Knowledge management and Learning organizations LO29960

From: Fred Nickols (nickols@safe-t.net)
Date: 03/03/03


[Arbitrarily linked toLO29958 by your host]

Responding to the thread but not to any particular posting...

The essence of the responses to ceoji singh's question about how to
differentiate KM and LO has been to say that they are the same. I
disagree.

It seems to me that knowledge management (KM) is, as the term implies, an
approach to managing knowledge in an organization. Such an approach might
be characteristic of a learning organization (LO); it might even be
essential to an LO but I don't believe that it makes sense to simply
equate the two. From my point of view, KM is an intervention targeted at
specific aspects of an organization, namely, the way in which knowledge is
created, captured, diffused, disseminated, deployed and employed.
Attempting to create a learning organization requires intervention(s) as
well, one of which might well be some kind of KM initiative. But to set
about creating a learning organization goes well beyond what is attempted
under the heading of KM.

Perhaps the easiest way to differentiate the two is as follows: I could
have a very successful (or unsuccessful) KM initiative and, later, undo
it. I could go in and rip it out. But, if I succeed at an attempt to
create an LO, I'd have a devil of a time undoing it.

Regards,

Fred Nickols
nickols@safe-t.net
www.nickols.us

-- 

Fred Nickols <nickols@safe-t.net>

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