Do you want to change the world?Reflections on KM Theory & Practice

Matt MooreInnotecture

Good News

“Any consultant that thinks they have come up with a world's first method or model is just being arrogant. If you dig deep enough into the academic literature, someone had thought about it and wrote about it many years before.”

“A few people around that seem to consider themselves experts based totally on pragmatic knowledge. If it works, then it is good. Some of these have shown a concerning lack of respect for the underlying principles of KM that will at a very minimum inform an implementation's risk management strategy.”

“The academic often delineates a distinct yet exceptionally thorough exposition of one aspect of knowledge management (for example).”

“The issues arising from the need for lengthy peer review etc is absolutely necessary in the academic process and if this creates a culture that creates a distinctive boundary with practitioners, with their different drivers, then so be it.”

Bad News

“I get very frustrated by the academics and have even been told after presenting on how a KM implementation was done that this could not possibly work because it contradicted the the theory - you can imagine my response”

“I have felt quite uncomfortable integrating non-academic information into my thesis, even though in some areas there is precious little prior literature to go on.”

“many Australian based academics are impossible to access or co-operate with; unlike overseas”

“I've seen academicians, who, attempting to masquerade as consultants, show a complete cluelessness as to the language and values of real organizations, whether profitmaking or not.”

“KM is fundamentally a practice - theory is its servant. And the practice needs to show beneficial outcomes affecting real people in real organisations in real economies and societies...I review for academic journals and conferences, and I've had more than my stomach full of complete garbage, not to mention small seeds of potential that you know will never get taken up and nurtured because the research is completed and the researchers have got what they want and will move on.”

Why academics are important

Practitioners focus on their organisations. Consultant often have a method / approach to

sell. Who looks at primary research? Who provides the bigger picture? Who provides a vision for the future? Who assesses what works?

Source: Patrick Lambe, Straits Knowledge

Nasty, Brutish & Short

What do practitioners need from you?

Thank You