1 Harvard Business Review on Knowledge Management MIS 580 September 27, 2005 Arab Salem Discussion of Chapters 1- 3

2 Contents The Coming of the New Organization  By Peter F. Drucker, 1988 The Knowledge-Creating Company  By Ikujiro Nonaka, 1991 Building a Learning Organization  By David A. Garvin, 1993

3 Drucker: A futurist "Productive work in today's society and economy is work that applies vision, knowledge and concepts -- work that is based on the mind rather than the hand." Landmarks of Tomorrow “ … the typical business will be knowledge-based, [...] it will be what I call an information-based organization The Coming of the New Organization, 1988 "The most valuable assets of a 20th-century company were its production equipment. The most valuable asset of a 21st- century institution, whether business or nonbusiness, will be its knowledge workers and their productivity." Management Challenges for the 21st Century,1999

4 Drucker’s Approach knowledge-based organization  No middle management  nonprofit organizations Knowledge workers  specialists who direct and discipline their own performance  work together as a team to achieve a common goal. Are we becoming a knowledge society?

5 Nonaka’s Approach Knowledge Creating Company  processing of objective information  tapping into the intuitions, insights, and hunches of employees  making it available for testing and use in the whole organization Two types of knowledge creation of new knowledge can occur at any level Exchange New Knowledge Tacit Explicit

6 Drucker vs. Nonaka DruckerNonaka ExamplesservicesManufacturing Implementation/usageFind peopleFind knowledge objects Knowledge TransferAudience targetedContext targeted ApproachPersonalizationCodification TrainingOne-to-oneGroup based FocusKnowledge workersCreation of Knowledge Knowledge base Organizational StructureFlatEssential role for middle manager ModelExport economicsEconomics of reuse

7 Garvin's approach focuses on the importance of having an organization that learns  five activities that are the foundation for learning organizations opening up of boundaries across the functional departmental boundaries to stimulate the flow of knowledge

8 Resources Peter F. Drucker on a Functioning Society by Joseph A. Maciariello Leader to Leader, No. 37 Summer 'The nonsense of 'knowledge management'', Information Research-An International by Wilson, T. D. Electronic Journal, vol. 8, no