The neat thing about this article, is that due to the close timeframe of the two hurricanes, the author was able to directly compare the emergency management preparation and reaction. Obviously, we all know that the government failed on both the local and federal level to prepare residents (and the city re: levees in New Orleans) prior to Hurricane Katrina, during, and immediately afterwards. They took considerable flack in the PR department, so when Rita hit a few weeks later, everyone was jumping to prepare and help out. This unique situation then allowed Chua with clear examples of the good and bad of KM processes (Knowledge creation, reuse, & transfer) in disaster management. For instance, the distrust between local government agencies and the federal government agencies caused many problems with Hurricane Katrina, but when Hurricane Rita rolled around with the media pressure on everyone to work together, they did manage to work together much more efficiently.
The next thing I read was the Knowledge Management entry in the Encyclopedia of Library and Information Sciences by Dalkir. In retrospect, I wish I had read this first or when I was struggling with the Polanyi reading. Dalkir gives a clear and concise overview of knowledge management that I think would have helped give me a better overview prior to jumping into the semester reading. Plus I like visual aids, and this article had them! For instance:
I also liked how Dalkir had a section for emerging roles in the KM field, it reminded me of when Hansen, Nohria, & Tierney's article spoke about the importance/need for executives to embrace KM and choose a stance for the future success of their companies. Of course, some might disagree. Two of the roles that Dalkir mentioned were:
Chief Knowledge Officer (CKO) - in charge of ensuring that the company's "KM goals are in line with organizational strategies and objectives (p. 3136)."
Chief Learning Officer (CLO) - in charge of ensuring that the company "acts like a learning organization, improving over time with the help of accumulated best practices and lessons learned (p. 3136)."
I like the sound of these roles, and I understand why they may be needed, but I think we are a long way off from having these sort of jobs be considered necessary or normal. I think that part of the problem with getting business minded people to accept knowledge management is the nebulous nature of knowledge management. I mean, there isn't even a clear definition of knowledge management, and without a clear consensus on most things km related, the less willing executives will be to allocate company resources to km.
The final article I read for this post is Knowledge Management and Academic Libraries by Townley. This one starts off by talking about how libraries and many other industries generate information/records on usage that they can use to organize and manage knowledge, but then fail to utilize that knowledge effectively. Which, kind of goes back to what I was saying in the last paragraph, about businesses being hesitant to explore knowledge management. Townley takes four broad objectives from a survey by Davenport, De Long, and Beers: Create knowledge repositories; improve knowledge access; enhance the knowledge environment; and manage knowledge as an asset. Townley explains how these can be applied with academic libraries. For instance, creating a knowledge repository out of information that the library already collects would "add value to integrated library systems (p. 49)." This would lead you to the second objective of improving knowledge access, which Townley proposes Academic libraries do by creating a network of "subject specialists..from several institutions...to share experiences and learn from each other (p. 49)." Townley has a good idea, but this still seems like a costly proposal for academic libraries. As far as enhancing the knowledge environment, Townley says that in order to accomplish this, "management must generate meaningful contacts among the staff, provide resources and incentives, and praise progress (p. 50)." The final objective of managing knowledge as an asset seems pretty obvious, basically Townley recommends a review of intellectual services and making sure that the library is using them effectively. In his conclusion, Townley touches on how embracing knowledge management can "expand the role of libraries in the academic community and to result in strengthened relationships with related units, inside and outside the university (p. 54)." Which is a good point, because we are constantly hearing how libraries need to update and embrace in order to stay viable with patrons in this age of technology. While I agree with Chua, Dalkir, and Townley that knowledge management will eventually be an important part of the future success of businesses, I think that we are still a ways out from KM being considered necessary by the businesses themselves. Although, I would think that disaster or risk management agencies/businesses may come around sooner rather than later because of all the benefits that km offers them and the populations/companies they serve.
Chua, A. Y. (2007). A tale of two hurricanes: Comparing Katrina and Rita through a knowledge management perspective. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 58(10), 1518-1528.
Dalkir, Kimiz. Knowledge Management. In Encyclopedia of Library and Information Sciences, Third Edition. Taylor and Francis: New York, Published online: 09 Dec 2009; 3129-3138. http://dx.doi.org/10.1081/E-ElS3-120043816
Townley, C. T. (2001). Knowledge management and academic libraries. College & Research Libraries, 62(1), 44-55.
No comments:
Post a Comment