Book Description

Knowing Firms provides a strong response to the need for a body of scientific knowledge on the understanding, managing and measuring of knowledge in organizations. Written by some of the leading international scholars in the field, it presents the current state of the art in knowledge management.

This essential collection is organized in two clear parts. The first part covers the topics that are important for understanding knowledge in organizations and links the concepts of organizational learning and trust with theories of knowledge. In so doing, this section uncovers the theoretical assumptions underlying the research of knowledge in organizations and conceptualizes future research in the field. The second part presents practical approaches to, and models for, managing, measuring and developing knowledge in organizations. It also addresses how to determine and leverage the value of knowledge in organizations, through concepts such as intellectual capital and the value of core processes in theorganization.

Knowing Firms will be essential reading for advanced level students, academics in strategic and general management, as well as for reflective.

Reviews (1)

The new Bible in Knowledge Management
This book will be a new bible in knowledge management, as was the Fifth Dimension (P.Senge)or the Knowledge-creating Company (Nonaka). It is one of the most interesting books available on knowledge management, for academics and practitioners. It provides a new vision of knowledge management and has a real value-added, compared to most of the books currently published in this area, which all propose the same ideas and success-stories. The editors and authors (among them Von Krogh, Ross, Blakler, Nonaka, Probst) are the best academics in the area, in America, Europe and Asia. Their theoretical background offer a comprehensive view of knowledge in organizations. They provide a new vision based on a constructivist and pragmatist approach of organizational knowledge and action, which contrast with the classical positivist school of thought. However, their book is not only for academics, but also for high-level managers concerned with implementing and measuring knowledge. The excellent quality of the conceptual background offers a basis for reflection, and they provide useful tools and examples of knowledge creation and measurement. The best book in this topic currently! ... Read more

Book Description

There is continual concern about the ability of governments to perform the duties and responsibilities that their citizens have come to expect from them. Many citizens view government as inept, arthritic, and dedicated to the preservation of the bureaucratic status quo. As we close the twentieth century, the challenge for democratic governments is to become adaptive, flexible, innovative, and creative. In short, they need to become learning organizations. This book explores what it will take for governments to break out of their traditional ways of approaching problems and learn new approaches to finding solutions.

Can Governments Learn? examines organizational learning in the public sector. It seeks to understand the role policy and program evaluation information can play in helping governments learn. Among the democratic societies studied are Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the United States. Significantly, the studies documented here show that the concept of organizational learning has vitality and applicability cross-nationally.

Can Governments Learn? evaluates preconditions for governmental learning as well as the institutional and human resource factors that contribute to the process. This volume in the Comparative Policy Analysis Series is essential for policymakers, government officials, and scholars interested in improving the performance of governments. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A descriptive, and systematic coverage of facilitation
The approach taken is descriptive rather than prescriptive.Indeed, the authors insist that it is neither possible nor desirable to set out a prescriptive approach to build a learning organisation.The book reliesheavily on extended case studies and includes substantial biographicaldetail on the leaders and key facilitators in the selected cases, as wellas extended invited contributions by four of them.These case studies areused to illustrate the main shared features that the authors have observedin successful transformation to an organisation that is able to learn aspart of its continuing functioning.Key features on which they focusinclude the use of 'action technologies' (action research, action learningand action science), a systemic view of change and an emphasis on the powerof partnership between HR professionals and line managers.

The three'action technologies' that lie at the heart of their preferredmethodologies are jargon terms for:ß a research and design methodologythat iterates from diagnosis through vision building and alignment toexperiments and reassessment ß action learning using a number of devices tointegrate learning and work, andß the use of the techniques of skilledconversation and group learning to identify and resolve issues - theprocess of cycling between action and reflection and the principlesinvolved in 'double loop learning' The conclusions are unsurprising, but itis useful to see them reinforced.

The authors do a service in remindingus that, while there are universal underlying principles, the move towardsa learning organisation is an exploration and its steps can not becodified.Those who like to learn through case studies will find the bookuseful and practising facilitators will probably find it useful to 'comparenotes' with those quoted in the book.However, it certainly does notreplace any of my established favourites in this field. ... Read more

Book Description

Explore the spiritual side of business

The best-selling author of Healing the Wounds writes another prescription for our transition-induced ailments. Here he addresses the self-defeating ways people and organizations react to rapid, seemingly relentless change, and advocates a steady diet of learning as the surest way to break free. Associating various responses to change with four character types-- The Overwhelmed, The Entrenched, The BSers, and The Learners -- the author holds up The Learners as the attainable ideal...and shows how to help those in the other categories pursue the learning path. The ultimate goal: to facilitate transition to a more flexible, self-directed workplace.

... Read more

Reviews (1)

Puhhhhh-leeeeze...
Okay, I was forced to buy this book for class. Boy, is it bad. And I mean HORRIBLE. Let me save you 250+ pages of mindless torture:You work with four types of people (the R factor). The overwhelmed, in need of therapy and a trip to Monster.com. They avoid, confuse, abuse others due to their innate unhappiness. The Entrenched-miserable to be around, won't lift a finger to change, help, or pick their nose for that matter. The BSer-no need for explanation there. And the golden child, the learner. Okay, now lets pretend you are a "Learner" in a BS organization-what should you do? So there you have it-you do the exponential square roots and see how many combos of that balderdash you can come up with. How did this get published? I'll keep this anonymous, because my professor, who skims Amazon for "who moved my cheese" type reviews to plagarize for his book, may come accross this, and I don't have my grade yet. ... Read more

Book Description

If companies don't want to be devoured by the lions in today's knowledge-driven, competitive business arena, they must do two things--develop and retain the "best and brightest" people (their human capital), then use their other resources (financial, technological, physical, etc.) to create an organization where these people can excel.

Based on extensive research, Beyond Productivity reveals how dozens of top firms, as well as "up and coming" ones, are doing just that--and leaping ahead of their competition. Readers will learn how organizations such as Microsoft, FedEx, Motorola, Southwest Airlines, Citibank:

* recruit, select, develop, and retain the best available talent* design core business processes to most effectively utilize these employees, skills and talents* facilitate individual and organizational learning* foster an environment that values cooperation, but also encourages risk-taking and initiative* make optimum use of technology, and more. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Dissapointing Book
This book is basically a summary of a whole bunch of management books. None of the ideas offered any new insights into productivity.

In certain chapters of the book, the author(s) lack of real-world experience is clearly visible. From my years of experience in human-resource management, I find many of the ideas and suggestions offered in the book are already well known management methods that do not work in today's world. At best, the book is suitable for the consumption of naive business students.

Does not deserve the 4 star rankings. Who wrote the earlier reviews? The authors?

Today's Key Management Challenges
"For most of the twentieth century, the primary tools for the creation of wealth were physical: land, natural resources, human labor, and machines. The worth of a company was determined in large measure by the sum of its tangible resources." Gregory G. Dess and Joseph C. Picken write, "In recent years, however, companies like Microsoft, PeopleSoft, America Online, and Amazon.com have turned this model inside out. These companies, dealing in software and services and built on a foundation of intellectual capital with little or no tangible investment, have created extraordinary value for their investors, far in excess of the worth of their physical and financial assets. Traditional industries based on tangible assets, such as oil, autos, steel, and financial services, have lagged far behind, reinforcing the argument that value is determined not by the sum of an organization's resources but by how efficiently those resources are used and redeployed into new opportunities over time...(Thus, today) management faces two key challenges. The first is to address the quality and capabilities of the human capital resource itself: to recruit, develop, and retain the best talent available. The second is to design and configure the organization's structural capital- the key processes and structures that link its human, knowledge and information, and tangible resources to each other and to its core value-creating processes- so as to maximize the potential and performance of the entire entity. Our focus throughout this book is on how leading companies are meeting these challenges in a changing competitive environment" (from the Preface).

In this context, in Chapter One, they firstly define two key management challenges:

I. Structural Capital: They argue that the principal role of structural capital is to link the resources of the organization together into processes that create value for customers and sustainable competitive advantage for the firm. And hence, they identify key components of structural capital as follows:

1. Core Value-Creating Activities

* Core business processes

* External relationship with customers, suppliers, and alliance partners

* Reputation, brand loyalty, image, and legitimacy

2. Organizational Structure, Systems, Processes, and Culture

* Organizational and reporting structures

* Operating systems, processes, procedures, and task designs

* Information and communications infrastructures

* Resource acquisition, development, and allocation systems

* Decision processes and information flows

* Incentives, controls, and performance measurement systems

* Mechanisms to promote sharing, collaboration, and organizational learning

* Organizational culture, values, and leadership

II. Human Capital: They argue that our definition of human capital focused primarily on capabilities, knowledge, skills, and experience, all of them embodied in and inseparable from the individual. And hence, they identify eight key categories, or elements, of human capital as follows:

1. Motor skills: The ability to grasp, place, move, and manipulate objects in coordinated movements

2. Information-gathering (perceptual) skills: Sensory, perceptual, and interpretative capabilities

3. Information-processing (cognitive) skills: The ability to reason, analyze, and make decisions

4. Communication skills: The ability to listen, communicate, and share information and ideas

5. Experience: Know-how from having done the task before

6. Knowledge: Knowledge of self, the job, the organization, and the environment

7. Social skills: The ability to interface, coordinate, and collaborate productively with others

8. Values, beliefs, and attitudes: Personal values that shape perceptions, performance, and attitudes

I highly recommend to executives and HR practitioners.

A very basic overview of Hiring and Retaining
Not helpful for someone who knows a lot about hiring, recruiting, and retaining. It has nice concepts, but most would be difficult to apply without completely changing the organizational culture. There are a few nice tables and diagrams, and the paper is nice, but that hardly adds up to its being a great buy.

want money? read it
business is not an easy philosophy. without conscience this book pulls you into the western world developed by money. {technology, power, advancement} vs. {values, ethics, brotherly love} this has been such a challenge to me living in various countries. am I majoring computer science and international studies because of plainly money? is that all I can be? computer is merely an application, not a culture itself. this book talks too much on solving in a western point of view which is a vice to the future economy of America. To survive at least for the next 10 years, people have to start thinking and encouraging others of facing world wide issues related to different cultures around the world. This is a GREAT BOOK! Yet, the reader should acknowledge the limit the author is drawing your attention to.

STRENGTH IN ITS SCOPE¿ALL WAYS OF LEVERAGING HUMAN CAPITAL.
The authors explore the ways that successful firms meet competitive challenges. The book begins by presenting an historical perspective and a conceptual framework consisting of: (1) human capital, (2) organization knowledge and resources, (3) physical and financial resources, (3) core value-creating activities (business processes, relationships with customers, suppliers and alliance partners, and reputation, brand loyalty, image and legitimacy), and (5) organizational structure, systems, processes, and culture. Chapters then focus on: recruiting, developing and retaining human capital; applying technology to leverage human capital; designing organization; incentives and controls; and leadership and creating a learning organization. This eclectic book, while emphasizing human capital, tackles ways to build a more effective and competitive organization. In short, the book's primary strength is its scope, which goes delves into all areas that affect the leveraging of human capital. Reviewed by Yvette Borcia, co-founder, Stern & Associates, co-author of Stern's Sourcefinder: The Master Directory to HR and Business Management Information & Resources, Stern's CyberSpace SourceFinder, and Stern's Compensation and Benefits SourceFinder. ... Read more

Book Description

How to create an environment in which individuals and organizations become more efficient and innovative. ... Read more

Book Description

The major trends in e-learning are determined by the global demand of academic, elderly and non-traditional target groups for training and education. The advent of the learning organization reflects these major shifts of the educational markets within companies. Automation of learning processes does not enhance a company's productivity; augmentation of individual and collaborative learning processes is needed.

This book reflects seven years of applied research (1997–2003) in the fields of adaptive multimedia systems, knowledge-based and collaborative learning environments, and intelligent software agents. ... Read more

Book Description

Click 'Additional Materials' for downloadable sample chapter

"George Huber makes an important contribution with profound insights on what the future firm will look like. It will be congruent with its environment. To realize opportunities from continuing advances in science and technology and environmental complexity, the successful firm in the future will be especially good at gaining environmental intelligence, learning and integrating knowledge, and being innovative and flexible. This is not a fanciful prophesy; it is a necessary logical conclusion that Huber draws from an extensive body of scientific knowledge."

         --Andrew H. Van de Ven, University of Minnesota, Past President of the Academy of
               Management, and coauthor of Organizational Change and Innovation Processes

“Huber gives a compelling account of the future landscape that many managers have to face today. Filled with solid academic research laced with real-world examples, Huber not only conveys the shape of that landscape, but also the roadmap to navigate it.”

--Kathleen M. Eisenhardt, Stanford University and coauthor of Competing on the Edge: Strategy as Structured Chaos

"This is an important book for any manager who faces a rapidly changing and increasingly competitive environment--which is to say, virtually every manager. Huber makes a cogent case for the fact that businesses will face much more dynamic and competitive environments in the future than they face today. More importantly, he offers practical advice for how managers can prepare for the uncertain future they face. Clearly written and carefully grounded in the best research evidence available, this book stands head and shoulders above the many management books offering short-term fads, fashions, and therapies of the moment."

--Richard T. Mowday, University of Oregon, former President of the Academy of Management, and former Editor of the Academy of Management Journal

Click 'Reviews' to read more pre-publication praise for The Necessary Nature of Future Firms

Survival depends on the ability to read imminent shifts in the environment and respond accordingly. This holds true for any living system, but it is especially true for firms today.

The business environment is now changing rapidly, but will change even more rapidly in the future. Only firms that can respond to these changes will survive. It is important to know, then, how business’s future landscape will look. George Huber’s new book, The Necessary Nature of Future Firms, describes this landscape clearly and credibly and makes explicit the organizational attributes and management practices firms must possess to be among the ranks of the “future firms.”

Advances in science and technology will continue to affect business environments, making them more complex, dynamic and competitive. Moreover, this complexity and dynamism will increase at increasing rates. As the book makes clear, successful firms will cope with or exploit these changes by increasing their capabilities for correctly interpreting threats and opportunities, making decisions, acquiring and managing knowledge, innovating, and changing while simultaneously dealing with the needs for efficiency, flexibility, and employee commitment.

The Necessary Nature of Future Firms is written for managers, especially those managing change. Professionals in a wide variety of organizational roles will find it a particularly useful reference for its foresight and as an invaluable tool in winning approval for projects and initiatives. Academics in change management, information systems, organizational science, strategy, and human resources management can draw on the book as a supplementary text or as a source for lecture materials.

References housed in endnotes rather than in the text contribute to the book’s readability and ease of use, as does the accessible writing style. But for all its accessibility and reader friendliness, The Necessary Nature of Future Firms is still firmly grounded in scholarship. Hundreds of authoritative works and systematic studies specifically inform this book, as do Huber’s own studies and his interviews with over 100 middle- and upper-level managers about changes in their organizations.  To add meaning and interest, the book’s insights and conclusions are elaborated with real world examples. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

For managers at all levels
There is a lot about this book that sets it apart from other advice-to-managers books. Perhaps the most significant is that it offers actionable suggestions to managers at all levels. It is not just for the CEO or other high level managers. In addition, the suggestions are not just opinions or the experiences of one company. They are backed with high-quality studies that are applicable across a broad range of firms. Even with my thirty years as a manager at a Fortune 50 company, I found the book to offer many opportunities for improving the competitive advantage of my function.

A Must Read
I took the title of my review from one of the 12 reviewer testimonials that appear on the back cover and on the back of the the first page:"This book is a must read for managers concerned with guiding their organizations into the information age. THE NECESSARY NATURE OF FUTURE FIRMS represents the first rigorous in-depth effort at anticipating the shape of new organizations by combining and interpreting vast management research literature and presenting it to managerial audiences. The book is very accessible to a broad managerial audience."

What first attracted me to the book is that the majority of the testimonials are from very, very accomplished authorities, people who seem to have reached really high stature as faculty at the top business school AND who have been successful authors themselves of books for managers. What then impressed me was how readable the book is. Knowing that it was written by a professor, I suspected the worst, but found that the book was actually an enjoyable read, with lots of examples, some from the author's own experience. But make no mistake, this isn't a shallow book with large print, lots of white space, three bullets per page, and unsubstantiated assertions. To the contrary, from two other testimonials: "This book stands head and shoulders above the many management books offering short-term fads, fashions, and therapies of the moment." and "THE NECESSARY NATURE OF FUTURE FIRMS is cleverly written, grounded in history, integrates an unusually extensive survey of organizational research, and is filled with evocative examples and practical guidelines." I found these comments to be on target. ... Read more

Book Description

Combine speed and knowledge to propel your organization toward success

Warren Bennis Executive Briefing Series

This guide takes a unique twist on the concept of a learning organization. It proposes the need for a FASTER learning organization (FLO) and goes one step further than other books you've read by specifying the steps necessary to become a FLO.

The author fuses concept, strategy, and application of a FASTER learning organization so your organization can:

* Create superior products and services
* Use new technology to your advantage
* Reduce cycle time
* Become more innovative and resilient
* Strengthen and reinforce the ability to change
* Focus on overall, long-term improvement

The fully illustrated model for creating and maintaining a FLO will help you, your executives, and managers immediately transform your organization into a more profitable company. Plus, the book includes action ideas to help bring employees at all levels into the process.

Enjoy the advantages of a faster learning organization by following the author's unique model, which includes a vision, three strategies, specific tactics and skills, and measurement and reinforcement tools.

Here's all you need to know to create an organization that learns faster and stays ahead of its competition.

Read it in just 2 Hours! ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Easy, worthwhile evening read for busy execs
"Learning Organizations" are the latest Org Dev (O.D.) hype. I usually delight in trashing the latest management fad and worthless book to take your money (ala "FISH", by Lundin), but there is something to like here. While under the covers, the concept of the Learning Organization is nothing really new, it encompasses a lot of concepts covered in a wide range of other "fad" books.

A good blend of short case study examples and easy theory. Reminds me of the "In Search of Excellence" format. The theory part is not overdone, and is tied to some simple acronyms, such as DIFFPAT and FLO, which you can remember. Theory of how teams learn and how companies can utilize that learning is what the book is really all about. Gives different strategic approaches based on which area (HR, workgroups, execs) initiates the strategy.

The book would be most helpful if combined with some material or reading about how individuals learn - such as the auditory, visual, and physical styles, and how organizations could create LO's using these elements. ... Read more

Book Description

This book has grown from a workshop that brought together researchers and practitioners from a wide range of areas, including the safety domain. The focus of the workshop was on the well-known issue of organisational learning and organisational memory. The special merit of the book is that it combines the experiences of two usually separate disciplines i.e. safety science, where the main focus is on the codification of accidents, and knowledge management in service organisations, where the main focus is on exchanging successes.
The focus of some contributions is on individual and group processes, others on organisational strategy or societal and environmental issues.

Some key questions addressed in this book are:

- How can an organisation learn from its successes and failures, from its experiences and accidents?

- How can we prevent the loss of knowledge caused by intensive employee turnover or retirement?

- How can implicit knowledge be shared with colleagues and newcomers?

- To what extent can Information and Communication Technology (ICT) help to solve these problems? ... Read more

Book Description

This incredible book is written for both new trainers as well as those that are more experienced. New trainers apreciate Dr. Dick Leatherman's easy style of writing, personal examples, and detailed "How to do it!" instructions. Experienced trainers become even more effective by obtaining new ideas from Dick's 40 years of training experience. For all trainers, this book is a "Must" for their library. It is also an excellent participant's book to use when training trainers.

Effective trainers know that the training that is delivered is only as good if it addresses the real needs of their participants. A trainer's job does not usually begin with the development and delivery of a training program, it starts with a determination of the training needs that exist in the participant to be trained. This book begins at the beginning-needs assessment. This section in the book describes the clues that can tell us it is time to consider some kind of action. It helps us make sense of the convoluted subject of sampling procedures, and discusses in detail the ways that we can collect needed information to ensure that training is actually the right action to take.

After an analysis of the needs of the participants is completed, the next step is to design the program. Boring training sessions are not always the fault of lackluster trainers. If the training design itself is ineffective, poor training will likely result, regardless of the facilitator's skill and energy. Because training design is so important for quality training, over half of the book is devoted to this subject. This section deals with learning principles, describes in detail a 10-step planning process, provides detailed descriptions on how to document your training design, and presents a model for making decisions about off-the-shelf commercial training packages.

Finally, the book describes the steps necessary for effective training. This section starts with a detailed discussion of training ethics and integrity-the foundation of good training. The book closes with a detailed, step-by-step process for effective training, starting with "preparation" and ending with "closing and follow up." ... Read more

Book Description

Research on the internationalization process of firms shows that the development of experiential knowledge is a major factor in explaining firms’ internationalization. However, our knowledge of how this takes place is limited. The detailed mechanisms of learning, and the effects of the duration of the firm’s international operations, have not been studied in depth. Using examples from Denmark, Finland, South Korea, New Zealand and Sweden, the contributors to this book examine these factors and test the basic assumptions of the internationalization process of firms.

In doing so, they explore how firms accumulate knowledge on foreign markets and analyze whether the number of countries in which firms operate influences the quantity and quality of knowledge accumulated. The effect is to expand our understanding of the use of knowledge and the international transfer of knowledge in the internationalization process.

Learning in the Internationalization Process of Firms will be of great interest to scholars, researchers and practitioners of international business and management. ... Read more

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Business Communication Quarterly, published by Association for Business Communication on September 1, 2001. The length of the article is 3480 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Cross-cultural Service Learning: American and Russian Students Learn Applied Organizational Communication.
Author: Betsy Stevens
Publication: Business Communication Quarterly (Refereed)
Date: September 1, 2001
Publisher: Association for Business Communication
Volume: 64Issue: 3Page: 59

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

Book Description

Work Process Knowledge brings together the findings of twenty-four leading researchers on new forms of work and the demands these place on workers' knowledge and skill. Their findings, based on a new set of investigations in a wide range of manufacturing and service industries, identify the kinds of knowledge required to work effectively in the post-Taylorist industrial organization. Raising fundamental issues for current industrial policy, science and technology policy, and ways of managing the post-Taylorist organization and developing human resources, this book will be of essential interest to academics and professionals working in the fields of management, human resource development, and workplace learning. ... Read more

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Journal of Organizational and End User Computing, published by Idea Group Publishing on April 1, 2005. The length of the article is 1596 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: A new look at learning for the organization.(Associate Editor's Comments)(end user training)
Author: Richard E. Yellen
Publication: Journal of Organizational and End User Computing (Refereed)
Date: April 1, 2005
Publisher: Idea Group Publishing
Volume: 17Issue: 2Page: i(3)

Distributed by Thompson Gale ... Read more

Book Description

Leading experts from North America, Japan, Britain and Australia illustrate both practice and theory issues, making this a valuable resource for all those concerned with continuing professional development. ... Read more

Book Description

Emerging global markets and rapid technological development make strong demands on the ability of companies to develop and utilize knowledge. In order to handle the knowledge management problem firms have to search for new collaborative ways of organizing internationalization and technical development. This is reflected in a growing interest among both businessmen and academics in business networks.Business networks have been defined as networks of connected business relationships between firms, where a business relationship is a lasting relation between two firms doing business with one another.Business network relationships are particularly interesting since they allow the companies to interact more closely with each other and thereby handle critical problems in a way that is beneficial in the long run for the parties involved.
It has been demonstrated that business networks are closely related to company learning. First, learning is ... Read more