Managing Organizational Knowledge: 3rd Generation Knowledge Management and Beyond

Organizations of all sizes and types are facing a duel threat and opportunity. At the very moment when global markets are becoming available, these organizations are losing valuable people resources due to "boomer" retirements and downsizing strategies. As the technologies arrive to facilitate knowledge sharing across organizational and people boundaries, the desire for job security is causing many employees to hold tightly to "their" business knowledge as a form of job security. When organizational knowledge erodes, organizations lose proven capabilities and eventually customers. This challenge may be one of the most significant facing organizations over the next two decades.

Written by an expert with more than 30 years of hands-on work as a consultant and educator, Managing Organizational Knowledge: 3rd Generation Knowledge Management and Beyond provides a clear, repeatable strategy for capturing organizational knowledge. It does so by first exploring the fundamental concepts that have emerged from the new discipline of Knowledge Management (KM) over the past ten years. It then provides several breakthroughs including:

• A fresh, practical definition of KM
• A definition of organizational knowledge based on data, information, and decision making
• A proven strategy and templates for creating an inventory of significant organizational knowledge
• A new, integrated KIPPAR Model that defines how to create a sustainable KM environment
• A strategy where naturally occurring projects are routinely mined for contributions to an organization’s pool of intellectual assets
• A series of implementation strategies for launching a KM initiative

So what makes this book different? What makes it worth reading? It provides a new perspective on KM, addressing the discipline from the perspective of a major organization; much of the previous writings in this area confuse individual knowledge with organizational knowledge. The author, Chuck Tryon, has been a consultant for major corporations since the early 1980s and has created tangible, innovative processes to help capture vital organizational knowledge, which has given him insight into the significant management challenges facing 21st century organizations—how to capture, transfer, and share meaningful knowledge that is vital to their survival. Communicating fresh concepts in this emerging field, the book distills this knowledge and helps you see where KM can take you in the future.