Martin at mopsos attempted to write ten commandments about knowledge management, but couldn't stop there. The 18 commandments of Knowledge-conscious managers
I like the idea that Knowledge Management is really about Knowledge Conscious Management, or to put it differently, Managing in the Knowledge Age as Professor Klaus North puts it. Incidentally, this explains why it is so difficult to introduce in 20th century organizations, which do not recognize mastery of knowledge flows as a source of competitive advantage.
I've seen a number of people talk about Knowledge something Management recently, and it has me thinking about how rearranging the words gives you different perspectives. You could almost pick any preposition and see if it strikes a chord for you. Some examples
- Knowledge conscious management, above. Be explicitly aware of how knowledge is created, used, transferred - how it flows - within your organization.
- Managing in the knowledge age, above.
- Knowledge in management from Jeanie Egmon at CLOC, where I will be teaching.
- Management with knowledge suggests a different direction altogether - how does one use knowledge to manage better / differently? Would this be different that managing with information? What does the explicit statement of management with knowledge do to thoughts of management?
- Knowledge through management gives the idea that knowledge flows and that management should be about enabling (or blocking?) that flow.
- Management of knowledge seems to be the old school "corporate" perspective on KM.
- Knowledge by management feels like an even stronger statement of control, but could also be thought of as the side effect of good management within an organization. Knowledge flows better when management is more effective.
- Personal knowledge management, which shifts the focus to how the individual operates and works - knowledge work.