Knowledge management!

["Mihir Dhond"]

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Hello friends,

I was wondering if anyone could provide me with any kind of materials, =
models, literature, readings which take the SD approach to knowledge =
management.

Specifically, I am trying to come up with a model which measures the =
quality of outcome, of the knowledge transfer processes of a particular =
department.

For this I have to and am trying to understand their processes of =
knowledge transfer first...but any other models or general readings in =
this area would be a great help, as this is a grey area.

Thank you!!

Best regards,

Mihir Dhond
From: "Mihir Dhond" <Mihir.Dhond@i-u.de>

["Eliot Rich"]

Hello, Mihir:

You might be interested in some of my work for a general discussion of KM
dynamics at the level of the firm:

Models for understanding the dynamics of organizational knowledge in
consulting firms, Proceedings of the Hawaii International Conference on
System Sciences, Maui, Hawaii, January 2001

(http://www.albany.edu/~er945/publicatio ... 0Final.pdf)

Using Simulation to Explore the Dynamics of Organizational Knowledge,
Proceedings of the 21st International Conference of the System Dynamics
Society, New York, NY, July 20-24, 2003.

Modeling the Dynamics of Organizational Knowledge, Ph.D. Dissertation,
University at Albany, 2002.

(http://www.albany.edu/~er945/publicatio ... ebPage.pdf)


Eliot Rich, Ph.D.
From: "Eliot Rich" <e.rich@albany.edu>
Assistant Professor
Department of Management Science and Information Systems
University at Albany
1400 Washington Avenue, BA 310
Albany, NY 12222

["Brian (Bo) Newman"]

Mihir

At 11:08 PM 09/16/2003 +0200, you wrote:
>I was wondering if anyone could provide me with any kind of materials,
>models, literature, readings which take the SD approach to knowledge
>management. [.... ]

I suggest that you try to approach the problem from a "knowledge flow"
perspective. As far as readings and models based on this approach, I
suggest you start with "Agents, Artifacts, and Transformations: The
Foundations of Knowledge Flows"
(Vol 1, chapter 15 in "The Knowledge Management Handbook", edited by
Charles Holsapple and published by Springer-Verlag). This should give you a
set of process elements and "rules" for your model.

While I am aware of several instances of the application of knowledge flows
in system modeling (beyond my own applications), to date, I dont know that
much has been published on the topic.

If you choose to incorporate a knowledge flow perspective, I would be most
interested in discussing your approach.

Brian (Bo) Newman
The KMForum
bo.newman@km-forum.org

PS. For anyone with a serious interest in KM, I highly suggest you obtain a
the two volume set. This is probably one of the most inclusive and well
rounded reference works on Knowledge Management that has been published.
However, if you are unable to get access to a copy, write to me off-list
and I will see what I can do to get you a copy of the specific article.

["Kim Warren"]

Theres a chapter later on in my book Competitive Strategy Dynamics
that deals with capabilities and has some frameworks that lend
themselves to tackling issues of knowledge and learning. We also
have a simulation of a consulting firm that includes a high-level
representation of knowledge base - the Professional Services
microworld .

In essence, the approach treats knowledge as a stock of procedures -
i.e. routines and methods for getting things done (this links OK with
knowledge-based views of Strategy). The process of organisational
learning adds new procedures to the stock, and obsolescence and
organisational changes (e.g. losing key staff) depletes the stock.
It is the combination of the procedure-stock and staff skills that
determine how effectively things get done. An obvious case is the
MacDonalds franchise manual (stock of procedures) and its training
(raising the stock of staff skills) that optimises service productivity
(meals served per person-hour). Either one without the other would not
be effective. Similar principles apply to factual knowledge (things
we know) as to procedural knowledge (things we know how to do).


Hope that helps.

Kim Warren - London Business School
From: "Kim Warren" <Kim@strategydynamics.com>