Knowledge Management and Organizational Learning A Reader

by Prusak, Laurence; Matson, Eric

• ISBN13: 9780199291809
• ISBN10: 0199291802
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-10-12
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Over the past decade, knowledge and learning have emerged as the keys to economic success and as a focus for thinking about organizational effectiveness and innovation. An overwhelming majority of large organizations now engage in a wide range of knowledge and learning activities and nearlyall have programs and personnel explicitly dedicated to these tasks. The volume is targeted at those new to knowledge and learning, and is filled with practical examples and focuses on the most critical issues, featuring seminal contributions from leading authorities including:* Thomas Davenport,* Dorothy Leonard,* John Seely Brown,* Sidney Winter,* W. Chan Kim,* Peter Druckard.The book is organized around the three key steps in managing knowledge: development, retention, and transfer. These sections are preceded by a section creating the strategic context for knowledge and followed by a section on the social dimensions that are often overlooked. Finally, the book looks tothe future of knowledge and learning. This Reader is an accessible way for executives and students taking advanced Management Studies and executive courses to learn from the latest examples on this topic.

Author Biography

Larry Prusak is a researcher and consultant and was the founder and Executive Director of the Institute for Knowledge Management (IKM). This was a global consortium of member organizations engaged in advancing the practice of knowledge management through action research. Larry has had extensive experience, within the U.S. and internationally, in helping organizations work with their information and knowledge resources. He has also consulted with many U.S. and overseas government agencies and international organizations (NGO's). He currently co-directs 'Working Knowledge', a knowledge research program at Babson College, where he is a Distinguished Scholar in Residence.
Larry's most recent book (co-authored with Tom Davenport) is What's the Big Idea?, published by Harvard Business School Press in Spring, 2003. He has also recently edited a volume with E. Lesser, Creating Value with Knowledge (Oxford University Press, 2003).
Eric Matson is a manager in McKinsey's Institute for Corporate Excellence, where he leads research efforts to better understand the drivers of enduring corporate performance. His currently focuses on profiling the world's leading companies to better understand how they excel in selected areas such as network management, knowledge management, and talent management.
Prior to joining McKinsey in 1999, Mr. Matson worked as a writer for Fast Company magazine and as a consultant for Monitor Company. His recent publications include 'The Performance Variability Dilemma' (Sloan Management Review, 2003), 'Strengthening Your Organization's Internal Knowledge Market' (Organizational Dynamics, 2003), 'Leveraging Group Knowledge for High Performance Decision Making' (Organizational Dynamics, 2002), and 'Managing the Knowledge Manager' (McKinsey Quarterly, 2001).

Table of Contents

List of Contributors	xii
Introduction and Overview
Eric Matson and Laurence Prusak	1	(14)
SECTION I: THE STRATEGIC IMPORTANCE OF KNOWLEDGE AND LEARNING
1. Knowledge Management and the Knowledge-Based Economy
Robert Grant	15	(15)
2. Developing a Knowledge Strategy
Michael H. Zack	30	(23)
SECTION II: KNOWLEDGE DEVELOPMENT AND INDIVIDUAL LEARNING
3. The Learning Curve
Atul Gawande	53	(17)
4. Knowledge-in-the-Making: The 'Construction' of Fiat's Melfi Factory
Gerardo Patriotta	70	(24)
5. Generating Creative Options
Dorothy Leonard and Walter Swap	94	(31)
6. Partnerships for Knowledge Creation
Salvatore Parise and Laurence Prusak	125	(14)
SECTION III: KNOWLEDGE RETENTION AND ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING
7. Swing Doors and Musical Chairs
Arnold Kransdorff and Russell Williams	139	(9)
8. Organizational Memory
Linda Argote	148	(25)
9. Balancing Act: How to Capture Knowledge without Killing It
John Seely Brown and Paul Duguid	173	(10)
SECTION IV: KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER AND DISSEMINATION
10. Managing Knowledge the Chevron Way
Kenneth T. Derr	183	(9)
11. Getting It Right the Second Time
Gabriel Szulanski and Sidney Winter	192	(12)
12. Making a Market in Knowledge
Lowell L. Bryan	204	(11)
13. The Performance Variability Dilemma
Eric Matson and Laurence Prusak	215	(14)
SECTION V: SOCIAL PERSPECTIVES
14. Knowledge Management's Social Dimension: Lessons from Nucor Steel
Anil K. Gupta and Vijay Govindarajan	229	(14)
15. Fair Process: Managing in the Knowledge Economy
W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne	243	(16)
16. Communities of Practice: The Organizational Frontier
Etienne C. Wenger and William M. Snyder	259	(11)
17. Knowing What We Know: Supporting Knowledge Creation and Sharing in Social Networks
Rob Cross, Andrew Parker, Laurence Prusak, and Stephen P. Borgatti	270	(27)
SECTION: VI FUTURE DIRECTIONS
18. Knowledge-Worker Productivity: The Biggest Challenge
Peter F. Drucker	297	(17)
19. Just-in-Time Delivery Comes to Knowledge Management
Thomas H. Davenport and John Glaser	314	(9)
20. Seeing Knowledge Plain: How to Make Knowledge Visible
Leigh Weiss and Laurence Prusak	323	(11)
21. Do You Know Who Your Experts Are?
Michael Idinopulos and Lee Kempler	334	(7)
22. Using Supplier Networks to Learn Faster
Jeffrey H. Dyer and Nile W. Hatch	341	(14)
Index	355