Customer Reviews

Managing Knowledge: A Practical Web-Based Approach (Addison-Wesley Information Technology)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Managing knowledge, takes an incomplete and very shallow view of knowledge, and the practices associated with sustainable KM. "Managing knowledge means delivering the information and data people need to be effective in their jobs" (p18) "Providing the right content to the right people at the right time" (p17), echos the major theme of this book, which I believe misses the boat as the authors confuse, downplay and not concerned with the essential differences between information & knowledge.

Let's ask some questions: 1) What about learning and KM? Surely KM is about knowledge creation, not just distribution and access to content? 2) What about people and KM? Surely people not content and publishing is at the core of KM? 3) Do you really exchange knowledge when you distribute content? There are many reasons why some of the deepest thinkers believe it is information that is being transfered and knowledge emerges from people to people interactions, dialog and apprenticeship.

Most companies soon discover that leveraging knowledge is actually very hard and is more dependent on community building than information technology and content publishing. This is not because people do not read or are reluctant to use information technology, rather it is because they often need to share, create, test knowledge that is neither obvious nor easy to document, knowledge that requires a human relationship to think about, understand, share, and apply appropriately.

If you are looking to leverage the knowledge within your organization, following the advice of Managing knowledge may help you with the first baby steps, help you show some fast positive ROI and maybe please your sponsor. However if you wish to gain sustainable competitive advantage from KM, you would well advised to take a deeper look at people rather than the content, enable practices such as dialog, build and support learning communities, concentrate on making meaning and distinctions that matter, support knowledge sharing through recognition, raising the level of awareness and increasing critical thinking.

I found chapter 6 to be the most valuable part of this book. The authors are spot on when they say "One of the very early steps you need to take is establishing the common terms that will be used across all the content in all the repositories you are seeking to manage" (p78). The reason is a common vocabulary and agreement on meaning assists with dialog. Knowledge and all action emerge in conversations, not in the indexed repositories.

In the looming knowledge economy, the premium will be on making distributed, fast, intelligent responses, building connections and relationships, holding open communication in community, fostering strong critique, driving knowledge creation, being agile and cultivating awareness of market shifts.

You will not find one of those terms in the index of this book!

The authors are quite specific when explaining for whom Managing Knowledge has been written: "This book is for those people who have read some of the academic literature on KM [Knowledge Management] and who (along with their bosses) are convinced that they need to go down this path....Our purpose is not to address the nature of knowledge. Rather, we want to help you get the right information to the right people so that they can take effective action....Everything we say in this book assumes that you are (or are going to be) leveraging Web-based technologies to move data, information, and knowledge." Their purposes could not be clearer.The book is divided into four sections:

Part One: Getting Started (Strategy and Profiling People)

Part Two: Organizing Around Information (Storyboarding Knowledge and Mapping the Knowledge Network)

Part Three: Knowledge Architecture (Hiring People, Mobilizing Content, and Building the Technical Architecture)

Part Four: The Ninety-Day Action Plan

This book provides both the structural design and the operations manual needed by any organization to achieve these objectives:

1. To evaluate the information it now has

2. To identify the information it needs...but does not (as yet) have

3. To formulate a Web-based system to manage knowledge more effectively

4. To set in place those best qualified to manage that system

5. To facilitate and encourage knowledge sharing throughout the organization

In Part Four, the authors wisely recommend that an organization choose a single business cycle that can be improved and begin the "Ninety-Day Action Plan" with a knowledge audit; next, begin building a core team and select an appropriate technology (or technologies); then during Day 61-Day 90, explain your team's efforts throughout the organization ("to communicate the benefits of a KM system and to sell the concept of the knowledge architecture") while constantly updating the content under management.

Given its stated purposes, I rate this book very highly. It is well-organized, well-written, and comprehensive in terms of material covered. Contrary to what some reviewers may suggest, I think it provides the knowledge needed to manage knowledge effectively. If your organization has the aforementioned five objectives and has not as yet achieved them, I suggest that its key executives read this book immediately and then launch a collaborative effort to implement the "Ninety-Day Action Plan." Why wait?

A Review and Synopsis of Managing Knowledge - A Practical Web-Based Approach by Wayne Applehans, Alden Globe, and Greg Laugero

In knowldgWORKS News Volume 1 Number 12 KnowBits pointed you to a series of World Wide Web links on the Microsoft Web Site. The links consisted of a series of case studies offered by Microsoft as examples of how their technology could be used as the basis of knowledge management efforts. Most of the case studies had very little to do with knowledge management, but quite a bit to do with Microsoft technology. One of the case studies distinguished itself. This was the case study describing the knowledge management effort at J.D. Edwards. The description of the effort was so rich that I sprang for the book by the people responsible for the work at J.D. Edwards.

My overall opinion: BUY THIS BOOK !

Without equivocation this book is the best compact description of what knowledge management is about. The book consists of practical information and advice about conducting a knowledge management effort. It is short, to the point, and has lots of great diagrams. Here is a synopsis.

This book begins with a series of assumptions. They are as follows:

Assumption 1: (my favorite) "Knowledge management does not have to be profound." Assumption 2: You have a champion and are figuring out how to get started. Assumption 3: Document management concepts, technologies, and procedures provide the basic disciplines to kick off a successful effort. Assumption 4: Yours is a mid to large size company with an intranet and extranet and an internet presence. Assumption 5: Your business is consciously preparing for the internet economy.

The parameters of the discussion are clearly set forth by these assumptions. But consider that even if you don't meet all of the assumption criteria, the information contained in this book is still extremely valuable.

One of the challenges of any knowledge management effort is explaining why your organization might want to do knowledge management. Consider adopting these reasons :

1. Ease of partnering 2. Ease of managing expertise turnover 3. Ease of decentralizing decision-making

Each of these reasons represents a competitive imperative.

Any book about knowledge management needs to define the term. Remember my own definition goes, "Knowledge Management is the process of controlling, using, manipulating, and communicating that which enables us to do things." Consider the authors's definition of knowledge.

"Knowledge is the ability to turn information and data into effective action."

The authors go on to say this is a tactical definition "because they are not interested in esoteric debates about the nature of epistemology." (Hooray ! )

With regard to managing knowledge, Applehans et al give the following definition.

"managing knowledge means delivering the information and data people need to be effective in their jobs."

This book does not mince words. It tries to keep things fairly simple and straightforward. The authors represent the trichotemy of data, information and knowledge as a pyramid consisting of data at the base, information in the middle and knowledge at the top. Interpreting this figure, one can infer the relationship between data, information and knowledge fairly easily.

The book is divided into four parts and several chapters. Part one, "Getting Started", focuses on strategy and profiling people. Part 2 creates the basis for relating knowledge to the business and covers storyboarding the knowledge and designing the organization around the knowledge it uses.

Part three deals with the topics, "Hiring People," "Modeling Content," and "Building the Technical Architecture."

Lastly part four presents a 90 day action plan.

One of the most interesting parts of the book is in part two where business process is attached to the informational needs and people involved in the process. What this breakdown gives you is the ability to see where the knowledge resides and how it is used in the business. The relationship of knowledge to process to people grounds a knowledge management effort in the business.

Given the success of the author's effort at J.D. Edwards, I certainly believe they are on the right track. Given J.D. Edwards, size one has to wonder if the process scales down to smaller organizations. I would argue that, regardless of the size, the processes apply. The technical architecture may be substantially different for a small organization but that does not change the desired results, and the process proposed by the authors should scale up and down for businesses of all sizes.

"Managing Knowledge - A Practical Web-Based Approach" is an easy to read and apply guidebook for a complicated process. The book breaks down the daunting task of getting the "right knowledge, to the right people at the right time" so you can get started in applying knowledge management. This practical guide to implementing knowledge management techniques can be used on one process or an entire organization. Though, the authors do recommend picking one process/cycle to begin the implementation process.
The authors are straight forward in explaining that the nature of their book is not to explain knowledge management. It is assumed that you have read other books on knowledge management prior to using this guide. I found the book was well written enough that you really just needed some basic understanding of knowledge management, along with the foresight and desire to improve the formation and flow of data, information and knowledge. The book's subtitle states "a practical web-based approach", yet many principals of this book can be used in non web- based applications. Before I finished the book, I was convinced that my organization should implement the needed changes for managing knowledge, and that my organization would benefit greatly from retooling its self for the information economy. The authors should have included a quick reference page for the numerous abbreviations that were used. Some of the abbreviations may have another meaning in other industries.

Information anxiety is today's constant challenge for every person working in the fast-paced, ever-changing world of business. Recommended for anyone with an interest in knowledge management, "Managing Knowledge: A Practical Web Based Approach", is a highly graphical, how-to guide, offering step-by-step advice on how to transform information into a strategic business asset: knowledge. I gained valuable insights on how to apply the principles in the book to my non-profit organization.

Less filling with great taste! Managing Knowledge presents a high-level understanding of knowledge management, a "just enough" analysis to understand where your best opportunities are, and an overview of your 90-day plan to implement your prototype/pilot. This book won't help you manage more than a small effort, but "a journey of a thousand miles starts with a first step". This book can help you get your KM project underway; other KM texts (Davenport, O'Dell, etc.) will help you to build on your initial efforts.

This book offers a no-nonsense practical approach to managing knowledge in todays WWW based platform. KM is on everyone's radar screens as of late and this book cuts to the chase giving excellent real world examples and solutions including an implementable 90 day action plan! Excellent resource...

Marcus P. Zillman, M.S., A.M.H.A. CEO BotTechnology.com, Inc.

The authors' discoveries for the new world of business are as epoch shaping as those of Columbus half a millennium ago. This is a practical guided tour of what to do now to create a knowledge-sharing organization or network. The executive who misses this boat is unlikely to have a career future in any growth business.

Most materials on knowldege management are so theorectical and academic as to be useless. Managing Knowledge is a nuts and bolts primer on how to save money, save time and increase reveneues by managing knowledge. Its practical approach comes from authors who have achieved these benefits by doing it with a small staff and budget.

It may not give you any insights. In many places it will look just like plain common sense. It is also weak on the technical architecture side. But it is concise, printed nicely, clear, and focused. And it will make you wonder why other books can't just be like that.