Information Technology for Knowledge Management
In: Journal of Universal Computer Science 3:8, August 1997
Information Technology for Knowledge Management
Uwe M. Borghoff
Rank Xerox Research Centre, Grenoble Laboratory 6, chemin de Maupertuis. F-38240 Meylan, France E-mail: borghoff@grenoble.rxrc.xerox.com
Remo Pareschi
Rank Xerox Research Centre, Grenoble Laboratory 6, chemin de Maupertuis. F-38240 Meylan, France E-mail: pareschi@grenoble.rxrc.xerox.com
Abstract: Knowledge has been lately recognized as one of the most important assets of organizations. Can information technology help the growth and the sustainment of organizational knowledge? The answer is yes, if care is taken to remember that IT here is just a part of the story (corporate culture and work practices being equally relevant) and that the information technologies best suited for this purpose should be expressly designed with knowledge management in view. This special issue of the Journal of Universal Computer Science contains a selection of papers from the First Conference on Practical Applications of Knowledge Management. Each paper describes a specific type of information technology suitable for the support of different aspects of knowledge management. Key Words: knowledge management, information technology, knowledge life-cycle, knowledge work processes, corporate memories, information filtering Category: A.1, H.4.m, I.2.1, K.m
1 Knowledge Management
Managers, consultants, IT professionals and customers believe that they have finally discovered what makes organizations work: knowledge—that invisible force that propels the most successful companies to stock market values which far exceed the visible assets of their financial balance sheet. Where does this knowledge come from? The financial balance sheet, based on such tangible assets as capital and equity, does not tell us. Yet this is what stock market investors look for when they decide to raise the market value of a company—they invest in the specific knowhow of the company
Information Technology for Knowledge Management
Uwe M. Borghoff
Rank Xerox Research Centre, Grenoble Laboratory 6, chemin de Maupertuis. F-38240 Meylan, France E-mail: borghoff@grenoble.rxrc.xerox.com
Remo Pareschi
Rank Xerox Research Centre, Grenoble Laboratory 6, chemin de Maupertuis. F-38240 Meylan, France E-mail: pareschi@grenoble.rxrc.xerox.com
Abstract: Knowledge has been lately recognized as one of the most important assets of organizations. Can information technology help the growth and the sustainment of organizational knowledge? The answer is yes, if care is taken to remember that IT here is just a part of the story (corporate culture and work practices being equally relevant) and that the information technologies best suited for this purpose should be expressly designed with knowledge management in view. This special issue of the Journal of Universal Computer Science contains a selection of papers from the First Conference on Practical Applications of Knowledge Management. Each paper describes a specific type of information technology suitable for the support of different aspects of knowledge management. Key Words: knowledge management, information technology, knowledge life-cycle, knowledge work processes, corporate memories, information filtering Category: A.1, H.4.m, I.2.1, K.m
1 Knowledge Management
Managers, consultants, IT professionals and customers believe that they have finally discovered what makes organizations work: knowledge—that invisible force that propels the most successful companies to stock market values which far exceed the visible assets of their financial balance sheet. Where does this knowledge come from? The financial balance sheet, based on such tangible assets as capital and equity, does not tell us. Yet this is what stock market investors look for when they decide to raise the market value of a company—they invest in the specific knowhow of the company
References: [AP&QC, 1997] Using Information Technology to Support Management. Consortium Benchmarking Study: Final Report. 1997 Knowledge [Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995] I. Nonaka and H. Takeuchi. The Knowledge-Creating Company. New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1995 [Sveiby, 1997] K. E. Sveiby. The New Organizational Wealth: Managing and Measuring Knowledge-Based Assets. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publ. -8- 1997 [Sveiby, 1997a] K. E. Sveiby. Two Approaches to Knowledge Management: Object versus Process. Presentation at the seminar on Knowledge Management and Learning in the European Union, May 1997, Utrecht. Summary published on the Newsletter on Knowledge Management, June 1997, Kenniscentrum CIBIT, Utrecht. [Wolf and Reimer, 1996] M. Wolf and U. Reimer (eds.). Proc. 1st Int’l. Conf. on Practical Aspects of Knowledge Management (PAKM ’96), Basel, Switzerland, Oct. 1996.