Knowledge Management

Patrick McDermottThe University of San Francisco

pmcdermott@peralta.eduCopyright © 2003 Patrick McDermott

KM IssuesThe difference between data, information

and knowledgeThe difficulties organizations have in

measuring their intellectual capitalThe process of knowledge creationThe concept of knowledge marketsStrategies for implementing knowledge

managementThe human aspects of knowledge creation

and transfer

The New Meaning of Knowledge [Peter] Drucker reminds us that knowledge has meant different

things throughout history. For hundreds of years, knowledge was applied to a person’s “being,” and two theories dominated in both the West and East. One theory, associated with Plato and Socrates in the West and the Taoist and monks in the East, held that the purpose and function of knowledge was to enable self-knowledge through intellectual, moral, and spiritual growth. A competing theory, associated with Protagoras in the West and Confucius in the East, held that the purpose and function of knowledge was the acquisition of logic, grammar, and rhetoric to enable the holder of know what to say and how to say it.

Somewhere around 1700, the meaning of knowledge changed radically. Knowledge began to be applied to “doing,” not just to “being.” That change in the meaning and purpose of knowledge, writes Drucker, initiated one of three revolutions in the application of knowledge that created and then destroyed both communism and capitalism and ultimately led to the creation of a postcapitalist knowledge society.

3 Revolutions

The Age of the Artisan

• Phase 1: The Industrial Revolution– 1700-1880

• Phase 2: The Productivity Revolution– 1881-Post WWII

• Phase 3: The Management Revolution– Post WWII-2020

Drucker’s Post Capitalist Era

Age of the Craftsworker• Stand at one spot and observe the construction

of the product in its entirety• One person often accomplished the entire

process, not just the manufacturing, but even marketing, sales, design, and service.

• Today:• You would have to visit several continents

to view the entire process

The Industrial Revolution• The Age of the Factory • Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, 1776• Watt’s Steam Engine

Gare St.-Lazare, ParisClaude Monetc. 1877

Smith, AdamAn Inquiry into the Nature and Causes ofThe Wealth of NationsLondon: W. Strahan & T. Cadell in the Strand, 1776

The Productivity Revolution• The Age of the Specialist• Drucker Dates it from 1881

– Frederic Winslow Taylor

J. Howard Miller1942

The Management Revolution• Age of the Professional• GI Bill• Of Divisions & Modern Major Generals

When I can tell at sight a Mauser rifle from a javelin, When such affairs as sorties and surprises I'm more wary at, And when I know precisely what is meant by “commissariat”, When I have learnt what progress has been made in modern gunnery, When I know more of tactics than a novice in a nunnery – In short, when I've a smattering of elemental strategy …

Gilbert & SullivanThe Pirates of PenzanceOpened April 3, 1880

Factors of Production• Land

– Agriculture & Natural Resources• Labor• Capital

– “The Means of Production/Tools”

• Entrepreneurial Ability– Now Hired Managers

• Technology?– Knowledge?

The Post Capitalist Era

“The organization’s function is to put knowledge to work.”

• Focus on What you do well– Outsource the rest

• An Organization of Equals• Constant Change• Decentralized• A Mobile Society• A Competitive Society

Knowledge Management• Buried in jargon• Perpetually in search of itself • A consultant’s dream

– Promises without end– Certainties that are impregnable– Definition that is impossible

Learning Organization• Perfect for gurudom

– Murky, confusing and filled with abstruse jargon

– If-I-can’t-understand-it-then-it-must-be-good • A magical and reverential search• A “big conceptual catchall”

• Readers came away saying, “But what do we do Monday morning to put these ideas into practice?”