The field of Knowledge Management promises considerable benefits to organisations attempting to manage their intellectual resources, but what is the basis for this claim? In this paper it will be argued that unless the field of Knowledge Management (KM) first addresses the fundamentals of that which it claims to manage, it runs the risk of being discarded as just another failed management fad that promised much but delivered little. It will be argued that autopoietic theory, as developed by Maturana and Varela (1980), offers a useful epistemological basis from which KM may develop as a discipline.

In this paper we address the issue of managing knowledge within firms that span multiple countries. Through a series of semi-structured interviews with 29 senior managers, spanning three continents and 11 firms, we present insights on knowledge management approaches and strategies being undertaken. In the organizations we interviewed we found presence of three strategies for knowledge management: Headquarter Commissioned & Executed, Headquarter Commissioned & Regionally Executed, and Regionally Commissioned & Locally Executed. We also discuss challenges faced in executing global knowledge management initiatives.

Academics and practitioners have stressed the significance of managing knowledge in today's competitive environment. This has resulted in many efforts to increase knowledge exchange between organizational members. Much work so far has focused on the use of information technology as either a solution or enabler of knowledge management. While information technology enables easy exchange of explicit knowledge, its contributions to sharing tacit knowledge is restricted to connecting individuals via tools, such as e-mail and groupware. This research adds to the literature by reporting on a people-centered perspective for facilitating tacit knowledge exchange. The article describes an in-depth case study carried out to determine the role played by game rooms in the exchange of tacit knowledge.

There can be no doubt that contemporary developments in information technology, including information systems developments, have changed business and organizational practices in many ways. For example, the world's financial systems are so closely coupled that that a small decrease in interest rates in the United States may cause a disproportionately large rise in stock market values in South East Asia. The information revolution has created entirely new ways of marketing, such that we now see very changed relationships between producers, distributors and customers. It has also led to changes in the way in which organizations are managed, the way in which they are structured, and the way in which they deal with their products and services. In particular, it creates a number of opportunities and challenges that affect the way in which data is converted into information and then into knowledge. It poses many opportunities for management of the environment for these transfers, such as to enhance the productivity of individuals and organizations. This paper discusses interactions and intersections between organizations, information technology and information systems, and the ways in which the creative use of information systems changes organizational environments.

Organizations are increasingly focusing their efforts on knowledge management practices to foster the creation, sharing and integration of knowledge. This chapter proposes a framework for classifying such knowledge management practices based on their roles in solving problems and exploring opportunities. By integrating these practices through three value-added processes (identification, preservation and distribution), organizations improve their ability to learn and adapt to changing environments. Innovative business models that include these knowledge management processes will help organizations prosper in the face of rapid, complex change. We are indebted to the Queen’s Management Research Centre for Knowledge-Based Enterprises

The quality of evidence in knowledge management research: practitioner versus scholarly literature

The case study features a distributed international Community of Practice (CoP). CoPs are currently playing a major role in Knowledge Management (KM), and as organizations need to operate in a global economy, CoPs are

The chapter focuses on knowledge management and on knowledge sharing in particular. It is based on a study of a wide range of management consulting firms in Denmark. The purpose of the study has been to gain a more profound understanding of what constitutes knowledge sharing in practice. What does knowledge sharing imply? What are the organizational and managerial aspects affecting knowledge sharing and how? Findings from the study demo nstrate a series of critical issues related to knowledge sharing: the importance of having a knowledge strategy, the relation between the project organization, power and mobility, the role of office space, the quest for time, the problem of decontextualization in electronic databases, the need for incentives different from financial and promotional ones, the importance of trust among employees, and the necessity of top management support. Based upon the empirical findings, we develop a knowledge sharing typology. This framework suggests that the concept of knowledge sharing includes six dimensions: knowledge storing, knowledge distribution, knowledge exposure, knowledge transfer, knowledge exchange and knowledge collectivism. 2

Evolving information and knowledge has impacted all organisations, including academic libraries. This has made knowledge management become important. The conventional function of academic libraries is to collect, process, disseminate, store and utilise information to provide service to the university community. However, the environment in which academic libraries operate today is changing. Academic libraries are part of the university and its organisational culture. Whatever affects universities has an impact on academic libraries. As a result, the role of academic libraries is changing to provide the competitive advantage for the parent universities. The success of academic libraries depends on their ability to utilise information and knowledge of its staff to better serve the needs of the academic community. This requires academic librarians to reappraise their functions, expand their roles and responsibilities to effectively contribute and meet the needs of a large and diverse university community. Knowledge management is a viable means in which academic libraries could improve their services in the present knowledge era. This is a report of the results of a case study conducted to establish the ways in which the academic librarians of the University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg Libraries could add value to their services by engaging with knowledge management. 1.

The widespread use of computers and of the internet have brought about human information overload, particularly in the areas of internet searches and email management. This has made Knowledge Management a necessity, particularly in a business context. Agent technology -- with its metaphor of agent as assistant -- has shown promise in the area of information overload and is therefore a good candidate for Knowledge Management solutions. This paper illustrates a mailing list Knowledge Management tool that is centred around the concept of a mailing list assistant. We envisage this system as the first step towards a comprehensive agentbased Knowledge Management solution.