1. The document discusses precipitating a knowledge management (KM) solution to address issues around isolation, division, and decreasing commitment in organizations. 2. It draws an analogy between chemical precipitation in solutions and how KM can help "settle out" insights from diverse parts of an organization. 3. The document argues that both business and IT management need KM to better understand work processes, make decisions together, and leverage their collective intellectual capital for the benefit of the organization.

1. Precipitating a KM Solution
David G. Jones, B.A., M.A.
Shibumi.management@gmail.com
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2. An Opening Word
“For (years) business leaders have taught
bureaucracy-busting, teamwork coaching,
etc. Here’s all you really need to know:
provide safe places where people can share
ideas about work without getting shut down
by bosses and bureaucrats”.
– Thomas Stewart: Intellectual Capital,
The New Wealth of Organizations
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3. A metaphor from chemistry,
which is all about…..
Physical Properties
Metals and Ions; Acids and Bases
Kinetics and Equilibrium
Reactions of Elements and Gases
Solutions and Solubility
Changes in Energy
Reduction and Synthesis
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4. Chemical Precipitation
Happens in aqueous solutions, where
Some ions react;
Some are unchanged (called
“spectators”);
Others are insoluble and “settle out”
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5. Workplace Characteristics
Hierarchial structures
Stovepipes
Rules
Specialized functions,
tasks
Continual change
Absurd mobility
Mission shortfall
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6. Management is..
Troubled by,
– Increasing isolation, division, gaps
– Decreasing aptitude, commitment and energy
– Increasing costs and decreasing returns
And burdened with “solutions”:
– How-to tools, methods and processes
– Metrics, benchmarks, “best” practices
– Information and knowledge as product
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7. Bedevilled by discreet function
dysfunction
Human Resources
Corporate Communications
Webmasters
Client Services
Employee Relations
Marketing
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8. Ion 1 (business):
•Knows there is a very serious problem
•Expending energy in organizing workers, not work
•Has not articulated its plans and requirements
•Patches and Band-Aids
•Really not sure whether IT is a management function or
a service delivery
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9. But, business really needs to be
cautious about...
Throwing out the baby with the bath water
Washing all the babies in the same water
Washing perfectly clean babies
Spending time and money inventing better
water
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10. Therefore, we need to spend time
on “work”...
Developing a better understanding of:
– what it is and how to manage it
– what is a “good decision”, and how to make
good ones
– who needs to be involved with what, when,
where, how
– how we can bring functional specialization
back into generic work and management
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11. And more time on planning and
managing...
getting the objectives right
focusing on the strategic must-do’s
eliminating stupid change
re-inventing plodding
involving the right people up front
having the courage to toss out things
that don’t work
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12. And more time on people...
Defining appropriate:
– skills
– recruitment strategies
– institutionalized risk-taking and,
» reduced fear of failure
– minimalist position descriptions
– effective rewards systems
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13. And more time...
Making sure we really understand work
processing before we re-engineer it
Embracing minimalism
Laying the groundwork for innovation and
improvement
Developing systematic work that IT can
facilitate
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14. And more time...
Getting the technology right:
– enhance capability on what is already in place
– understand that needs differ at individual and
organizational levels
– empower users (Down With Defaults!)
– stop focusing on volume and connections
– start focusing on content and utility
Making IM/IT a management function
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15. The condition of ion 2 (IT):
Really unclear about what the business
wants and needs
(and can’t extract the answers)
Preoccupied with being “current”
Fixated on logic and “improvement”
Really believes it has (the) answers
Has been taught to wait
Is giving up on waiting
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16. Two hundred and five companies participated in ProSci's
benchmarking study on the future role of IT in business
process reengineering.
Current IT role and performance
In nearly 50% of reengineering projects, IT managers
or staff had conflicts with the project team, and almost
80% of operational managers and staff rated IT
support and performance as mediocre to poor. IT
managers gave themselves slightly higher
performance reviews, but still only 40% considered
their performance very good or excellent.
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17. Participants stated that the primary contributor to IT's
poor reputation was their lack of operational knowledge
and understanding of business needs. In some cases, IT
failed to match technology to the desired business
processes, was unable to meet commitments, or was not
customer-service oriented.
IT managers and staff indicated that IT should be the
driver in reengineering. In strong disagreement,
operational managers and consultants stated that IT
should be an enabler, a team member and a partner in
the reengineering process.
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18. KM presents an opportunity
To bring together what we have learned
about work, management and information
technology in a way that will profit all the
players.
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19. But to precipitate such change...
We need to set down our organization
requirements, opportunities and vehicles for
leveraging intellectual capital
Integrate “knowledge” as an asset and utility
Establish discipline, and integrate technologies for
managing the information life cycle
Bring diverse talents together to work on this
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20. Business and IT management have a
common stake in settling out:
The consequences of:
– Sharing information widely (never mind the
quality question at this point)
– A better informed workforce
– Collaborative work; real and virtual interaction
– How people come to understand, and use the
power of the tools at their disposal
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21. I think we have to dump some
models and assumptions
1. The data-information-knowledge
pyramid
2. That our clients will be satisfied much
longer with having only “access to
information”
3. That “knowledge” as an “asset” will
conform to the same rules we apply to other
corporate assets
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22. A final word:
“The Work of New Age Managers” is:
– Conceive and Execute Complex Strategies
– Share and Protect Intellectual property
– Manage the Public-private Interface
– Provide Intellectual and Administrative
Leadership
C.K. Prahalad in The Organization of the
Future by the Drucker Foundation
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