From learning organisation to knowledge entrepreneurJennifer Rowley
2000 Journal of Knowledge Management
doi: 10.1108/13673270010315362
Establishes the clear link between learning and knowledge, and proposes a simple model, which makes this relationship explicit. A range of definitions of the learning organisation are drawn from the literature. Much of this literature makes little reference to that which is being learned although those authors who have introduced the concepts of the learning laboratory, the knowledge creating organisation and the knowing organisation acknowledge the significance of knowledge in organisational development and learning. Other perspectives on the organisational processes associated with knowledge come from the recent literature on knowledge management. It is argued that indiscriminate knowledge creation will not lead to organisational learning, and that knowledge is not something that can be viewed as a neutral tool in the learning process. A number of characteristics of knowledge need to be recognised, and accommodated in learning processes and knowledge management. Finally, the concept of a knowledge entrepreneur is proposed.
Organizing knowledge in the knowledge development cycleGanesh D. Bhatt
2000 Journal of Knowledge Management
doi: 10.1108/13673270010315371
The main aim of the paper is to examine some of the strategies that can be matched to increase the effectiveness of the knowledge development cycle. In manufacturing and operational works, the effectiveness of different organizing strategies to enhance the quality of manufacturing processes and products is well established. In knowledge works, however, we lack such frameworks. Unlike manufacturing and operational processes, knowledge development processes are often chaotic, unstructured, and unsystematic, resulting in intangible products. Therefore, the principles of manufacturing strategies cannot be applied in the knowledge development cycle. In knowledge works, organizing strategies should be defined and initiated based on knowledge development phases (e.g. knowledge creation, knowledge adoption, knowledge distribution, and knowledge review and revision). Each phase, in the knowledge development cycle, needs to be evaluated in context of its characteristics on repetition, standardization, reliability, and specifications.
Communities of practice in the distributed international environmentPaul Hildreth; Chris Kimble; Peter Wright
2000 Journal of Knowledge Management
doi: 10.1108/13673270010315920
Modern commercial organisations are facing pressures which have caused them to lose personnel. When they lose people, they also lose their knowledge. Organisations also have to cope with the internationalisation of business forcing collaboration and knowledge sharing across time and distance. Knowledge management (KM) claims to tackle these issues. This paper looks at an area where KM does not offer sufficient support, that is, the sharing of knowledge that is not easy to articulate. The focus in this paper is on communities of practice in commercial organisations. We do this by exploring knowledge sharing in Lave and Wenger's (1991) theory of communities of practice and investigating how communities of practice may translate to a distributed international environment. The paper reports on two case studies that explore the functioning of communities of practice across international boundaries.
Evolution of collaborative distance work at ITESM: structure and processLeonardo Shapiro; Javier Carrillo; Ciro Velázquez
2000 Journal of Knowledge Management
doi: 10.1108/13673270010315948
Evolution of collaborative distance work at the Monterrey Institute of Technology, ITESM, is discussed and analyzed. ITESM's location, geographic distribution, organizational structure, development strategies and recent expansion throughout the Americas are described. The evolution of the institution's networking capability from a national and intra-institutional network of 26 campuses to a complex array of over a thousand inter-institutional entities of various kinds across the continent is reconstructed. This evolution is reviewed in light of ITESM's pursuit of an aggressive transformation strategy that includes a shift towards distributed and participative teaching as well as a strong outward-looking, international approach. The paper discusses some relationships between the deployment of an IT platform and change management of core university processes. Some lessons are drawn from ITESM's experience, concluding with the unavoidable challenge the higher education establishment faces worldwide to redefine itself as an instrument designed for the knowledge society.
The study and practice of leadershipVictor Newman; Kazem Chaharbaghi
2000 Journal of Knowledge Management
doi: 10.1108/13673270010315966
The usefulness of the literature is questioned in terms of influencing and transmitting leadership behaviour. The limitations of literature as a literary form are exposed. It is shown that leadership can only be experienced and not acted nor emulated in the form of an artificial behaviour. By examining the consumers of leadership literature, it is demonstrated that the providers are satisfying their wants. Any weaknesses in the medium and the failure of developing a leadership technology are acceptable to the consumers. It is shown that identity, technology and leadership are strongly interrelated and that the new form of leadership which is evolving in the emerging era of discontinuous change emphasises identity creation.