A science for knowledge development: November 01, 1999 issue of New Thinking

November 01, 1999 New Thinking:
A science for knowledge development

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November 01, 1999

A science for knowledge development

This week's New Thinking is brought to you by:
Raj Kumar

Gerry has brought to our notice the value of age-old wisdom for direction and possibly the most effective Knowledge Development system ever invented - the traditional apprenticeship.

Evolution is another powerful legacy. Harnessing its momentum effectively can overwhelm problems that have defied the combination of brain and technological brawn. Knowledge Development problems are no exception.

Gerry has identified important issues that need answers, like:- the challenge of creating a skills directory and keeping it up to date;- what information should be written down and organized?

These and other questions make Knowledge Development appear an amorphous mass that defies organization. Without organization, IT is ineffective unless the User herself provides the necessary organization.

This latter approach has become the conventional wisdom for Knowledge Development, viz., adopt email for interaction and a library system for knowledge capture. Do they efficiently harness IT for Knowledge Development? The reality is that they impose data entry and house-keeping chores that professionals rarely possess the time or energy to perform.

They may either require intimidating expenses on knowledge stewards or prejudice adoption - poor support for the revolution needed to reduce the Knowledge loss. IDC has estimated the loss shall be USD12 billion in 1999 and shall exceed USD31 billion by 2003.

Is organization of the Knowledge Development process impossible? Most Knowledge creation is a team activity where the team members cannot predict the next interaction on an issue. This applies to decision making, policy discussions, conducting the affairs of the company, etc.

Team work has evolved over hundreds of years though the groupware vendors would have us believe that it has been reinvented and culture shall soon follow suit. Professionals are offered email, used by friends, family and foe alike, as the means to interact.

The weakness of this dependence gets revealed where interactions cannot be mapped in advance. Library systems, created as part of the new order, fail without ample budgets or self motivation. The library approach is quite like seeking to protect tigers by caging them in expensive zoos instead of nurturing their habitat and letting nature do the rest. Evolution offers the latter solution.

In his Coming of the New Organization, HBR, Jan/Feb 1988, Peter Drucker identified the Indian Colonial Administration as the epitome of successful Knowledge Management. Subsequent evolution has crystallized the organization structure most responsive to change, the pattern that governs interactions and the norms and relationships that prevail.

I have modeled these elements to deliver an intelligent User Interface for organizing the work of the professional, anticipating her needs and conducting her work effortlessly.

The Interface can harness the required technology and smartly
impart context and categorization to promote access. Precise replication technology is available to power a comprehensive framework for interaction among distributed team members.

Email would become just another means for communicating with the external world. Collaboration technology to capture knowledge creation may be successfully grafted onto the basic model for routine team work. Among valuable by-products of the model are an assured means for excellence, productivity and distributed decision-making with centralized information.

Progressing the evolution of teamwork with technology delivers results that can induce professionals to change the way they work. Comprehensive knowledge capture can be made a by-product. Professionals would be spared the need to organize and motivate themselves for snaring knowledge.

Raj Kumar

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Progressing the evolution of teamwork with technology delivers results that can induce professionals to change the way they work.