Book Description
Performance Through Learning is a practical guide to the key issues surrounding knowledge management from a human resource perspective and provides incisive insights into developing a strategy linked to organizational learning. The authors present a framework and model that practitioners within organizations can adapt to increase performance through learning using knowledge management tools. The book is divided into two parts and includes:

*An overview of theory
*Case studies and practitioner stories from a range of KM initiatives
*Tools and techniques for implementing an effective KM strategy.

Written by a respected international author team, the book provides an understanding of the theory that supports knowledge management in the current business environment. Drawing upon real-life examples across a variety of organizational settings, from large global financial and professional services firms, to multinational oil and mining companies, to a small charity in the voluntary sector

*Authors from US, Canada, South Africa, and UK give this book an international perspective
*Only book to focus on measurement using balanced scorecard and other HR measurement tools
*Provides empirical case studies of how leading organizations in 4 countries have achieved benefits from KMDownload Description
Performance Through Learning is a practical guide to the key issues surrounding knowledge management from a human resource perspective and provides incisive insights into developing a strategy linked to organizational learning. The authors present a framework and model that practitioners within organizations can adapt to increase performance through learning using knowledge management tools. The book is divided into two parts and includes: *An overview of theory *Case studies and practitioner stories from a range of KM initiatives *Tools and techniques for implementing an effective KM strategy. Written by a respected international author team, the book provides an understanding of the theory that supports knowledge management in the current business environment. Drawing upon real-life examples across a variety of organizational settings, from large global financial and professional services firms, to multinational oil and mining companies. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

It's a useful book
If you need to understand or study aobut the KM knowledge ,here is your choice.
easy to understanding and reading!

Getting value out of learning
While we are all clear that we need to learn to be successful in today's market, it is far from clear how to justify "learning" from an economic perspective. It takes time and resources that don't come cheap to the organization, at least not to mine. Based on the authors' experience with cutting edge HR groups, this book shows us how some leading organizations are strategically linking learning and performance. The academic training in the authors provides a clear framework, while the practitioner in them gets to the punch line -- how do we justify to our peers and shareholders what we know to be important. ... Read more

Book Description

Rethinking Knowledge Management: From Knowledge Objects to Knowledge Processes readdresses fundamental issues in knowledge management, leading to a new area of study: knowledge processes. These integrate research across a variety of fields, thus reasserting the fundamental insights of knowledge management in organizations and societies. Knowledge processes go far beyond traditional information acquisition and processing by stressing the importance and creative potential of human expression, communication, and learning for successful economic planning and meaningful personal and social existence.

Book Description
'Knowledge Management Foundations' is just what it claims, the first attempt to provide a secure intellectual footing for the myriad of practices called "knowledge management." A breath of fresh air from the usual KM gurus, Fuller openly admits that the advent of KM is a mixed blessing that often amounts to the conduct of traditional management by subtler means. However, Fuller's deep understanding of both the history of management theory and knowledge production more generally enables him to separate the wheat from the chaff of the KM literature.

This ground-breaking book will prove of interest to both academics and practitioners of knowledge management. It highlights the ways in which KM has challenged the values associated with knowledge that academics have taken for granted for centuries. At the same time, Fuller resists the conclusion of many KM gurus, that the value of knowledge lies in whatever the market will bear in the short term. He pays special attention to how information technology has not only facilitated knowledge work but also has radically altered its nature. There are chapters devoted to the revolution in intellectual property and an evaluation of peer review as a quality control mechanism. The book culminates in a positive re-evaluation of universities as knowledge producing institutions from which the corporate sector still has much to learn.

A KMCI Press book - a definitive title from the leading, standard-setting KM organizationOnly book to describe fundamental KM concepts and theoriesApproach roots theory in current state of the procession/discipline ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

A confusing title
Despite its title, this is not a basic text introducing the key KM theories and concepts. Fuller attempts to place knowledge management on a 'secure intellectual footing' by tracing the historical, philosophical, and sociological underpinnings of KM. While it may offer an alternative view to the hype that abounds in the KM literature, it is a heavily theoretical text and there is very little in it for the practitioner.

The "Das Kapital" of KM?
This is definitely a book for those who want to see through the charlatanry and the hype that passes for "KM" these days. What's surprising is that it's taken so long for a serious academic who doesn't work for a business school to produce a book like this. Fuller's goal here is basically to tell us how we got to a position where sticking "knowledge" in front of "management" has even gotten university presidents excited. It's a story that should be familiar to Marxists, since Fuller believes that knowledge is "capitalism's final frontier," but this no knee-jerk Marxist tract. Fuller is very open - perhaps too open - to alternative social and economic philosophies. His main point is that knowledge is a "positional good," which basically means that it's valuable only if it's scarce. And so, KM is really is in the business of manufacturing this new form of scarcity by things like computerized expert systems, intellectual property law, etc. This point cannot be repeated too many times, and Fuller does a great job exploring all its ramifications, especially for universities.

The "Das Kapital" of KM?
This is definitely a book for those who want to see through the charlatanry and the hype that passes for "KM" these days. What's surprising is that it's taken so long for a serious academic who doesn't work for a business school to produce a book like this. Fuller's goal here is basically to tell us how we got to a position where sticking "knowledge" in front of "management" has even gotten university presidents excited. It's a story that should be familiar to Marxists, since Fuller believes that knowledge is "capitalism's final frontier," but this no knee-jerk Marxist tract. Fuller is very open - perhaps too open - to alternative social and economic philosophies. His main point is that knowledge is a "positional good," which basically means that it's valuable only if it's scarce. And so, KM is really is in the business of manufacturing this new form of scarcity by things like computerized expert systems, intellectual property law, etc. This point cannot be repeated too many times, and Fuller does a great job exploring all its ramifications, especially for universities. ... Read more

Book Description
The disciplines of knowledge engineering and knowledge management are closely tied. Knowledge engineering deals with the development of information systems in which knowledge and reasoning play pivotal roles. Knowledge management, a newly developed field at the intersection of computer science and management, deals with knowledge as a key resource in modern organizations. Managing knowledge within an organization is inconceivable without the use of advanced information systems; the design and implementation of such systems pose great organization as well as technical challenges.

The book covers in an integrated fashion the complete route from corporate knowledge management, through knowledge analysis and engineering, to the design and implementation of knowledge-intensive information systems. The CommonKADS methodology, developed over the last decade by an industry-university consortium led by the authors, is used throughout the book. CommonKADS makes as much use as possible of the new UML notation standard. Beyond information systems applications, all software engineering and computer systems projects in which knowledge plays an important role stand to benefit from the CommonKADS methodology. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A methodology good at the micro-level biz process reuse
The book provides a object-oriented methodology variation utilizing the project management concepts. The method per se is not new, but the application steps and implications involved provide framework and model to start a knowledge system development in organizations. But the terms in the book sometimes causes confusion.

Knowledge Engineering and Management
Very good introduction to CommonKADS. Reviews the methodology, its principles and drivers. ... Read more

Product Description
Knowledge management (KM) has been implemented in many organizations with impressive success; however, many KM initiatives fail due to a lack of understanding of operational complexities. For multinational organizations, the level of complexity increases many times over.

Strategic Knowledge Management in Multinational Organizations presents a comprehensive set of investigations of a wide range of environmental factors, both internal and external, that contribute to the key challenge of complexity in KM. These factors include culture, technology, communications, infrastructure, and learning and leadership structures. With its inclusive coverage of the salient issues, this reference publication provides libraries with a single source for the defining research on KM in multinational contexts. ... Read more

Book Description
Knowledge Management (KM) is the art and science of utilizing knowledge as the most important resource towards gaining competitive advantage in today's business environment. Despite the huge and growing interest in KM, there has been no serious attempt to bridge theory and practice, the practices of East and West, the soft side (organizational capabilities) with the hard side (information technology), or the practices of large companies with start-ups. Until now. Written by the Dean of Hitotsubashi Business School in Tokyo, the world's leading centre of KM, and featuring contributions from thought leaders around the world, this book will provide a synthesis towards the emerging field of KM. It brings together the latest trends in the field and re-ignites the debate on the future form of knowledge management. ... Read more

Book Description
Today, companies capture and store tremendous amounts of information about every aspect of their business: their customers, partners, vendors, markets, and more. But with the rise in the quantity of information has come a corresponding decrease in its quality--a problem businesses recognize and are working feverishly to solve.
Enterprise Knowledge Management: The Data Quality Approach presents an easily adaptable methodology for defining, measuring, and improving data quality. Author David Loshin begins by presenting an economic framework for understanding the value of data quality, then proceeds to outline data quality rules and domain-and mapping-based approaches to consolidating enterprise knowledge. Written for both a managerial and a technical audience, this book will be indispensable to the growing number of companies committed to wresting every possible advantage from their vast stores of business information.

Key Features
* Expert advice from a highly successful data quality consultant
* The only book on data quality offering the business acumen to appeal to managers and the technical expertise to appeal to IT professionals
* Details the high costs of bad data and the options available to companies that want to transform mere data into true enterprise knowledge
* Presents conceptual and practical information complementing companies' interest in data warehousing, data mining, and knowledge discovery ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Excellent practise book in data quality
David has written an excellent data quality book. He focuses on a real works around data quality. He presents a practical approaches how to solve a different types of quality defects and also pointed out main quality principles. But reader must think how to apply mentioned principles and approaches in reader's organization.

Simply, good reading with application on a real cases.

David Loshin's book and quality improvement of New Zealand National Health Information
At the time the book was published I worked as a data quality manager at the New Zealand Ministry of Health focusing on the implementation of the Data Quality Strategy for National Health Databases. It was a great help for us. We've implemented many of David Loshin's principles. Most importantly it helped us to understand that the majority of our DQ problems were not due to the poor data management processes, but because of the inadequate system's design or poor data model, which was either conceptually or contextually incorrect, incomplete or inaccurate.

Its all in the Details
Most of the literature on Data Quality focuses on the challenges of creating and maintaining a data warehouse. Thankfully, for those of us trying to improve the integrity of the information in our OLTP databases, this book presents a methodology which is not specific to any one data environment.

This book is packed with lists of cases to consider for each step of the methodology.Each case is nicely documented.Actually, much of the book is taken filled with the documentation for each case, which may cause a person to lose sight of the methodology that is being presented.

I am person who prefers to learn concepts.I am not as interested in memorizing details.Hence, I would read this book, skipping most of the documentation in the lists, instead focusing on understanding the methodology.Thereafter, I would use this book as a reference when needing information on a particular step of the methodology.

Data Quality in the Real World
As a data warehouse practitioner for over 12 years, I was recently challenged at my current employer to help assemble a global data quality team and process.Having done much of the work before on a piecemeal basis, we made steady progress.

When I received my copy of "Enterprise Knowledge Management," I found two important things:
1. We were definitely on the right track, and
2. There were some things we had missed.

David Loshin has put together an excellent field guide to all aspects of data quality.It is very easy to understand, and contains practical, effective suggestions.Most importantly, it is a true "soup to nuts" guide to data quality.There is very little that you might need to improve your company's "knowledge quotient" that you will not find here.

I have heartily recommended this book to a number of people when asked about data warehousing and data quality.You'll not find a better handbook anywhere.

Management review
While I am not a technical person, this booked helped me enormously to understand the management issues that surround data quality.In today's world, I am shocked that more companies are not using this approach to save massive sums of money.This book has given me the tools to do so within my company.I highly recommend it! ... Read more

Book Description
Summary This book is aimed at those who are involved in Knowledge Management (KM) or have recently been appointed to deliver KM in services, operational or production environments.The models and techniques for KM are well defined within environments with a distinct start and finish to the activity, for example the 'learn before, during and after' model.This book focuses on environments where activity and learning are ongoing, and a different approach to KM has to be taken.The book aims to provide managers and practitioners with the necessary principles, approaches and tools to be able to design their approach from scratch or to be able to compare their existing practices against world class examples.The book provides models and methodologies which can be applied or replicated in a wide variety of industries.The book also contains numerous case studies which are used to illustrate the journey that various companies are taking as they implement KM.Key Features Is written by a highly knowledgeable and well-respected practitioner in the field. Draws on the author's wide-ranging practical experience of implementing KM in various industries around the globe. Provides practical and realistic solutions to real-world problems via case studies from leading companies including BP, BBC, Orange, Chase Manhattan Bank and General Motors.The Author Tom Young is Chairman of Knoco Ltd.Prior to that Tom was founding member and Principal Coach of BP's Knowledge Management Team and Virtual Teamworking project.His understanding of cultures and industries and how to successfully interact with them, allows him to be equally at home in the Asia Pacific as in Wall Street. Readership The book is aimed at:Executives who are contemplating introducing KM into a service, operational or production environment. Managers who are tasked with managing a KM programme in those industries. Practitioners who are tasked with delivering KM in those industries. Academics who seek to understand current KM practice in those industries. Individuals who are seeking to progress their personal development by understanding business re-engineering and process improvement.Contents Principles KM models for services, operations and manufacturing Performance benchmarking And KM Process for learning from performance Process for learning from others Communities of practice The corporate knowledge base Technology Roles Assurance and monitoring The linkage with other management disciplines Case histories Summary and conclusions References ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

QUESTION TO WEB MASTER
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

This book will help Japanese Society to enter New Era, October 24, 2000Reviewer: teruo miyagawa (see more about me) from hiratsuka, kanagawa Japan Deming's TQC(Total Quality Control) and Kanban method were the key for Miracle Japan economy growth after World War Two. Japanese economy were struggling during 1990's decade, one of the reason is to ignore the power of the information structure, and depend upon the old paper information system, which speed cannot catch up with the society change speed. This book will help Japanese Society to enter New Era. Last month, Daiwa Bank's ex-board 11 members were ordered 830 million USD indemnity, because of Daiwa Bank New York officer's fraud. Snow Brand, Mitusbishi Moter, Bridgestone/Firestone, many companies are facing trouble by lacking Total data Quality Management. This book is really help for 21 centure enterprize direction.

*** Seeing no voting buttons? To ensure fairness and impartiality, we allow you to vote only for other customers' reviews.***

WHY MY COMMENT IS NO VOTING BUTTONS? IS MY COMMNET NOT FAIRNESS AND IMPARTIALITY? LET ME KNOW. TERUO MIYAGAWA

This book will help Japanese Society to enter New Era
Deming's TQC(Total Quality Control) and Kanban method were the key for Miracle Japan economy growth after World War Two. Japanese economy were struggling during 1990's decade, one of the reason is to ignore the power of the information structure, and depend upon the old paper information system, which speed cannot catch up with the society change speed. This book will help Japanese Society to enter New Era. Last month, Daiwa Bank's ex-board 11 members were ordered 830 million USD indemnity, because of Daiwa Bank New York officer's fraud. Snow Brand, Mitusbishi Moter, Bridgestone/Firestone, many companies are facing trouble by lacking Total data Quality Management. This book is really help for 21 centure enterprize direction.

Focus First on Knowledge and Data to Avoid IT Stalls
IT has often had it backwards, such as when companies seek to automate what already adds little value.If the data are degraded in the process, you fall back instead of forward.The downside risk is real, as is theupside opportunity.While many books talk in abstraction about knowledgemanagement, this book provides a practical process that will vastly improveIT effectiveness.IT managers should read this first, as should theirclients.I hope that this book will be but the beginning of an emphasis onfirst dealing with the problem, then looking for the right way to deliverand use the data while protecting them, then look at the software andhardware choices.I look forward to future books that provide even moreexamples of what can go right and wrong with the knowledge and data.Thisis the way that best practices should be spelled out.I also look forwardto seeing how best practices will evolve in this field into future bestpractices.There is a lot of room for improvement.

Best reference book for enterprise DQM task forces.
This book presents the readers with an objective and scientific description of IQ (information quality) and a systematic way of measuring, analyzing and improving IQ.It is valuable for enterprise IQ personnels toread this book before fulfiling DQM (Data Quality Management) tasks.

The best book on the subject.
This the best book on the subject of data and information quality!The authors have provided us we the means to implement a practical and simple way to achieve data and information quality with the notion that data areproducts.The emphasis of IT is shifted towards supporting the productionof data and information products.Data and information as products, alsoencourages interactions with consumers of these products.The authorsillustrate the importance of this with long chapters devoted to consumerssurveys about information timeliness, packaging, content, meaning, andpackaging.My organization was fortunate enough to have Dr. Wang offer aseminar based on his book.In the seminar, Dr. Wang emphasised theimportance of data and information as products whose quality ia judged byaccess, interpretation, content, and timeliness.The depth of knowledgeand pratical use of basic quality principles to achieve consumenrsatisfaction is well demonstrated by Dr. Wang and his co-authors.As allof us must live in a world where data, information and knowledge arecommodities of trade, this book is a necessary guide for success. ... Read more

Book Description
John Muir was an early proponent of a view we still hold today--that much of California was pristine, untouched wilderness before the arrival of Europeans. But as this groundbreaking book demonstrates, what Muir was really seeing when he admired the grand vistas of Yosemite and the gold and purple flowers carpeting the Central Valley were the fertile gardens of the Sierra Miwok and Valley Yokuts Indians, modified and made productive by centuries of harvesting, tilling, sowing, pruning, and burning. Marvelously detailed and beautifully written, Tending the Wild is an unparalleled examination of Native American knowledge and uses of California's natural resources that reshapes our understanding of native cultures and shows how we might begin to use their knowledge in our own conservation efforts.
M. Kat Anderson presents a wealth of information on native land management practices gleaned in part from interviews and correspondence with Native Americans who recall what their grandparents told them about how and when areas were burned, which plants were eaten and which were used for basketry, and how plants were tended. The complex picture that emerges from this and other historical source material dispels the hunter-gatherer stereotype long perpetuated in anthropological and historical literature. We come to see California's indigenous people as active agents of environmental change and stewardship. Tending the Wild persuasively argues that this traditional ecological knowledge is essential if we are to successfully meet the challenge of living sustainably. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Splendid!
Kat,
its wonderful!!! Long live the Wendell Berry Club.
Miss ya,
Joseph and Linda the cattail botanist!

Instant Classic
This book should become required reading for all High School and University students, teachers, and researchers with an interest in North American anthropology, ethnobotany, botany, biology, historical ecology, fire history, forest management, and history.It will be of particular value to readers with an interest in cultural and natural resources management, agricultural sustainability, and federal Wilderness policy, among other topics.

The book is excellently written, organized, and indexed, for both general reading and specific reference uses.It is a wonderful addition to Anderson's other major contribution to science, Forgotten Fires.

Our Sustainable Future
This excellent book written about the management of California land by the native people in the past, is also a textbook of what we will need to do in the future to survive.M. Kit Anderson has written a revolutionary book.The wealth of information on how Native peoples managed the California landscape in a sustainable way finally does justice to these people and their way of life - a people who were so cruelly treated by the Spanish and American invaders.The author explores the ecological management skills of California native peoples without romanticizing them or ignoring mistakes that they made.

The modern environmental movement created the myth of the unspoiled wilderness untouched by human hands. Tending the Wild debunks that myth and levels some well earned criticism towards those environmentalists who failed to appreciate how the California native peoples were successfully and actively managing the California landscape, as were other indigenous people around the world.

But the wealth of detail the book provides on how the Native Americans successfully managed the California landscape is also a model of sustainable living that has much to teach all of us.We learn an alternative to the destructive environmental, agricultural and development practices of our time. Practices that are destroying our ability to not only preserve the beauty of the landscape but to use the landscape wisely to provide for our needs in a sustainable way.

Anybody who is interested in sustainable living should also explore books on Permaculture by authors like Bill Mollison, David Holmgren and Toby Hemenway.Permaculture is a modern attempt at designing for sustainable living. Permaculture designers have studied the sustainable methods agriculture, horticulture, building and community of indigenous people from all over the world. As world oil production peaks and as the effects of global warming are felt, we will need all the help we can get to re-learn how to live sustainably on this planet.

One of a kind information
This book is covering ground not found elsewhere about the way of Native Americans in California interacted with nature to actually improve the health of forests and wild life. I am thrilled to find it.

Respect For Indigenous People
I thoroughly enjoyed this book.It points out how poorly the Native Americans were treated and the beauty and knowledge of their culture that was overlooked due to the arrogance of Western Civilization. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

A truly good book....
Outstanding is the best word to use if you need a book that can give you a basic understanding of the leading KBM practices.Six Sigma to defect analysis and most concepts in between are covered in an easy-to-read and follow manner.I was so impressed, I bought six copies for my management team and asked them to read it on their next flight (the book can be read in one sitting).

Knowledge Based Management - excellent book
I enjoyed the book and gave it to my supervisor. The Folks from Air Academy Associates us a common sense approach implementing six sigma.

An excellent managers guide to KBM and Six Sigma
This book is an excellent KBM and Six Sigma primer. Designed by it's authors to be read in it's entirety by business executives or managers in the duration of a short plane journey (2-3 hours), this books adopts it's philosophy of KISS (Keep it Simple...) in order to communicate it's ideas.

The book's format is light (0.6kg) and compact (23.5cm x 15.5cm x 2.4cm). Its style is light and easy to read, with frequent diagrams. At the same time it manages to be informative and pass on profound quality improvement knowledge.

While it is American in flavour, I have personally found that the powerful underlying messages of quality improvement translate well internationally across Europe.

A Primer on Process Improvement
I thought the book was an excellent introduction to the topic of process improvement, where the author argues that we should manage processes from the vantage point of knowledge of them.By this they mean more than knowing how the work gets done, but what is the cost of failure, what are the key defect types, what are the sources of the defects, and knowing the tools to address these issues.

If you are an expert in the topics of quality, process management, 6 sigma, this may not be the book for you to expand your knowledge.This may be a good book for you to use as a tool to help a manager, colleague, or someone less familar get a grounding.There is a good discussion of problem solving, the requisite tools, process mapping, and a good primer on why it is important to business.

I would read Demings "Out of the Crisis", and then pick up this book.There are may others that I would include on the list, but this is a good start.

If you are looking for an excellent discussion on DOE, Taguachi Techniques, and other sophisticated methods, go elsewhere.If you are looking for a well thoughout introduction to the idea that we need to solve problems by fixing processes and not people, this is an excellent book. ... Read more

Book Description
In recent years management knowledge has seen mountingchallenges tothe notions of objectivity, neutrality, and universality. ThePolitics of Management Knowledge goes beyond broad-brushaffirmations on this theme. This insightful volume explores theconnections among management knowledge, power, and practice in aworld where globalization highlights, rather than obscures, thelocalizations of generic management recipes. Central to the bookisthe recognition of management knowledge's political nature andthediscourse produced from power processes within and betweenorganizations. This theme underpins the various ways thatmanagementpractices produce managers as particular kinds of subjects forexample, man-of-enterprise, bureaucrat, heroic leader, and soon.Critical examinations of management theories about leanproductionand excellent entrepreneurship also highlight the myriad areasinwhich relationships between knowledge and power intermingle.The Politics of Management Knowledge discusses the future ofmanagement knowledge and argues that even at a time when middlemanagement in particular is under threat, there is a need for anewunderstanding less attuned to the corporate world of today andmoreappropriate for the emerging industries of the 21st century. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Good for certification purposes
I find this book (just like the rest of PMI's standards) a very important reference for those wishing to acquire the "text book" knowledge, and very important for certification purposes.
But if you are looking for practical knowledge, and details on how to implement OPM3 on your organization, or on clients, then I recomend other books like "Every Organization can implement OPM3".
Hope this helps.
Certified OPM3 Consultant. ... Read more

Book Description
This book follows on from Elayne Coakes'previous book in the CSCW series, The New SocioTech (published April 2000). Whereas that book gave a broad introduction to the re-emerging area of sociotechnical design, this one applies these principles specifically to the area of Knowledge Management (KM). KM has been a key tool in ensuring that people and technology work together to optimum effect within organisations for many years, but recent studies have called for a more systemic approach to the topic. This book examines that problem via sociotechnical principles which have recently re-emerged as one of the most widely used approaches to information systems and organisational design. Including contributions from academics and practitioners, this book looks at key aspects of the field such as:
- Knowledge management strategy formulation
- Knowledge requirements
- Case studies from corporate learning environments and industry
It will be of interest to practitioners, researchers, and managers who are involved in any aspect of information systems/sociotechnical design or knowledge management. It will also useful for advanced students on information systems or related courses.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Journal Review
For those in a hurry: I enjoyed this book; if you're interested in knowledge management, you probably will, too. Those with more time, read on...

The `graffiti' subtitle of this volume indicates its link with an earlier book on sociotechnical systems in the same Springer series on Computer Supported Cooperative Work. (See 1.) This book maintains the sociotechnical viewpoint, this time concentrating on knowledge management.

Because of this shared viewpoint, the different chapters are far better integrated than in most contributed volumes. The contributions have also been kept short and to the point, the longest being 17 pages, and taken together these make for an easy but stimulating read.

The contributors form a diverse group, with half being based in the UK and the others hailing from Australia, Scandinavia, Singapore, South Africa and the USA. The majority are academics, but there is a sprinkling of practitioners and consultants. There are 14 substantive chapters, plus introductory and concluding chapters by the editors. JORS readers may find some of the material familiar, as several of the authors gave presentations in the Learning Organisations and Knowledge Management streams at the OR42 Conference in September 2000 at Swansea.

After the Introduction, Coakes herself succinctly describes how the principles of sociotechnical systems apply to knowledge management in Chapter 2. The succeeding chapters are then divided into four parts: know-why, know-what, know-who, and know-how, although many of the chapters cut across two or more of these headings. Parts 1 and 2 mainly discuss theoretical foundations, while parts 3 and 4 are substantially based on case studies.

`Know-why' (part 1) comprises four chapters. Binney complements Coakes's chapter by explaining the human and organisational significance of his own `knowledge management spectrum'. Goldkuhl and Braf look at the relationship between the individual and the organisation, and thus at the relationships between individual knowledge and what they term organisational ability and organisational action. Chapter 5 is entitled "managing knowledge in a knowledge business"; the business in question is a university, and unusually the author (Scholtz) is one of the university's IT managers rather than an `academic'. Yoo and Ifvarsson emphasise the importance of discussing knowledge and learning in organisations as something dynamic, rather than static. They also make the telling point that a `best practice' approach may sometimes constrain the individual rather than enabling her, echoing Scholtz's view that the academic peer-regulation system may fail to recognise true creativity.

`Know-what' (part 2) is represented by chapters 7 and 8. Phillips and Patrick explain an agent-based model for investigating how cognitive style affects the development of groups, effectively developing a research agenda, while Pemberton and Stonehouse address the situation of the individual in the knowledge-centric organisation. I was a little worried to see the commonly used but unhelpful phrase "extracting individual knowledge" appearing in the latter chapter, despite the book's sociotechnical standpoint.

The three chapters in part 3 cover `know-who'. Chapter 9 by Huang and Pan concentrates on the vital, but relatively under-researched topic of managing knowledge about customers. Their case study of Boots the Chemist illustrates very well the importance of face to face interaction, and the limitations of IT. Yi examines the functioning of a pilot community of practice in Motorola and reports the outcomes from its operation. Ericsson and Avdic develop and justify a simple prototype system to help in managing knowledge relating to errors in the manufacturing process for a Swedish SME.

Part 4 contains five chapters, including the Conclusion, grouped under `know-why'. Here the general JORS reader will find some familiar techniques from soft OR and systems. Cuthbertson and Farrington use Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) in chapter 12 to appreciate a problematic knowledge management situation in one of the Royal Navy's training schools. SSM rich pictures also feature in Chapter 14, by Al-Karaghouli et al, as part of an approach which also advocates the use of group facilitation techniques in requirements elicitation for information systems. The retail sector is the example used here. By contrast, in the intervening chapter, Kazi et al offer something highly unfamiliar: a model of knowledge creation and management based on a palm tree, yielding (eventually) its knowledge coconuts. [This came as somewhat of a surprise to this reviewer, who previously associated Finland more with `track and field nuts' than coconuts.] This novel image is applied to a Finnish engineering firm, and for this reviewer was perhaps the most thought provoking image in the whole book. Kazi et al also link explicit knowledge to programmable decisions, but it is not apparent that they are aware of the OR/MS heritage here in the work of people such as Herbert Simon. Chapter 15, by Coakes et al, compares the management of tacit (and explicit) knowledge in two consulting companies, with a particular focus on whether there is a role for IT.

Overall, there is plenty of material here for both academics and practitioners interested in knowledge management. The book will also serve as useful source material to support knowledge management teaching. One unusual stylistic feature is the highlighting of key points in "speech bubble" call-outs from the main text. It took me a little while to get used to this, but by the end of the book I was finding it helpful rather than intrusive. As I said at the beginning, I enjoyed this book, and I think most people interested in knowledge management will.

John Edwards
Aston University

Reference
1. Coakes, E., Willis, D. and Lloyd-Jones, R. (Eds.) (2000) The New SocioTech: Graffiti on the Long Wall. Springer Verlag, London.

Society and technology meet knowledge management
This book is something quite different from the usual text on knowledge management. It is a collection of articles from KM practitioners around the globe whose main desire, but not their only one, is to show that knowledge management is a process that uses and is influenced by both the social and technical.

Although I wouldn't recommend it as an undergraduate text there are plenty of really interesting ideasthat I will be exploring with my Knowledge Management Technologies class when it runs next year (2003). It will certainly find a place amongst my reference books.

If this book isn't near the top of the KM best seller list then it deserves to be. ... Read more

Book Description

Terrorism informatics has been defined as the application of advanced methodologies, information fusion and analysis techniques to acquire, integrate process, analyze, and manage the diversity of terrorism-related information for international and homeland security-related applications. The wide variety of methods used in terrorism informatics are derived from Computer Science, Informatics, Statistics, Mathematics, Linguistics, Social Sciences, and Public Policy and these methods are involved in the collection of huge amounts of information from varied and multiple sources and of many types in numerous languages. Information fusion and information technology analysis techniqueswhich include data mining, data integration, language translation technologies, and image and video processingplay central roles in the prevention, detection, and remediation of terrorism. While there has been substantial investment on computer technology research applications to terrorism, much of the results and the literature has been a fragmented hodgepodge that is too narrowly focused on unconnected and unlinked discipline domains. As a result, there has been little effort to relate the research across the discipline domains from which terrorism informatics is drawn.

Book Description
"The Supply Management Process" centers on the fundamentals of the purchasing and supply field. This text reviews the critical elements of the requisition process, cost analysis and management, sourcing and supplier evaluation, the competitive bidding process, legal issues, and sample contract terms and conditions. Each chapter concludes with a summary of key points as well as review questions. This volume is a must for those seeking knowledge of the building blocks of the supply management process. ... Read more

Book Description
A complete set of best practices, tools, and techniques for turning conversations into a rich source of business information
Many organizations are now recognizing that the untapped knowledge of their members can be used to benefit every aspect of their business, from making smarter and faster decisions to improving products and efficiency. This book offers a clear-cut road map for building a successful knowledge management system to capture and fully exploit the knowledge exchanged in conversations.
Written by two of the foremost experts in online communities, this book covers a set of best practices, tools, and techniques for using conversation and online interaction to provide affordable and effective knowledge-based benefits and solutions. With a unique and invaluable perspective, the authors offer guidance for collecting, capturing, and cataloging knowledge so that it can be used to improve efficiency and reduce costs in areas ranging from internal procedures through customer relations and product development.
This book provides step-by-step solutions for developing an effective knowledge network, including how to:
* Formulate strategies and create action plans
* Select the right tools for peer-to-peer networks, interactive communities, and events
* Work with legacy systems
* Train staff and stimulate participation
* Improve productivity and measurement criteria
The companion Web site contains templates, checklists, a discussion board, and links to software. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Does not mention wiki...note publishing date of 2002!!
This is a good book on knowledge management.It provides an adequate historical reference and a succinct framework for the opportunities and incentives for KM but it is as of 2002.This book needs updating.It's not bad but is pre-wiki and web images are dated.Buy used...don't spend $40.00.

Powerful book
Review of Building the Knowledge Network: Best Practices, Tools, and Techniques for Putting Conversation to Work

I thoroughly enjoyed this book.It was written in a conversational tone, and pulled together all the different pieces I've been reading in many sources.It starts with a brief history of knowledge sharing/conversation/communications which I found fascinating (and I am not a history buff!).Nancy & Cliff compared the anti-conversational attitudes of the Scientific Management during the Industrial Age, showed how the Hawthorne Studies caused the shift from the organization to the worker, and information systems.With the emergence of computer networks, the knowledge explosion has shown no sign of abating.

They discussed how the lessons of the pioneers of early communities such as the WELL assisted communities of today to flourish.Trust became communities' foundation with open communications offering challenges to community managers/moderators/facilitators.

The authors' inclusion of quotes from the ideas of the "greats" in community building/managing and knowledge management (KM) such as Stephen Denning, Thomas Davenport, Etienne Wenger, Tom Peters, Michael Hammer and Howard Rheingold, among others offered powerful evidence to their premises.Throughout the book are helpful charts, checklists and other graphics.

A whole chapter was devoted to culture and the tools that enable differing cultures.They discussed the three relationships between people and content and the three dimensions of collaboration (the cornerstone of communities).

Another chapter was devoted to external stakeholders and customer relationship management (CRM).They touch on what new skills will be required to operate within online learningand knowledge sharing communities And they touch on what paths our technical future may take and how to integrate all these new technologies.

They see a "collaborative future" from within and without organizations, as globalization becomes more widespread.The day of hoarding knowledge towards power are over, long live the new king of collaboration!This book is for anyone who wants to start an online community and for those who want to reminisce about "the good ole days," for those who want to read about what the big companies are doing, and all in context."Context" is a word near and dear to my heart-for so often we forget to put information in context, whether in conversation or training.Nancy and Cliff have completed a truly delightful read in their book.I highly recommend it! ... Read more