John Gunkler wrote:
> Yes, I do feel strongly about this. Right now, though, I can't think of
> much better to do than to quote myself when I said that organizational
> learning can exist in "structures, processes, and systems." The fact that
> a "process" exists within an organization (e.g., that the way incoming
> orders are handled is by first doing x, then y, then z, etc.) is not what
> I call "knowledge." The DESCRIPTION of the process (words saying, in
> effect, "First we do x, then we do y, then we do z, then ...") -- if it is
> explicitly captured and "stored" somewhere in the organization -- would be
> knowledge (to my mind.) But such words do not even have to exist in order
> for an organization to be following a process; processes evolve over time
> without being documented in such ways.
>
> I guess I would choose not to call processes knowledge. Similarly I would
> not describe as knowledge a skill, nor a habit, nor an attitude of an
> individual person. And I believe organizations can have "attitudes"
> (which, even in individuals, are inferences from behavior) and while I
> wouldn't call these attitudes "knowledge" I would contend that attitudes
> are learned.
John (and Malcolm):
Many of us in the KM community would agree with you that "process is not
knowledge." On the other hand, processes can be seen as a reflection of
knowledge -- a manifestation of procedural knowledge, to be more precise.
As such, business processes can be seen as "expressions of knowledge."
Information systems and other, more explicit codifications of knowledge,
constitute more deliberate attempts to codify knowledge for sharing and
distribution purposes -- but they are no more genuine than any other
"reflection" or "expression" of knowledge.
>From a practitioner's perspective, I will tell you that while I agree
that processes and other expressions of organizationally-held knowledge
are not the same as knowledge itself, the ability to recognize reflections
of knowledge is of enormous value in the pursuit of understanding just
what knowledge an organization, in fact, holds as knowledge and how it is
changing (i.e., through learning).
When I see my reflection in the mirror, strictly speaking, I am not
looking at myself. But seeing my reflection gives me a pretty darn good
idea of what I look like, nevertheless.
Mark
--"Mark W. McElroy" <mmcelroy@vermontel.net>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>