First of all we have to thank you all for the great response we have
gotten from you. In today's busy business world where most people are
inmensly occupied and hard to get in touch with, this forum of
communication is almost invaluable.
In this discussion it seems appropriate to define some of the terms used.
We suggest that knowledge is more of an absolute notion, i.e. knowledge
is something one knows independently of what this knowledge is meant to be
used for. Competence, however, can not be measured in absolute terms.
Instead it is related to the ability to solve a certain task. It is
therefore a mix between knowledge, experience, skills, values and a social
network.
In this perspective the word "knowledge-based" organization seems a bit
out of line if the issue is keeping the organizations competence. The
term "competence-based" organization would be more appropriate. It also
follows from this discussion that information systems, which are often
suggested to be the solution to the problem of keeping competence, is only
partly a sloution. There is still a question of preserving skills, values
and a social network. It therefore seems to us, as if the cultural aspect
that some of you have suggested, is an important one to consider, i.e.
building organizations that implicitly preserve these things, as well as a
good social network.
The question that comes to mind then is if, and in that case, to what
extent this kind of culture is possible to create, or put in other words,
which of the factors included in the definition of competence are possible
to transfer to an organization via the creation of a competence-supporting
culture, and which are only possible to maintain in the minds of people.
Mattias Hultheimer & Peter Palmqvist
Linkoping University
Sweden
mattias.hultheimer@linkoping.mail.telia.com
peter.palmqvist@linkoping.mail.telia.com
--peter palmqvist <peter.palmqvist@linkoping.mail.telia.com>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>