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The definitive overview of knowledge management,
this influential book establishes the enduring vocabulary
and concepts in the field. It serves as the hands-on resource
of choice for companies that recognize knowledge as the
only sustainable source of competitive advantage going forward.
Drawing from their work with more than thirty
knowledge-rich firms, Davenport and Prusak -- experienced
consultants with a track record of success -- examine how
all types of companies can effectively understand, analyze,
measure, and manage their intellectual assets, turning corporate
wisdom into market value. They categorize knowledge work
into four sequential activities -- accessing, generating,
embedding, and transferring -- and look at the key skills,
techniques, and processes of each. While they present a
practical approach to cataloguing and storing knowledge
so that employees can easily leverage it throughout the
firm, the authors caution readers about the limits of communications
and information technology in managing intellectual capital.
Animated by original examples from dozens
of organizations, including British Petroleum, Coca-Cola,
IDEO, Skandia International, Time Life, the U.S. Army, and
Young & Rubicam, Working Knowledge addresses
such key questions as:
- What is knowledge? What does it look
and sound like?
- Who has it? Where is it? Who uses it?
- What are specific knowledge skills?
- What cultural and behavioral issues must
managers address to use knowledge?
- What does a successful knowledge project
look like -- and how do you know whether it has succeeded?
- What are the best ways to incorporate
technology into knowledge work?
- What measures and milestones can managers
use to evaluate knowledge?
The book also examines the impact of recent
trends -- including globalization, leaner organizations,
and product and service convergence -- that have brought
about the "knowledge boom," and initiates a candid
discussion of the often overemphasized role of information
technology in managing knowledge.
In the end, say the authors, knowledge is
experience, "ground truth," complexity, rules
of thumb, intuition, values, and beliefs. These human characteristics
-- the qualities that add value -- make the job of managing
and maximizing knowledge, rather than hard assets, a challenge.
Applying the insights and practices of Working Knowledge
is every manager's first step toward long-term success.
Thomas H. Davenport is a professor of
information management at the University of Texas, Austin.
He has directed research at Ernst & Young, McKinsey,
and CSC Index and authored the bestselling Process Innovation.
Laurence Prusak is a managing principal
of the IBM Consulting Group in Boston and the worldwide
competency leader in knowledge management for IBM. Formerly
he was a researcher/consultant at Ernst & Young and
Mercer Management Consulting.
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