Performance through Learning: Knowledge Management in Practice

The term “knowledge management” has now been in existence for seventeen years and it might have been expected that this “bandwagon” would have run its course to have been replaced by something shining and new. Unlike some new fads that arrive and have an immediate high presence and then crash and burn, this has arrived quietly and developed strong advocates.

Yet, knowledge management does not seem to have had the same type of impact on public consciousness as other innovations. This might be due to the fact that people are quietly getting on with its implementation and not shouting about their successes in order to keep their competitive advantage to themselves.

There are also the early adopters of new schemes such as BP who made documented savings of $260 million in one year and had the potential for additional savings of $400 million. These are significant sums and do not take into account the intangible benefits which can be achieved through implementation. Part of BP's success was the fact that they received early support from their CEO Lord Browne. What is interesting about BP's policy is that after knowledge management was implemented and embedded throughout the organization the knowledge management team was disbanded. It may be the case that systems and procedures are in place to keep the momentum but in reality it needs champions to things happening.

The authors define knowledge management as:

A systematic approach for optimizing the access, for individuals and teams within an organization, to relevant actionable advice, knowledge and experience from elsewhere.

They also state that emphasis is on “actionable” and without application nothing can be achieved.

The target audience for this book are professionals and business managers. In particular, human resources, information technology, business process and quality practitioners will also find this book helpful in understanding the process and value of knowledge management.

The book is divided into two parts. The first consisting of six chapters, provides an overview of KM and the context in which it works. The second part consists of 11 case studies that describe a wide range of KM initiatives. Also, in the appendices there is a knowledge management toolbox containing a readiness instrument which can be used to assess your organization's current knowledge management practices. In total there are 408 pages which are filled with numerous diagrams, tables and lists which will help the practitioner.

One of the main themes running through the book is the importance of learning to the whole process. Information does not have value in itself. It is only when it is put into practice and applied thus becoming knowledge that it achieves value. This inevitably involves people and it is from this perspective that the book weaves learning into the many strategies and tactics that are described.

Another significant value contained in the book is that it addresses both theory and the practice. It is not enough to know the reasoning behind the concept; to be of value it needs to be applied. The various case studies come from British Petroleum, the Tearfund, De Beers, a South African community project, Old Mutual financial services, a life insurance company, Arthur Andersen, Education Testing service, Debswana andShell

The book describes the growth or articles and books about the subject and states that by 2004 there were 622 books on the subject. Judging by the content and practicality this book would appear to be among the best.