Hi Sandra,
of course, there are examples where KM has made a great benefit but how many
of these have been leaps of faith - my recollection is that Rob Buckman as a
pioneer took such a leap with no hard facts on which to base his decision.
There has been, as there always is, too much hype in this area. My view is
quite simple on KM, its good to talk. In my experience, we have lost so much
by not having the opportunity to meet and develop working relationships - as
opposed to answering e-mails. But we need to challenge the perception that
talking is non-productive. The real issue for me is getting organisations to
decide what is valuable to them and yes I know that its what walks out of
the door every night and lots of us have 'Investors in People (IIP)' status.
The question is how many believe ourselves and the knowledge we hold to be
valued?
Martin
-----Original Message-----
From: Sandra Higgison [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 16 September 2003 10:42
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: What is KM? (BSI - are they right?)
Thought I'd add my 2 pennies' worth
KM is indeed a term that causes many people some concern. In fact, many of
the authorities in this area and practitioners themselves shy away from
using it, not only because they disagree with the implied concept that
knowledge can be physically managed, but also because of the hype around the
discipline in recent years. KM and information management are indeed
interchangeable in the vocabularies of some people/companies, I can see why
this happens but agree that distinctions need to be made as they're not the
same. There is certainly an overlap as knowledge will be codified as
information, which can and should be managed. However knowledge
sharing/building are terms that many are more comfortable with and actually
imply there is some value to be redeemed from the practice.
Regardless of the term - people have been trying to define KM for years and
far too many conference presentations still open with a 'definition'
according to the presenter's bias - there is real value to be gained as
demonstrated by pioneering companies such as BP, Skandia, Buckman
Laboratories, Rolls Royce, etc. If you're interested in case studies then
let me know as I can send a sample copy of our Knowledge Management mag, or
indeed come along to our annual event, KM Europe 10-12 Nov,
www.kmeurope.com.
Cheers
Sandra
PS For those of you with sharp eyes, my role has changed since my last post
when I was editor of CM Focus. I'm now editing KM magazine, but am still
interested in all things info mgt!
--
Sandra Higgison
Editor
Knowledge Management
http://www.kmmagazine.com
-----Original Message-----
From: The UK Records Management mailing list
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Grahame Gould
Sent: 16 September 2003 04:03
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: What is KM? (BSI - are they right?)
If the definition of Knowledge is related directly to information (as often
seems to be the case, and was by BSI) then it makes nonsense of the
distinction between Knowledge and Information.
Knowledge is clearly something that is in people's heads. Most would agree
that it therefore cannot be managed.
Information is something that can be recorded and/or transmitted. Knowledge
can't. At best, Knowledge is converted into Information and then someone
else forms their own Knowledge from that Information.
Most definitions of Knowledge Management essentially mean the same thing as
Information Management. Some add some Human component. IT has been the
biggest user of the KM term and they frequently promote their software or
hardware as the solution to KM, which is palpably nonsense. Computers
really only deal with Data, not even Information, let alone Knowledge!
If KM can mean anything (and I'm not convinced it can as it is a tautology)
then it must be short-hand for a whole slew of components that just help
organisations work better - an umbrella term for things that were already
happening.
Whilst I dispute a literal interpretation of the term "Knowledge
Management", I do see some value in some of what is being done under that
heading and think that it may have some benefit, however I'm generally wary
of it as it means too many things and often means nothing. It's too often
some supposedly fix-all solution that some "management guru" wants to use to
ride the latest bandwagon.
Some of you may be interested in the following article, with which I don't
completely agree, but it got me thinking about these issues:
http://informationr.net/ir/8-1/paper144.html
Grahame Gould
Records Manager
Shire of Wyndham East Kimberley
115 Coolibah Drive
PO Box 614
Kununurra 6743
[log in to unmask]
08 9168 1677
www.thelastfrontier.com.au
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details
-----Original Message-----
From: Martin Green [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Monday, 15 September 2003 15:14
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: BSI - are they right?
Hi Bob,
the BSI seems definition seems to me to be (a) too simplistic (b) written by
someone who doesn't know what they are talking about.
KM can mean many different things to different people and I dispute that
'Knowledge' can be managed.
There are those who say that knowledge (as opposed to information) is in
people's heads and that we need to put our efforts into the capture and
re-use of this knowledge. Ok, but what's in people's heads may be of little
value?
I think the basis of any KM strategy has to be first get your RM processes
in place and working. More importantly, get people using them so that we can
learn from mistakes - 'course working in central government I don't have
expect that to be the case but hold out some hope for government will change
when the Freedom of Information Act allows people to see the basis for
decision making ands what evidence (!?) is used.
I thought BSI were better than that and heard they were working on a KM
standard?
Martin
-----Original Message-----
From: Bob McLean [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 12 September 2003 17:14
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: BSI - are they right?
"Put another record on"
BSI magazine 'Business Standards' (issue August/September 2003, p23) has
their senior marketing manager, Ian Brewer, defining the difference between
RM and KM as follows:
"KM is more about information as an asset whereas RM is about creating a
process by which you can store and retrieve information. For example, RM
is simply about saying "all of our records on a specific topic are here".
He adds that "a records management policy can add to an overall KM
strategy".
Is he right? Has he missed something? I would be very interested in your
views on this BSI stance. However, please post your replies to the LIST via
the web, rather than sending all your replies to me personally. That way we
get a thread that we can all see!
Bob McLean
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