Description
This book is dedicated to the people of Silicon Valley, who inspired the author in writing this book.
This book is about the personal enlightenment of the author on the subject of
implementing knowledge management in large corporations. Considering the science
of knowledge management a given, as well as the technology to support it, the practical
implications of implementing knowledge management have created a good number of
headaches and a considerable amount of sleepless nights.
Although a great deal has been written on the subject of organizing knowledge
management and on the necessary culture and philosophy in the organization, the
task of creating a corporate concept for a holding corporation with more than ten
operating companies has been both challenging and tiresome.
The creation of metaphors has helped a lot in visualizing the philosophy for the
organization as well as for the author himself. The metaphor of the corporate brain
has helped to both understand and implement a corporate database in the organization.
Irrespective of database management systems, datablades and repositories, a corporate
database is visioned as a corporate brain, a storage place for the corporation
experience, information, knowledge and insight.
The metaphor of the corporate nervous system has been helpful in visualizing a
hyperlinked corporation with human networking as main knowledge creating process.
Irrespective of network management systems, communication protocols and web technology,
a corporate net-work is visioned as a corporate nervous system that combines facts,
figures, findings and feelings.
The metaphors mentioned have added to the understanding of the learning process
within the corporation and the necessary aspects of a learning culture in the
organization.
With this enlightened vision, the author would like to add practical ideas to the
learning organization of Peter Senge and the knowledge-creating company of
Nonaka & Takeuchi, and to the science of knowledge management.
This book is not positioned as rocket science, nor as extensive scientific research,
but rather as a pragmatic approach to the implementation of knowledge management in
large corporations.
The chapter on the valuation and validation of knowledge in the organization is a
summary of a previous book by Stephen Goldman, who is a personal colleague, and his
co-writer Dimitri Hoogeboom, entitled No Brains, No Value. Its ideas on making
corporate knowledge explicit on the corporations balance sheet and thus measurable
are revolutionary on their own merit.
