Synopses & Reviews
Featuring key readings on knowledge management for graduate students and MBAs, this volume focuses on what is happening in practice. It includes seminal contributions from leading authorities and practitioners, providing a compelling picture of how knowledge and learning work in practice by including detailed examples from organizations such as Chevron, Nucor Steel, Partners Healthcare, and Xerox.
About the Author
Larry Prusak is a researcher and consultant and was the founder and Executive Director of the Institute for Knowledge Management (IKM). This was a global consortium of member organizations engaged in advancing the practice of knowledge management through action research. Larry has had extensive experience, within the U.S. and internationally, in helping organizations work with their information and knowledge resources. He has also consulted with many U.S. and overseas government agencies and international organizations (NGO's). He currently co-directs 'Working Knowledge', a knowledge research program at Babson College, where he is a Distinguished Scholar in Residence.
Larry's most recent book (co-authored with Tom Davenport) is What's the Big Idea?, published by Harvard Business School Press in Spring, 2003. He has also recently edited a volume with E. Lesser, Creating Value with Knowledge (Oxford University Press, 2003).
Eric Matson is a manager in McKinsey's Institute for Corporate Excellence, where he leads research efforts to better understand the drivers of enduring corporate performance. His currently focuses on profiling the world's leading companies to better understand how they excel in selected areas such as network management, knowledge management, and talent management.
Prior to joining McKinsey in 1999, Mr. Matson worked as a writer for Fast Company magazine and as a consultant for Monitor Company. His recent publications include 'The Performance Variability Dilemma' (Sloan Management Review, 2003), 'Strengthening Your Organization's Internal Knowledge Market' (Organizational Dynamics, 2003), 'Leveraging Group Knowledge for High Performance Decision Making' (Organizational Dynamics, 2002), and 'Managing the Knowledge Manager' (McKinsey Quarterly, 2001).
Table of Contents
Introduction and Overview,
Eric Matson and Laurence PrusakThe Strategic Importance of Knowledge and Learning
1. Knowledge Management and the Knowledge-Based Economy, Robert Grant
2. Developing a Knowledge Strategy, Michael H. Zack
3. The Learning Curve, Atul Gawande
4. Knowlege-In-The-Making: The 'Construction' of Fiat's Melfi Factory, Gerardo Pattriotta
5. Generating Creative Options, Dorothy Leonard and Walter Swap
6. Partnerships for Knowledge Creation, Salvatore Parise and Laurence Prusak
Knowledge Retention and Organizational Learning
7. Swing Doors and Musical Chairs, Arnold Kransdorff and Russell Williams
8. Organizational Memory, Linda Argote
9. Balancing Act: How to Capture Knowledge Without Killing It, John Seely Brown and Paul Duguid
Knowledge Transfer and Dissemination
10. Managing Knowledge the Chevron Way, Kenneth T. Derr
11. Getting it Right the Second Time, Gabriel Szulanski and Sidney Winter
12. Making a Market in Knowledge, Lowell L. Bryan
13. The Performance Variability Dilemma, Eric Matson and Laurence Prusak
Social Perspectives
14. Knowledge Management's Social Dimension: Lessons from Nucor Steel, Anil K. Gupta and Vijay Govindarajan
15. Fair Process: Managing in the Knowledge Economy, W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne
16. Communities of Practice: The Organizational Frontier, Etienne C. Wenger and William M. Snyder
17. Knowing What we Know: Supporting Knowledge Creation and Sharing in Social Networks, Rob Cross, Andrew Parker, Laurence Prusak, and Stephen P. Borgatti
Future Directions
18. Knowledge-Worker Productivity: The Biggest Challenge, Peter F. Drucker
19. Just-in-Time Delivery Comes to Knowledge Management, Thomas H. Davenport and John Glaser
20. Seeing Knowledge Plain: How to Make Knowledge Visible, Leigh Weiss and Laurence Prusak
21. Do you Know who your Experts are?, Michael Idinopulos and Lee Kempler
22. Using Supplier Networks to Learn Faster, Jeffrey H. Dyer and Nile W. Hatch