E-Book Overview
To survive in any economic climate organizations must manage what they know and adapt this knowledge to rapidly changing environments. Organizational Learning demonstrates that companies can reap greater awards in productivity, speed, and profitability by developing the four categories of information management: a company’s Culture that institutionalizes knowledge; the Old Pros with organizational knowledge born of experience; Archives that serves as the institution’s internal repository for knowledge; and the Processes that impose prior learning and discipline on new generations of employees. Drawing on decades of first-hand experience, Jerry Wellman lays an important foundation for those interested in the ways that information is captured and utilized.
E-Book Content
ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING
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Organizational Learning How Companies and Institutions Manage and Apply Knowledge Jerry L. Wellman
ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING
Copyright © Jerry L. Wellman, 2009. All rights reserved. First published in 2009 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN® in the United States—a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world, this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN-13: 978–0–230–60614–2 ISBN-10: 0–230–60614–8 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Wellman, Jerry L. Organizational learning : how companies and institutions manage and apply knowledge / Jerry L. Wellman. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0–230–60614–8 1. Knowledge management. 2. Organizational learning. 3. Organizational behaviour. I. Title. HD30.2.W456 2009 658.4⬘038—dc22
2008036926
A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library. Design by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd., Chennai, India. First edition: June 2009 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Printed in the United States of America.
Contents
List of Figure and Tables
vii
Preface
ix
Acknowledgments Chapter 1 Introduction
xiii
1
Chapter 2 How Organizations Remember What They Know
27
Chapter 3 Culture—The Way It Is Around Here
51
Chapter 4 Old Pros—I Remember When
79
Chapter 5 Archives—It’s In Here Somewhere
97
Chapter 6 Process—The Way Things Work Around Here
125
Chapter 7 Putting Them Together
145
Chapter 8 Pragmatics of Managing Organizational Knowledge
165
Closing
193
Index
197
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List of Figure and Tables
Figure 7.1
Comparison of Four Organization Knowledge Management Dimensions
160
Tables 2.1 3.1 3.2 4.1
Human and Organizational Memories—A Comparison What Shapes Culture? Knowledge Management Attributes of Culture Leadership Responsibility in Managing Old Pro Knowledge 5.1 Same Words but Different Meanings 6.1 Acceptable Quality Levels, Sometimes Even 99.9 Percent Isn’t Good Enough 8.1 Centralized versus Decentralized Approach to Knowledge Management
44 58 70 91 113 138 175
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Preface
T
he core idea for the constructs described in this book first emerged in coherent form when I w