Discussion: View Thread

Professor Romie Littrell, in response to my announced intention to focus on
knowledge work and knowledge management, responds:

>"Knowledge Management - the Emperor's new clothes?" is
>the title of a special edition of Information Research
>that seeks to undress Knowledge Management and expose
>it for what it is, "an unusually broad-shouldered
>fad". See especially:
>
>T.D. Wilson, Professor Emeritus, University of
>Sheffield, UK, Visiting Professor, Högskolan i Borås
>Borås, Sweden. The nonsense of 'knowledge management'
>Information Research, Vol. 8 No. 1, October 2002

I agree that KM, in its current IT-centered incarnation, comes perilously
close to being a fad; worse, as was the case with reengineering when IT
took over, it runs the risk of destroying what is essentially a sound
idea. I am also of the opinion that we don't yet have wide-ranging
agreement on the meaning of knowledge, knowledge work, knowledge workers
and, yes, knowledge management. My aim on the new list is to poke and prod
and discuss and debate these terms and their meanings and usage. Is there
really any such thing as knowledge work? If so, how does it differ from
other kinds of work? How can knowledge work be made more
productive? Finally, for what it's worth, the focus of the list is more on
knowledge work than knowledge management. But, then, that too might be
considered a fad (albeit an amazingly long-lived one).


Regards,

Fred Nickols
Distance Consulting
nickols@safe-t.net
www.nickols.us

I most enthusiastically endorse Fred's new virtual community on
knowledge work and knowledge management. Its home page is at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kw-km/
Fred is certainly one of the most articulate people in the world on many
management topics and you have my personal guarantee that he is a person
of the highest integrity t'boot. I see this new group as having great
networking and resource-sharing potential. If only as a way to get to
know Fred better, it will certainly be worth it to you.
Cybercollegially,
Charles Wankel


-----Original Message from Fred--
....
I am also of the opinion that we don't yet have wide-ranging agreement
on the meaning of knowledge, knowledge work, knowledge workers and, yes,
knowledge management. My aim on the new list is to poke and prod and
discuss and debate these terms and their meanings and usage. Is there
really any such thing as knowledge work? If so, how does it differ from
other kinds of work? How can knowledge work be made more productive?
Finally, for what it's worth, the focus of the list is more on knowledge
work than knowledge management.

Fred Nickols
Distance Consulting
nickols@safe-t.net
www.nickols.us

How in Heaven's name can a concern for how knowledge is continually formed
and put to work by people to run a business be a fad?

David





-----Original Message-----
From: Fred Nickols [mailto:nickols@safe-t.net]
Sent: Friday, January 03, 2003 6:34 AM
To: MG-ED-DV@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU
Subject: Re: [MG-ED-DV] Focus, on a fad


Professor Romie Littrell, in response to my announced intention to focus on
knowledge work and knowledge management, responds:

>"Knowledge Management - the Emperor's new clothes?" is
>the title of a special edition of Information Research
>that seeks to undress Knowledge Management and expose
>it for what it is, "an unusually broad-shouldered
>fad". See especially:
>
>T.D. Wilson, Professor Emeritus, University of
>Sheffield, UK, Visiting Professor, Högskolan i Borås
>Borås, Sweden. The nonsense of 'knowledge management'
>Information Research, Vol. 8 No. 1, October 2002

I agree that KM, in its current IT-centered incarnation, comes perilously
close to being a fad; worse, as was the case with reengineering when IT
took over, it runs the risk of destroying what is essentially a sound
idea. I am also of the opinion that we don't yet have wide-ranging
agreement on the meaning of knowledge, knowledge work, knowledge workers
and, yes, knowledge management. My aim on the new list is to poke and prod
and discuss and debate these terms and their meanings and usage. Is there
really any such thing as knowledge work? If so, how does it differ from
other kinds of work? How can knowledge work be made more
productive? Finally, for what it's worth, the focus of the list is more on
knowledge work than knowledge management. But, then, that too might be
considered a fad (albeit an amazingly long-lived one).


Regards,

Fred Nickols
Distance Consulting
nickols@safe-t.net
www.nickols.us

I think the "fad" part comes in when so many people turn it INTO one! Not on this list, but if you look the term up with any search engine, you will see what I mean. Of course it's not a fad for people on this list!
Edryce
"Fearon, David (Management)" <Fearon@mail.ccsu.edu> wrote:How in Heaven's name can a concern for how knowledge is continually formed
and put to work by people to run a business be a fad?

David





-----Original Message-----
From: Fred Nickols [mailto:nickols@safe-t.net]
Sent: Friday, January 03, 2003 6:34 AM
To: MG-ED-DV@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU
Subject: Re: [MG-ED-DV] Focus, on a fad


Professor Romie Littrell, in response to my announced intention to focus on
knowledge work and knowledge management, responds:

>"Knowledge Management - the Emperor's new clothes?" is
>the title of a special edition of Information Research
>that seeks to undress Knowledge Management and expose
>it for what it is, "an unusually broad-shouldered
>fad". See especially:
>
>T.D. Wilson, Professor Emeritus, University of
>Sheffield, UK, Visiting Professor, H???gskolan i Bor???s
>Bor???s, Sweden. The nonsense of 'knowledge management'
>Information Research, Vol. 8 No. 1, October 2002

I agree that KM, in its current IT-centered incarnation, comes perilously
close to being a fad; worse, as was the case with reengineering when IT
took over, it runs the risk of destroying what is essentially a sound
idea. I am also of the opinion that we don't yet have wide-ranging
agreement on the meaning of knowledge, knowledge work, knowledge workers
and, yes, knowledge management. My aim on the new list is to poke and prod
and discuss and debate these terms and their meanings and usage. Is there
really any such thing as knowledge work? If so, how does it differ from
other kinds of work? How can knowledge work be made more
productive? Finally, for what it's worth, the focus of the list is more on
knowledge work than knowledge management. But, then, that too might be
considered a fad (albeit an amazingly long-lived one).


Regards,

Fred Nickols
Distance Consulting
nickols@safe-t.net
www.nickols.us


---------------------------------
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Edryce, then we have another subject to explore on behalf of those who pay to
learn with us - "How do people turn something that is so elemental like a concern
for quality, learning, and now, knowledge, into a fad?". And, of course, why?

David


-----Original Message-----
From: Edryce Reynolds [mailto:edryce@yahoo.com]
Sent: Friday, January 03, 2003 8:50 AM
To: MG-ED-DV@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU
Subject: Re: [MG-ED-DV] Focus, on a fad


I think the "fad" part comes in when so many people turn it INTO one! Not on this list, but if you look the term up with any search engine, you will see what I mean. Of course it's not a fad for people on this list!
Edryce
"Fearon, David (Management)" <Fearon@mail.ccsu.edu> wrote:How in Heaven's name can a concern for how knowledge is continually formed
and put to work by people to run a business be a fad?

David





-----Original Message-----
From: Fred Nickols [mailto:nickols@safe-t.net]
Sent: Friday, January 03, 2003 6:34 AM
To: MG-ED-DV@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU
Subject: Re: [MG-ED-DV] Focus, on a fad


Professor Romie Littrell, in response to my announced intention to focus on
knowledge work and knowledge management, responds:

>"Knowledge Management - the Emperor's new clothes?" is
>the title of a special edition of Information Research
>that seeks to undress Knowledge Management and expose
>it for what it is, "an unusually broad-shouldered
>fad". See especially:
>
>T.D. Wilson, Professor Emeritus, University of
>Sheffield, UK, Visiting Professor, Högskolan i Borås
>Borås, Sweden. The nonsense of 'knowledge management'
>Information Research, Vol. 8 No. 1, October 2002

I agree that KM, in its current IT-centered incarnation, comes perilously
close to being a fad; worse, as was the case with reengineering when IT
took over, it runs the risk of destroying what is essentially a sound
idea. I am also of the opinion that we don't yet have wide-ranging
agreement on the meaning of knowledge, knowledge work, knowledge workers
and, yes, knowledge management. My aim on the new list is to poke and prod
and discuss and debate these terms and their meanings and usage. Is there
really any such thing as knowledge work? If so, how does it differ from
other kinds of work? How can knowledge work be made more
productive? Finally, for what it's worth, the focus of the list is more on
knowledge work than knowledge management. But, then, that too might be
considered a fad (albeit an amazingly long-lived one).


Regards,

Fred Nickols
Distance Consulting
nickols@safe-t.net
www.nickols.us


---------------------------------
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To make money.
Edryce
"Fearon, David (Management)" <Fearon@mail.ccsu.edu> wrote:Edryce, then we have another subject to explore on behalf of those who pay to
learn with us - "How do people turn something that is so elemental like a concern
for quality, learning, and now, knowledge, into a fad?". And, of course, why?

David


-----Original Message-----
From: Edryce Reynolds [mailto:edryce@yahoo.com]
Sent: Friday, January 03, 2003 8:50 AM
To: MG-ED-DV@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU
Subject: Re: [MG-ED-DV] Focus, on a fad


I think the "fad" part comes in when so many people turn it INTO one! Not on this list, but if you look the term up with any search engine, you will see what I mean. Of course it's not a fad for people on this list!
Edryce
"Fearon, David (Management)" wrote:How in Heaven's name can a concern for how knowledge is continually formed
and put to work by people to run a business be a fad?

David





-----Original Message-----
From: Fred Nickols [mailto:nickols@safe-t.net]
Sent: Friday, January 03, 2003 6:34 AM
To: MG-ED-DV@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU
Subject: Re: [MG-ED-DV] Focus, on a fad


Professor Romie Littrell, in response to my announced intention to focus on
knowledge work and knowledge management, responds:

>"Knowledge Management - the Emperor's new clothes?" is
>the title of a special edition of Information Research
>that seeks to undress Knowledge Management and expose
>it for what it is, "an unusually broad-shouldered
>fad". See especially:
>
>T.D. Wilson, Professor Emeritus, University of
>Sheffield, UK, Visiting Professor, H???gskolan i Bor???s
>Bor???s, Sweden. The nonsense of 'knowledge management'
>Information Research, Vol. 8 No. 1, October 2002

I agree that KM, in its current IT-centered incarnation, comes perilously
close to being a fad; worse, as was the case with reengineering when IT
took over, it runs the risk of destroying what is essentially a sound
idea. I am also of the opinion that we don't yet have wide-ranging
agreement on the meaning of knowledge, knowledge work, knowledge workers
and, yes, knowledge management. My aim on the new list is to poke and prod
and discuss and debate these terms and their meanings and usage. Is there
really any such thing as knowledge work? If so, how does it differ from
other kinds of work? How can knowledge work be made more
productive? Finally, for what it's worth, the focus of the list is more on
knowledge work than knowledge management. But, then, that too might be
considered a fad (albeit an amazingly long-lived one).


Regards,

Fred Nickols
Distance Consulting
nickols@safe-t.net
www.nickols.us


---------------------------------
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Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now


---------------------------------
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Colleagues,

The question is: How do people turn something as elemental as quality,
learning, or knowledge into a fad? And, of course, why?

Edryce wrote: For money.
I add: For fame.
Combine money and fame: Power.

Why do people jump on the bandwagon. Fear.
Afraid that they don't know enough to stay ahead of the game.
Afraid that if they don't know and apply the latest method that someone
will later blame them for failures.

Why people jump on: Hope.
Marketing, sales, persuasion creating hope that, if we just make this
change everything will be better.

Though fads come and go, power, fear, and hope are eternal.

Best to all,

Gary

Gary


----------------------------
Change will never, ever again
be as slow as it is today.

Gary Lundquist - The Accelerator
303-840-9929 www.market-engineering.com
garyl@market-engineering.com

Gary is right!
Edryce
Gary Lundquist <garyl@market-engineering.com> wrote:Colleagues,

The question is: How do people turn something as elemental as quality,
learning, or knowledge into a fad? And, of course, why?

Edryce wrote: For money.
I add: For fame.
Combine money and fame: Power.

Why do people jump on the bandwagon. Fear.
Afraid that they don't know enough to stay ahead of the game.
Afraid that if they don't know and apply the latest method that someone
will later blame them for failures.

Why people jump on: Hope.
Marketing, sales, persuasion creating hope that, if we just make this
change everything will be better.

Though fads come and go, power, fear, and hope are eternal.

Best to all,

Gary

Gary


----------------------------
Change will never, ever again
be as slow as it is today.

Gary Lundquist - The Accelerator
303-840-9929 www.market-engineering.com
garyl@market-engineering.com


---------------------------------
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Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now

Let's turn the camera on ourselves, for a moment. Why do people come to us
in schools and colleges of business to spend all that money and time? It
gives us power. Are they not afraid if they don't have a business degree, they
cannot get where they want to go in business? Are we a source of hope for
the business world; that we, the sturdy band of management educators, are organizing
learning experiences through our teaching and our writings that will show them
the road through the swamp that is the future?

David



-----Original Message-----
From: Gary Lundquist [mailto:garyl@market-engineering.com]
Sent: Friday, January 03, 2003 5:54 PM
To: MG-ED-DV@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU
Subject: Re: [MG-ED-DV] Focus, on a fad


Colleagues,

The question is: How do people turn something as elemental as quality,
learning, or knowledge into a fad? And, of course, why?

Edryce wrote: For money.
I add: For fame.
Combine money and fame: Power.

Why do people jump on the bandwagon. Fear.
Afraid that they don't know enough to stay ahead of the game.
Afraid that if they don't know and apply the latest method that someone
will later blame them for failures.

Why people jump on: Hope.
Marketing, sales, persuasion creating hope that, if we just make this
change everything will be better.

Though fads come and go, power, fear, and hope are eternal.

Best to all,

Gary

Gary


----------------------------
Change will never, ever again
be as slow as it is today.

Gary Lundquist - The Accelerator
303-840-9929 www.market-engineering.com
garyl@market-engineering.com

Colleagues,

David Fearon writes: "Are we a source of hope for the business world?"

As a marketer, my response is that you had better be.

Fundamental truth: No one ever buys a product. They always buy what they
think it will do for them.
No one ever buys a product, a service, an investment, or a college
degree.
They always buy the value. In today's business world, companies want to
measure value in return on investment, net present value, and other
financial terms.
Yet the intangible benefits are the real drivers. Measurable returns
are really just ways to intellectually justify investment.

Along with hope, you need to deliver true power - to lead and manage change.

Best,

Gary

----------------------------
Change will never, ever again
be as slow as it is today.

Gary Lundquist - The Accelerator
303-840-9929 www.market-engineering.com
garyl@market-engineering.com

Thank you, Gary. It would seem to me that in order for us to
teach so that our gradates are able to "lead and manage change",
we have to give them many chances to do this, while our students.
Do we? And, linking this to knowledge, are we teaching them
how to change the knowledge from which current behavior is
enacted to that which informs the next way to be?

I'll hush up for awhile.

David



-----Original Message-----
From: Gary Lundquist [mailto:garyl@market-engineering.com]
Sent: Monday, January 06, 2003 10:12 AM
To: MG-ED-DV@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU
Subject: Re: [MG-ED-DV] Focus, on a fad


Colleagues,

David Fearon writes: "Are we a source of hope for the business world?"

As a marketer, my response is that you had better be.

Fundamental truth: No one ever buys a product. They always buy what they
think it will do for them.
No one ever buys a product, a service, an investment, or a college
degree.
They always buy the value. In today's business world, companies want to
measure value in return on investment, net present value, and other
financial terms.
Yet the intangible benefits are the real drivers. Measurable returns
are really just ways to intellectually justify investment.

Along with hope, you need to deliver true power - to lead and manage change.

Best,

Gary

----------------------------
Change will never, ever again
be as slow as it is today.

Gary Lundquist - The Accelerator
303-840-9929 www.market-engineering.com
garyl@market-engineering.com

David,

Maybe the 'new' and the 'in' just seems more attractive and easier to sell
than the old... Repackaging can do wonders... and besides when everyone
wants something that tends to create shortages, which allow for premium
prices... Finally the hope that the new solution will in fact provide an
easier resolution of 'whatever' at a lower cost with better performance
temps many into paying... Of course some new solutions do provide that
added value but many take advantage of the learning cycle to explit and
capitalize for a time on the unsuspecting...

Knowledge work, I have observed, in many cases just is a different name
for Information Work...

Cordially,

Esteban


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David,

Who would believe that I have the knowledge to do what I claim without
holding the credentials, certificates, degrees (etc...) to back it up?

Yes the current structures gives power to some, and it imposes barriers of
entry that prevents others from abusing a given field because they lack
the initiation rites, which often require paying the dues and living a
process that establishes the accepted frame of mind... Unfortunately this
process also establishes barriers to accept new things and sets barriers
that prevent getting rid of old notions leading to the perpetuation of
established systems... When the systems happens to be worthy then this has
a useful purpose (maintaining knowledge and keeping it safe from being
contaminated). Though, when the system happens to just maintain
inequalities then this has a perverse purpose of perpetuating a way of
being that benefit some at the expense of others... and being within the
in-group has its benefits which is why many seek that acceptance and pay
the dues, to be at the forefront and reap the benefits...

Helping others prepare to confront the future by 'organizing learning
experiences through our teaching and our writings' seems like a great
endeavor... I wonder who knows 'the road through the swamp that is the
future'? To me, the most we can hope to do would be to present scenarios
and tools to better resolve what to do at any given moment while conscious
of possible deviations and temptations from the effective courses of
action. Though it seem many want to hold and find confort in the certanty
of the future instead of mantaining uncertanties...

Cordially,

Esteban

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