Siddartha, bt Herman Hesse

This book is not directly related to knowledge management but it was one of my favorite books of all time and having spent the entire semester posting about KM related materials I simply wanted to talk about something I truly enjoy. Also, in a way the is a level of knowledge management going on with the protagonist. The story centers around a young man who is raised with a level of wealth and status but chooses to give it up in order to discover who he really is and his purpose. Throughout the novel he experiences many different things, encounters a wide variety of people, and has to process and sort through a wide range of knowledge on his path to his own enlightenment. Not to give anything away, he eventually uses everything he has learned and all the knowledge he has acquired along his path to find himself and what he is meant to do. Read it. Now.

The Tacit Dimension, Polyani

This book really doesn't need an introduction for most people familiar with knowledge management, but for those who are not Polanyi is the one that pretty much coined the term 'tacit knowledge.' I still probably would benefit from reading this book a few more time as it is a lot to digest, but it is what really introduced me to the concept of tacit knowledge. I have used the word knowledge since I was a child but it was not until I took this class that I started to really understand all the different meanings that knowledge can have. I also had never given much thought to a type of knowledge that can not really be fully expalined by the person who possess it unless they are able to show another through actions. It really is a great book and I would highly suggest anyone who has not read it to do so.

Tremblay, Jones & Mahon, and Rule & Besen

TREMBLAY, G. The Information Society: From Fordism to Gatesism: The 1995 Southam Lecture. Canadian Journal of Communication, North America, 20, Apr. 1995

"The information society model claims that the new information hegemony is transforming industrial society. But is it not the case that the major change has to do with the increasingly greater integration of information and communication into the functioning of the economy and society, in the submission of information and communication to the operative rules of industrial society, in sum, in the commodification of information, culture, and communication? Rather than a "post-industrial society," the period of transition which we are experiencing consists more modestly in the shift from one industrial mode of organization to another mode of industrial organization, that is, from Fordism to Gatesism."

That is the abstract from the paper. I really have no better way of explaining it. There is a lot to take in but I really liked at how it examined what this 'information society' we are apparently living in is. I also like the terms he coined 'Fordism' and 'Gateism'. Very interesting read although don't start it unless you have some time to spend on it. It is not something you are going to just sit down and run through will quick. Worth the time if you have it though.

Jones, N.B. & Mahon, J.F.  Nimble knowledge transfer in high velocity/turbulent environments Journal of Knowledge Management, Vol. 16, No. 5. (2012), pp. 774-788

This article looks at the differences between explicit and tacit knowledge and the relationship the exists between the two in specific organizational environments. It uses the military as an example and examines the practices they use in terms of how knowledge is utilized. Using them as an example they then look at how some of those methods could be implemented in  large organizations. Ultimately they conclude that tacit knowledge is the more valuable of the two in regards to decision making. 

The Once and Future Information Society
Author(s): James B. Rule and Yasemin Besen. Theory and Society, Vol. 37, No. 4 (Aug., 2008), pp. 317-342Published

To summarize this article looks at the term 'information society' as it has become to be known today.  The author brings in social sciences and social scientist and also examine the history behind the term and how it became to be this prominent idea and concept that it is today. Very interesting article. I have heard this term used a thousand times before and have even used it myself. It was nice to finally fully understand what all it actually implies and how the term came into existence in the first place.

Huber, Levy and Nonaka

Organizational Learning: The Contributing Processes and the Literatures

George P. Huber

Organization Science, Vol. 2, No. 1, Special Issue: Organizational Learning: Papers in Honor of (and by) James G. March (1991), pp. 88-115 

Basically this article looks at organizational learning. The author notes that there are four constructs to this; knowledge acquisition, informational distribution, information interpretation, and organizational memory . There is a lot of literature that is discussed in this article and it is very thorough in its explanation and description of what organizational knowledge is and the four concepts that are discussed along with it.

Levy, Moria WEB 2.0 implications on knowledge management Journal of Knowledge Management, Vol. 13, No. 1. (2009), pp. 120-134

 I enjoyed this article because it addresses the internet, specifically WEB 2.0 and how it has and is affecting knowledge management and information sharing. The author observes that with the WEB 2.0 people are now sharing information and knowledge at an extraordinary rate. She goes on to discuss how organizations can use this to their advantage as well as how it has been affecting knowledge management and what some of the potential values and implications that should or could arise from it. Very entertaining article and it really shines a light on how much knowledge and information is reall being created and floating around out there in cyberspace.

A Dynamic Theory of Organizational Knowledge Creation

Ikujiro Nonaka

Organization Science, Vol. 5, No. 1 (Feb., 1994), pp. 14-37 

This article is very theoretical in nature but it presented some really good ideas. The author states that, "organizational knowledge is created through a continuous dialogue between tacit and explicit
knowledge." He goes on to say that new knowledge is created by individuals in an organization but the organization itself can greatly articulate and amplify that knowledge. Good article although I found it a little abstract at times, but it was interesting and made me think.

Nahapiet & Ghoshal, Blackler, and Cowan, David & Foray

Social Capital, Intellectual Capital, and the Organizational Advantage

Janine Nahapiet and Sumantra Ghoshal

The Academy of Management Review, Vol. 23, No. 2 (Apr., 1998), pp. 242-266 

 

This article looks at how social capital can hep create new intellectual capital for organizations. From my understanding of their explanation, social capital is the relationships, knowledge, and information that is shared and utilized by a group of people within an interactive setting such as a community or business. This article looks at how organizations are at an advantage for creating and sharing this social capital which could in turn create new intellectual capital. The article was interesting but I found it rather dull. I was intrigued by the idea of social capital though as this was the first time I had ever really come into contact with that term. Initially I thought they were in some way going to discuss finance, but instead the capital they were referring to exists between individuals or a group of individuals hat comes from sharing the same experiences and environment. 

 

Knowledge, Knowledge Work and Organizations: An Overview and Interpretation

Frank Blackler   Organization Studies  1995 16: 1021

 

This was a fairly long article that went into quite a bit of detail, but it brought up some interesting thoughts. The author first looks at how knowledge and its value is currently viewed and utilized within an organization. From here is offers a different approach to the way knowledge should be handled. As opposed to simply looking at what knowledge is already their Blackler believes that focus should instead be placed upon the cultural influences and the things that help create the knowledge. To him the process of how the knowledge comes into being is just as valuable as the knowledge itself.

 

 

 

Cowan, R., David, P., & Foray, D. (2000). The explicit economics of knowledge codification and tacitness. Industrial & Corporate Change, 9(2), 211. 

 

This article looks at how tacit and codified knowledge are used and understood in economics. The authors make the point that the two types are at times confused in regards to their actual meaning. This article went on and on and I really have no interest in economics so it was hard for me to sit through. Not to end on a bad note though I will say that the authors were very clear in their definitions ad descriptions of tacit ad codified knowledge respectively.

 

 

Trkman & Desouza, Lam & Chua and Massingham

Knowledge risks in organizational networks: An exploratory framework The Journal of Strategic Information Systems, Vol. 21, No. 1. (March 2012), pp. 1-17,

by Peter Trkman, Kevin C. Desouza..

 

This article looks at how knowledge is shared between organizations, but instead of looking at the benefits that can result from this type of collaboration, it focuses on the risks that can present themselves if the knowledge sharing is not done carefully. The article shows that there can be many disadvantag3es that can occur as well with knowledge sharing between organizations. A company could potentially lose it competitive advantage or its intellectual property may suffer because due to poor usage of it by another organization. I actually really enjoyed this article and found myself agreeing with many of the things that were being presented. I think that it is okay form companied to help each other to an extent but not all knowledge that exists within an organization needs to be shared with other organizations.

 

 

Knowledge risk management: a framework Journal of Knowledge Management, Vol. 14, No. 3. (2010), pp. 464-485,

by Peter Massingham

 

This article looks at knowledge risk management. I enjoyed this article because it keeps the responsibility of knowing what is going on within an organization on those who are running it. The article acknowledges that many times in the past corporate leaders have denied and deflected the blame when a serious situation arises. This article focuses on way in which knowledge can be accumulated and shared to help prevent or deal with high risk situations. The articles findings suggest that current knowledge risk management strategies are ineffective and implies that other methods need to be developed.

 

Knowledge outsourcing: an alternative strategy for knowledge management Journal of Knowledge Management, Vol. 13, No. 3. (2009), pp. 28-43,

by Wing Lam, Alton Y. K. Chua

 

This article looks at "knowledge outsourcing as an alternative strategy for knowledge management." This basically means from my own understanding that as opposed to knowledge being extracted from inside an organization and outside source is contracted to create new "knowledge assets." I am not sure how much I agree with it but it is an interesting idea. I think it would be foolish to overlook the valuable knowledge that already exists within an organization, but I can understand the benefits of also utilizing an outside source for new knowledge. I personally would not choose one over the other but rather combine both options in a way that was most useful to my organization.

Wang & Lu, McLure & Faraj and Schultze

A Confessional Account of an Ethnography about Knowledge Work

MIS Quarterly, Vol. 24, No. 1. (March 2000), pp. 3-41

by Ulrike Schultze

 

Read this article a couple times through and still do not fully understand what it is about. I know that the author looked at how information is produced rather than how it is used. He looks at three different information professionals and the informing practices that they relied upon. I guess this is a good study but I was bored out of my mind both times I read it.

 

 

 

Why Should I Share? Examining Social Capital and Knowledge Contribution in Electronic Networks of Practice

MIS Quarterly, Vol. 29, No. 1. (March 2005), pp. 35-57

by Molly McLure and Samer Faraj

 

This article looks at why people contribute their own knowledge to online networks when there is no apparent benefit to them. It is surmised that people do it to enhance their own professional reputation or when they are already "structurally embedded" in the network. I found the article interesting but from my own life experiences people like to know things, and when they do they feel a need to share it with others. There is a personal satisfaction that comes with showing others how much you know. I enjoyed the article but I had already come to the conclusion that it is just human nature to have a desire to appear as if you are well versed in any particular field. And in many instances the person feels some level of superiority for knowing something that someone else doesn't.

 

 

 

Knowledge transfer in response to organizational crises: An exploratory study Expert Systems with Applications, Vol. 37, No. 5. (May 2010), pp. 3934-3942,

by Wei-Tsong Wang, Yu-Cheng Lu

 

To begin with I really liked this article because it involved motorcycles. I have a motorcycle and love them, so I was interested before I had even finished reading the abstract. The article itself looked at how a crisis situation was handled during a product recall for a motorcycle manufacturer. The authors evaluated the effectiveness and influence of knowledge transfer and knowledge transfer channels during the incident. The conclusion was that there were a variety of different channels that were used and there was an overall positive influence on the performance of the organization while handling the crisis because of the knowledge transfers that were taking place.