Kay Vivian has written up a list of concerns that managers have voiced over many conversations in her organization: Managers Look at the Risks of KM (excerpted)
During the course of these meetings, we made extensive notes on their comments, reservations, concerns, interest and ultimately, their understanding of what we were suggesting. Many interesting things emerged, including what they perceived the risks of KM to be. They were both business related and personal.
- Disruption of work flows.
- Taking resources away from other important projects.
- KM solution cost could be high.
- Uncertain legal considerations.
- Not a part of the company’s long-term strategic plans.
- Diluting scarce technical resources might jeopardize other technology priorities related to serving customers.
- Lack of credible metrics.
- Their own ignorance.
Ouch! I am not sure I would want to try knowledge management in this company. Kaye's had some interesting comments about knowledge management, so she must be having some success there, regardless of these roadblocks.
But taken another way, isn't this a great list of barriers and concerns that need to be addressed for any big change project? And KM at the level Kaye is discussing is clearly a big change, if these concerns continue to arise over 18 months worth of discussions.