many of the technologies and companies offering knowledge management strategies come directly, or with little modification, from the world of document management. Keith Davidson, president of Xplor International, argues that those who aim to manage knowledge need to begin with a thorough strategizing of their corporate documents and a redefinition of the document as a management tool.
Knowledge with shelf life
Every company should automatically learn from mistakes and past experiences, but what happens when memories fade, employees leave the company or the knowledge passes its sell by date through being badly recorded or not even recorded at all? The value of retrospect cannot be underestimated, and in this article, Nick Milton shows how BP Amoco is mining the past for investment in the future. Nuggets of knowledge are recorded and stored in a knowledge bank in a practical format. The knowledge assets retain their shelf life as new people re-approach similar subjects and add their new insights and experiences.
Mind the gap
London commuters know very well the often repeated announcement to mind the gap while getting on and off the underground, but are managers minding virtual gaps in their businesses? According to Freddie McMahon and Kelvin Moore, a growing competency gap exists in companies which is accelerating investment failure. Here, they focus upon the investment risks relating to strategic and tactical initiatives in most organisations today. The objective of the assessment tool is primarily to challenge readers and increase awareness of this emerging issue. Awareness of a problem existing is half the battle towards solving it.
Money for knowledge
Money makes the world go round.
This phrase has never been more appropriate in todays business environment, where you can buy knowledge in chunks from a web site or even earn money in certain companies by giving away your ideas. But does money make knowledge sharing any easier? What incentives should companies choose to encourage their employees to share? Does altruism exits in the work place (or even at all !)? This debate is the focus of our first Your say column.
Quaerite Vera: Seek the Truth
A company which keeps records of ship wrecks and cargoes dating from 1860 knows the power of knowledge. The Salvage Association also understands the need for easily accessible information; its surveyors travel the world, and often have to access information while visiting inhospitable places such as war zones or regions torn apart by hurricanes. It is often difficult for long-established companies to move with the times, but this organisation continues to take advantage of new technologies to help its employees track the specific knowledge they need. Here, Peter French gives his views of the knowledge management arena and how The Salvage Association continue to uphold their motto, Quaerite Vera: Seek the Truth.
The Information Paradox : Realizing the Business Benefits of Information Technology
Book review by Victor Newman, Director Knowledge Development Centre, Cranfield University.
Author: John Thorp and DM Center of Strategic Leadership, McGraw Hill Ryerson: Canada, 1998. Pp273.
The sorcerers apprentice
Do you often feel like the sorcerers apprentice, where your PC weaves a spell that opens all the floodgates of information whether you need it or not? Do you often feel so overwhelmed by the number of emails, documents, shared files etc. at your grasp that your mind starts to suffer from an attention deficit disorder, where the spell just gets out of hand and knowledge disappears like a needle in a haystack of information? In this article, Charles Sieloff gives some important advice about the dangers of expecting total information-access to be the path to knowledge-access.
