Knowledge Management in the SocioTechnical World (Paperback)

~ Elayne Coakes (Editor), Dianne Willis (Editor), Steve Clarke (Editor) "This chapter takes a sociotechnical perspective on the organisational issue of knowledge management..." (more)
Key Phrases: knowledge management spectrum, different organisational abilities, knowledge requirement system, Lotus Notes, Fortum Engineering Ltd, Royal Navy (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

From the reviews: Knowledge Management in the SocioTechnical World: the Graffiti ContinuesElayne Coakes, Dianne Willis, Steve ClarkeStar Rating ¬¬¬¬¬ Traditional information systems approaches tend to view knowledge management (KM) as a purely technical problem to be solved by appropriate methodologies and tools. Consequently, many projects fail because they do not take into account the social contexts in which knowledge is created and managed in organisations. This book is recommended for anyone interested in understanding the social dimension to KM and how to make KM more effective. It notes that the sociotechnical approach puts people and groups in organisations at the heart of KM, showing that in realising that knowledge resides in the people as well as in artefacts, more effective use can be made of KM methods to reach organisational 'goals. Thus, what appears to be a radical break with traditional approaches actually enhances their effectiveness. This well written and integrated collection of papers provides a rounded introduction to sociotechnical knowledge management. The sociological, psychological,  and organisational background material is succinct and accessible to those of a technical bent. The overall emphasis is very practical and there are well developed accounts of real case studies. It is well suited to supporting continuing professional development and for advanced use. Greg Michaelson MBCSSenior lecturer, Heriot-Watt University The Computer Bulletin, November 2003 "Traditional Information systems approaches tend to view knowledge management (KM) as a purely technical problem to be solved by appropriate methodologies and tools. … This book is recommended for anyone interested in understanding the social dimension to KM, and how to make KM more effective. … This well written and integrated collection of papers provides a rounded introduction to sociotechnical knowledge management. … The overall emphasis is very practical and there are well developed accounts of real case studies." (Greg Michaelson, Computer Bulletin, November, 2003) "I enjoyed this book; if you are interested in knowledge management, you probably will too. … Overall, there is plenty of material here for both academics and practitioners interested in knowledge management. The book will also serve as useful source material to support knowledge management teaching. One unusual stylistic feature is the highlighting of key points in speech bubble call-outs from the main text." (J. Edwards, Journal of the Operational Research Society, Issue 54, 2003) "The book … is about knowledge management from the socio-technical perspective. If you are interested in looking at the critical factors for the success of knowledge management systems in organizations from socio-technical perspective, this book will be of great use for you. This book gives a good collection of case studies and observations based on the individual and organizational experiences. … The best part of the book is looking at the real application of social aspects of knowledge management in this domain." (Bhavani Sridharan, Educational Technology and Society, Vol. 3 (5), 2002)

Product Description

This book follows on "The New SocioTech" (published April 2000). Whereas that book gave a broad introduction to the re-emerging area of sociotechnical design, this one applies these principles specifically to the area of Knowledge Management (KM). KM has been a key tool in ensuring that people and technology work together to optimum effect within organisations for many years, but recent studies have called for a more systemic approach to the topic.

This book examines that problem via sociotechnical principles which have recently re-emerged as one of the most widely used approaches to information systems and organisational design. Including contributions from academics and practitioners, this book looks at key aspects of the field such as:

* Knowledge management strategy formulation * Knowledge requirements * Case studies from corporate learning environments and industry.

It will be of interest to practitioners, researchers, and managers who are involved in any aspect of information systems/sociotechnical design or knowledge management. It will also useful for advanced students on information systems or related courses.

Product Details

• Paperback: 232 pages
• Publisher: Springer; 1 edition (January 10, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 185233441X
• ISBN-13: 978-1852334413
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,546,181 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Journal Review, January 20, 2003

By A Customer

For those in a hurry: I enjoyed this book; if you're interested in knowledge management, you probably will, too. Those with more time, read on...

The `graffiti' subtitle of this volume indicates its link with an earlier book on sociotechnical systems in the same Springer series on Computer Supported Cooperative Work. (See 1.) This book maintains the sociotechnical viewpoint, this time concentrating on knowledge management.

Because of this shared viewpoint, the different chapters are far better integrated than in most contributed volumes. The contributions have also been kept short and to the point, the longest being 17 pages, and taken together these make for an easy but stimulating read.

The contributors form a diverse group, with half being based in the UK and the others hailing from Australia, Scandinavia, Singapore, South Africa and the USA. The majority are academics, but there is a sprinkling of practitioners and consultants. There are 14 substantive chapters, plus introductory and concluding chapters by the editors. JORS readers may find some of the material familiar, as several of the authors gave presentations in the Learning Organisations and Knowledge Management streams at the OR42 Conference in September 2000 at Swansea.

After the Introduction, Coakes herself succinctly describes how the principles of sociotechnical systems apply to knowledge management in Chapter 2. The succeeding chapters are then divided into four parts: know-why, know-what, know-who, and know-how, although many of the chapters cut across two or more of these headings. Parts 1 and 2 mainly discuss theoretical foundations, while parts 3 and 4 are substantially based on case studies.

`Know-why' (part 1) comprises four chapters. Binney complements Coakes's chapter by explaining the human and organisational significance of his own `knowledge management spectrum'. Goldkuhl and Braf look at the relationship between the individual and the organisation, and thus at the relationships between individual knowledge and what they term organisational ability and organisational action. Chapter 5 is entitled "managing knowledge in a knowledge business"; the business in question is a university, and unusually the author (Scholtz) is one of the university's IT managers rather than an `academic'. Yoo and Ifvarsson emphasise the importance of discussing knowledge and learning in organisations as something dynamic, rather than static. They also make the telling point that a `best practice' approach may sometimes constrain the individual rather than enabling her, echoing Scholtz's view that the academic peer-regulation system may fail to recognise true creativity.

`Know-what' (part 2) is represented by chapters 7 and 8. Phillips and Patrick explain an agent-based model for investigating how cognitive style affects the development of groups, effectively developing a research agenda, while Pemberton and Stonehouse address the situation of the individual in the knowledge-centric organisation. I was a little worried to see the commonly used but unhelpful phrase "extracting individual knowledge" appearing in the latter chapter, despite the book's sociotechnical standpoint.

The three chapters in part 3 cover `know-who'. Chapter 9 by Huang and Pan concentrates on the vital, but relatively under-researched topic of managing knowledge about customers. Their case study of Boots the Chemist illustrates very well the importance of face to face interaction, and the limitations of IT. Yi examines the functioning of a pilot community of practice in Motorola and reports the outcomes from its operation. Ericsson and Avdic develop and justify a simple prototype system to help in managing knowledge relating to errors in the manufacturing process for a Swedish SME.

Part 4 contains five chapters, including the Conclusion, grouped under `know-why'. Here the general JORS reader will find some familiar techniques from soft OR and systems. Cuthbertson and Farrington use Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) in chapter 12 to appreciate a problematic knowledge management situation in one of the Royal Navy's training schools. SSM rich pictures also feature in Chapter 14, by Al-Karaghouli et al, as part of an approach which also advocates the use of group facilitation techniques in requirements elicitation for information systems. The retail sector is the example used here. By contrast, in the intervening chapter, Kazi et al offer something highly unfamiliar: a model of knowledge creation and management based on a palm tree, yielding (eventually) its knowledge coconuts. [This came as somewhat of a surprise to this reviewer, who previously associated Finland more with `track and field nuts' than coconuts.] This novel image is applied to a Finnish engineering firm, and for this reviewer was perhaps the most thought provoking image in the whole book. Kazi et al also link explicit knowledge to programmable decisions, but it is not apparent that they are aware of the OR/MS heritage here in the work of people such as Herbert Simon. Chapter 15, by Coakes et al, compares the management of tacit (and explicit) knowledge in two consulting companies, with a particular focus on whether there is a role for IT.

Overall, there is plenty of material here for both academics and practitioners interested in knowledge management. The book will also serve as useful source material to support knowledge management teaching. One unusual stylistic feature is the highlighting of key points in "speech bubble" call-outs from the main text. It took me a little while to get used to this, but by the end of the book I was finding it helpful rather than intrusive. As I said at the beginning, I enjoyed this book, and I think most people interested in knowledge management will.

John Edwards
Aston University

Reference
1. Coakes, E., Willis, D. and Lloyd-Jones, R. (Eds.) (2000) The New SocioTech: Graffiti on the Long Wall. Springer Verlag, London.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Society and technology meet knowledge management, September 16, 2002

By	awenn (Maffra, Victoria Australia) - See all my reviews

This book is something quite different from the usual text on knowledge management. It is a collection of articles from KM practitioners around the globe whose main desire, but not their only one, is to show that knowledge management is a process that uses and is influenced by both the social and technical.

Although I wouldn't recommend it as an undergraduate text there are plenty of really interesting ideas that I will be exploring with my Knowledge Management Technologies class when it runs next year (2003). It will certainly find a place amongst my reference books.

If this book isn't near the top of the KM best seller list then it deserves to be.