Customer Reviews

Sharing Knowledge: The Why and How of Organisational Change

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By now, I have become convinced that an organization's performance in these separate but related areas - knowledge management and - will probably determine whether or not it survives. That is why I recently read with great interest this book as well as Gaston Trauffler and Hugo P. Tschirky's Sustained Innovation Management. Think about it: An organization can neither initiate nor respond effectively to change without sufficient information; the same is true when an organization must assimilate radical and incremental innovation management, and do so over an extended period of time.

Francois Dupuy observes that "we are now seeing an interesting paradox which certainly merits some attention: it is not so much change itself which poses a problem - it is even valued as a driving force for economic activity, as a source for the creation of wealth - but more the ability to lead it, to steer it, to control it, in brief to be an `active actor' and not just a simple, even if enthusiastic spectator." My own rather extensive experience with all manner of organizations indicates to me that most people do not fear change; rather, they fear what is unfamiliar. Hence the importance not only of knowledge but also of managing it well.

Dupuy carefully organizes his material within two Parts. In the first, he explains the nature, extent, and implications of what he characterizes "the customer's victory" within what has become a new environment, "an uncertain world," in which there has been a paradigm shift from "a scarce product to a scarce customer." Throughout Part I, Dupuy focuses on forces, factors, and issues that come into play as organizations scramble (with mixed results) to respond to all manner of changes. Insofar as knowledge management is concerned, many (most?) organizations do not know (a) what they already know, (b) what they think they know...but don't, (c) therefore, what their most important knowledge needs are, and finally (d) how to meet them. I wish I had a dollar for every time I have heard a senior-level executive claim that her or his "most valuable assets walk out the door at the end of each day." Yes, a cliché but nonetheless true. There is a "fog" in business just as in war, as Carl von Clauswitz once suggested when referring to the difficulties of communication during combat.

Then in Part II, Dupuy shifts his attention to the methodology and tools that an effective change process requires. He includes a number of "anonymous" case studies, all of which are based on real-world situations. Opinions vary as to the extent it is possible to "manage change." Peter Drucker frequently suggested that the best way to manage the future was to create it. I certainly agree that it is better to control the process by which to prepare for, initiate, and then sustain change than be surprised by it and perhaps managed by it.

In his final chapter, Dupuy addresses a number of issues of special interest to me. Specifically, the challenge all organizations face when struggling to survive what Charles Darwin would describe as a process of "natural selection," and do so at a time when change is the only constant. According to Dupuy, "at least in the short term, nothing is written in stone. The managers and members of organizations are returned not only to their perception of the future, to their choices, but above all to their reciprocal confidence - an essential condition for introducing a process of change into organizations - while at the same time offsetting the most severe aspects of the crisis, the drama or the ever-renewed pressure." How to respond effectively to what is undeniably a formidable challenge. The observations and suggestions that Francois Dupuy offers are worthy of careful consideration. Then a choice must be made: Lead, follow, or get out of the way?

Those who share my high regard for this volume are urged to read O'Dell's If Only We Knew What We Know (written with C. Jackson Grayson) and The Executive's Role in Knowledge Management. Also Peter Senge's The Fifth Discipline and a more recent work, Presence, co-authored with C. Otto Scharmer, Joseph Jaworksi, and Betty Sue Flowers; Richard Ogle's Smart World; Deborah Ancona and Henrik Bresman's X-teams; Howard Gardner's Five Minds for the Future; Jeanne W. Ross, Peter Weill, and David Robertson's Enterprise Architecture as Strategy; Dean R. Spitzer's Transforming Performance Measurement; and Competing on Analytics co-authored by Thomas H. Davenport and Jeanne G. Harris.

In response to globalization and other major business challenges in "post-industrial society," analysts have developed two highly different theories of organizational change. The first, "E theory," focuses on short-term financial gain, which usually translates into higher stock prices. Prevalent in North America, E theory encourages downsizing, including mass layoffs. Clearly, in E theory, the human element is of negligible importance. In contrast, "O theory" emphasizes retaining employees by upgrading their skills. Popular in Europe and Asia, O theory assumes an "implied contract of loyalty-protection" between management and employees. François Dupuy describes this theory, and how companies and other bureaucracies can apply it. His dense writing style and the book's forbidding layout, with few subheadings or visual aids such as charts, often make his reasoning difficult to follow. However, we believe this book is very useful for executives who want a new perspective on organizational change. Its prescient formula for corporate transformation is not only moral and humane, but also intelligent and sustainable. It recognizes that an organization is nothing without its people.