Making Knowledge Work
In a knowledge economy, the value of an organization derives from the
intellectual capital of its knowledge workers. However, few knowledge
management projects go far enough to understand or address individual
priorities and processes.
While KM cannot succeed unless every knowledge worker takes personal
responsibility for what he or she knows and doesn't know, management has
to take responsibility for cultivating an atmosphere in which everyone
has reason to share while building an infrastructure that makes it easy
to share.
The most valuable intellectual assets—such as tacit knowledge, trust
and creativity—can be encouraged and exploited by the corporation, but
never owned.
Enterprise KM strategies should be designed to leverage rather than
attempting to overcome individual motivations and behaviors.
Personal knowledge management (PKM) helps knowledge workers
demonstrate their value to their organizations and in the job market
while they improve the aggregate value of intellectual capital for the
organization. At the same time it builds momentum to overcome the
technological and sociological barriers to top-down, enterprise-wide KM
initiatives.
Maximizing human capital (in terms of experience and expertise),
structural capital (practices and systems) and social capital (networks
and relationships) on a personal level enriches both individuals and
organizations.
If organizational productivity depends on the efficiency and
effectiveness of individuals, KM systems must be designed with personal
knowledge management needs in mind, giving each worker the content,
context and connections they need to acquire and create knowledge, share
learning, collaborate with colleagues and extend their networks.
Taking a PKM approach also gives workers and managers more time for
value-creating processes that can never be automated, such as reflection
and innovation. |
