John -
The way you have described knowledge management leaves out what some of us
consider its most important aspect. The interactive, conversational
sharing of (knowledge, ideas, call it anything you like) within the
organization and between the organization and the world around it to
produce new leverageable knowledgeis the 'growing edge' of the knowledge
orientation. This is where the action is and where new value is created.
It is precisely because the organization is reacting to real world
challenge and opportunity that it must be active and reactive not only to
its stored internal information, but to the world around it as well.
Perhaps you meant to imply this with your statement: "Wisdom, profound
knowledge, enlightenment, come from the assimilation of some parts of
these 'knowledges' in a new (to the host brain) way, creating a new
interaction with the system which somehow improves its quality."
I personally would prefer not to talk about organizational knowledge use
in terms of 'profound knowledge or enlightenment.' I feel these are better
reserved for issues of personal knowledge. I also question the phrase
'host brain.' What does that mean?
And finally, your phrase 'which somehow improves its quality' seems to
imply that process and capacity improvement accrue from a knowledge
orientation in mysterious, ineffable ways. But that's not the case. It's
quite possible to show direct, quantifiable improvement in organizational
capacity and business value from knowledge orientation, and most books on
knowledge management contain very detailed descriptions of how it can
happen.
I believe it's the word 'management' which causes a lot of the confusion
over km. It has unavoidable Taylorist command and control connotations
that don't connote the permissive, expansive spirit of a true
organizational knowledge orientation.
Managing knowledge is like 'trying hard to relax.'
Neil Olonoff
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com>
Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>