The "Global" and the "Local" in Knowledge Management
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The "Global" and the "Local" in Knowledge Management
Victor De Jesus
University of Mary Washington
Introduction In a world were people with specialized skills are hard to find, corporations must find a way to hold on to their corporate knowledge. Many times this knowledge resides in the head of a person, which creates a situation when the employee decides to stop working for the corporation. A knowledge gap is created at the time of departure and it will require the company to expend time and capital to repair it. The case study entitled “The “global” and the “local” in knowledge management” discusses the findings and methodology used to study a large, multinational company concentrating in their knowledge sharing practices (Davis, Subrahmanian, & Westberg, 2005, p. 101). The study was conducted for two business units, two functional areas, across four countries (Davis et al., p. 105). The study provides an insight in the complexities of knowledge management and states that knowledge is created from organized information (Davis et al., p. 104).
When an employee leaves a sensitive position, they are taking their “organized ideas” with them, thus creating a void for other employees which may need to effectively organize their ideas and cannot do it on their own. This lack of knowledge can affect the company in many ways, especially in developing firms that require a high level of special skills and knowledge. The case study discusses various forms of knowledge management which Du Pont corporation uses across their functional areas. The case compares the effectiveness, as well as, the limitations for many of them. The case study does not discuss how some emerging technologies can promote knowledge sharing across Du Pont nor does it provide real empirical data associated with the study. Based on this information, the case study should be viewed as another informational tool which can be utilize to find
The "Global" and the "Local" in Knowledge Management
Victor De Jesus
University of Mary Washington
Introduction In a world were people with specialized skills are hard to find, corporations must find a way to hold on to their corporate knowledge. Many times this knowledge resides in the head of a person, which creates a situation when the employee decides to stop working for the corporation. A knowledge gap is created at the time of departure and it will require the company to expend time and capital to repair it. The case study entitled “The “global” and the “local” in knowledge management” discusses the findings and methodology used to study a large, multinational company concentrating in their knowledge sharing practices (Davis, Subrahmanian, & Westberg, 2005, p. 101). The study was conducted for two business units, two functional areas, across four countries (Davis et al., p. 105). The study provides an insight in the complexities of knowledge management and states that knowledge is created from organized information (Davis et al., p. 104).
When an employee leaves a sensitive position, they are taking their “organized ideas” with them, thus creating a void for other employees which may need to effectively organize their ideas and cannot do it on their own. This lack of knowledge can affect the company in many ways, especially in developing firms that require a high level of special skills and knowledge. The case study discusses various forms of knowledge management which Du Pont corporation uses across their functional areas. The case compares the effectiveness, as well as, the limitations for many of them. The case study does not discuss how some emerging technologies can promote knowledge sharing across Du Pont nor does it provide real empirical data associated with the study. Based on this information, the case study should be viewed as another informational tool which can be utilize to find
References: CIO (2005). The Time for Knowledge Management Is Now. Retrieved November 18, 2008, from www.cio.com Davis, J. G., Subrahmanian, E., & Westberg, A. W. (2005). The “global” and the “local” in knowledge management. Journal of Knowledge Management, 9(1), 101-111. doi:10.1108/13673270510582992