Knowledge Management: Classic and Contemporary Works

Rating:
Summary: List of included works
Review: I am the editor for this book and I thought it would be helpful to include an overview of the target audience and highlights of the included works in the collection.

This collection is a targetted at leaders in government, industry, or academia who are interested in starting or evaluating a knowledge management program, are currently implementing a knowledge management program, or are simply interested in expanding their understanding of knowledge management.

Featured works include:

Introduction by Margaret Wheatley on, "Can Knowledge Management Succeed Where Other Efforts Have Failed?"

A reflection by Peter Senge on what has been learned since his seminal, "The Leader's New Work: Building Learning Organizations"

Dr. David J. Skyrme on "Developing a Knowledge Strategy: From Management to Leadership"

An introduction by Bipin Junnarkar, CKO of Gateway, on "Sharing and Building Context"

A reflection by Hirotaka Takeuchi and Ikujiro Nonaka on what has been learned since their seminal work, "The Knowledge Creating Company"

Dorothy Leonard on "Tacit Knowledge, Unarticulated Needs and Empathic Design in New Product Development"

Dr. Karl-Erik Sveiby on "Measuring Intangibles and Intellectual Capital"

Dr. Nick Bontis on "Managing Organizational Knowledge by Diagnosing Intellectual Capital"

Rating:
Summary: Not the best KM book out there
Review: There are certainly a few nuggets to be extracted from this volume but it is not a very compelling read. The MIT slant is obvious due to the multiple inclusions of Peter Senge. Yes there is a reprint of the seminal Balanced Scorecard article from the HBR included in this compilation but I really considered most of the papers included in this collection to be extremely uninteresting. Many of the articles provide nothing other than a state of affairs for knowledge management and while they are well researched they are totally dated. Anyone who has read a relatively recent book on the subject of KM will be familiar with the content contained within this volume. Furthermore many of these articles can be found free of charge on the internet as they were published far and wide at their inception. Sure it touches on the major components of knowledge mangement but in my opinion I found the case work to be so general that any *term of the moment* could be substituted for knowledge management. Spend your cash elsewhere.

Rating:
Summary: Packed with Knowledge!
Review: This book offers a learning-centered introduction to the field of knowledge management. Each of the three sections (Strategy, Process, Metrics) sets the tone with an opening essay by a well known authority in the field. Several previously unpublished essays that develop the chapter follow each opening piece. This convenient plan makes it possible for time-pressed readers to get the gist of the matter by reading only three or four essays in the area that most concerns them. It also allows readers with a consuming interest in the subject to get all of the details they could possibly desire. Some of the essays are accessible; some are quite heavy going, laden with jargon and dense academic prose that only a specialist could decipher. Thus, we are grateful that the editors have made it so easy for readers to find what they need to know in this well-organized, thorough study of the field of knowledge management.