Book Description

In this book, the authors integrate the three dominant approaches to organizational development-learning, performance, and change-to create a dynamic lens through which to analyze any HRD program or initiative. ... Read more

Book Description

The field of knowledge management focuses on how organizations can most effectively store, manage, retrieve, and enlarge their intellectual properties. The repository view of knowledge management emphasizes the gathering, providing, and filtering of explicit knowledge. The information in a repository has the advantage of being easily transferable and reusable. But it is not easy to use decontextualized information, and users often need access to human experts.

This book describes a more recent approach to knowledge management, which the authors call "expertise sharing." Expertise sharing emphasizes the human aspects--cognitive, social, cultural, and organizational--of knowledge management, in addition to information storage and retrieval. Rather than focusing on the management level of an organization, expertise sharing focuses on the self-organized activities of the organizations members. The book addresses the concerns of both researchers and practitioners, describing current literature and research as well as offering information on implementing systems. It consists of three parts: an introduction to knowledge sharing in large organizations; empirical studies of expertise sharing in different types of settings; and detailed descriptions of computer systems that can route queries, assemble people and work, and augment naturally occurring social networks within organizations. ... Read more

Book Description

Social capital - the informal networks, trust and common understanding among individuals in an organization - determines major competitive advantages in today's networked economy. Knowledge and Social Capital explains how social capital can drive collaboration, reconcile an organization's internal and external labor markets, and improve organizational effectiveness. This edited compilation of authoritative articles helps readers understand how they can build and capitalize on their own organizations' social capital.

Knowledge and Social Capital teaches core principles and important strategies to a range of executives, including organizational development specialists, corporate strategists, and knowledge management professionals. Readers will learn how an organization can:

Leverage its social capital to effectively develop and manage knowledge
Foster concrete, trusting and productive personal relationships among its members
Use social capital to improve the effectiveness of joint ventures and alliances ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Hodgepodge of conflicting positions
I read articles on this book for those are assigned in a graduate class. But far from the title implies, The class has no relationship with knowledge economy which is the buzzword in the business community. But this book was used to make us to be familiar with the concept of ¡®social capital.¡¯ Indeed this book tells less about knowledge but much more about social capital. Part I of this book contains introductory articles on the conception of the social capital and Part II lists real world application of the concept. 5 Articles of Part I voices cacophony, however. Reading through the articles only gives confusion to us. Nonetheless, it¡¯s inevitable and intentional for there is no consensus about the very basic conception. So editor deliberately put those conflicting perspectives in one volume. In turn, this way of editing reveals the fact that this book is not suitable to beginners. If you are already known to the word, social capital, reading through competing perspective doesn¡¯t baffle your nerves. But if you haven¡¯t heard the word at all, this book should not be recommended. Overall, the quality of articles is good enough. Indeed those are well-known ones. But if you want to see what the word, social capital at all, this is not your choice. If so, I recommend Nan Lin¡¯s ¡®Social Capital: A Theory of Social Structure and Action¡¯. This book does not only overview the various conflicting positions comprehensively, but also systematically define the concept from the network approach. In fact, Nan Lin is a eminent figure in the social network theory. ... Read more

Book Description

This comprehensive volume describes and compares three different methodological approaches for gaining business knowledge: the analytical approach, the systems approach, and the actor's approach. It then examines the consequences of using each approach in various practical and theoretical situations. Exploring the links between the ultimate presumptions--the basic methodological approach--various techniques employed, and the field of study itself, Methodology for Creating Business Knowledge provides acomplete analysis of this expansive area. Techniques discussed include historical studies, case studies, dialogues, language development, collecting data, measurement, controlling reliability, and validation. Numerous examples and illustrations are used throughout the book. Long a best-seller in Scandinavia, this volume will be of particular interest to advanced students and academics in the fields of organizational studies, management, and research methodology. Business consultants and professionals with a focus on knowledge as a competitive necessity will also find the volume to be an excellent resource. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

For your thesis work.
A bit complex in the beginning but it covers a lot of material. A complete guide to the three main methodologies. ... Read more

Amazon.com

The first of six short and snappy booklets in the well-thought-out and refreshingly straightforward Diversity Breakthrough! Strategic Action series, Assessment helps organizations take the crucial first step toward becoming more inclusive, diverse places: determining clearly and honestly how open they are to welcoming and encouraging all sorts of faces, voices, and ideas.

Like all the booklets in this goal-oriented series, this one comes with self-assessment tools, concrete action strategies to mobilize change, and fun, quick action-planning worksheets, all in a concise 64-page format that's as adaptable to an organization-wide initiative or a small group effort as it is to an individual's nighttime reading and enrichment (where organizational change, after all, often begins). In real-life, first-person accounts, leaders from such diverse organizations as the U.S. Army, GTE, Hewlett-Packard, and American public schools talk about how they've grappled with issues of diversity in business practices, staffing, and overall culture.

Readers can use this booklet alone or in conjunction with others in the series, each of which focuses on a crucial phase in what author Kennedy, a veteran consultant and a former manager of Equal Opportunity and human resources at IBM, calls the "imperfect circle" of change: "Assessment," "Acceptance," "Action," "Accountability," "Achievement," and--you guessed it--"More Action." The Breakthrough system also includes a pack of 52 cards, each of which spells out a specific diversity roadblock (starting with "Our leadership team does not reflect our stated commitment to inclusion."). Passed around in group format, they allow participants to literally "put their cards on the table" about internal issues they'd rather not bring up aloud--making for not just a brilliant icebreaker on a touchy subject but a crucial first step in isolating strengths and weaknesses in the realm of diversity.

Whether read á la carte or along with its counterparts, Assessment is a solid, self-contained, and fully integrated program that demystifies diversity management and accords it the seriousness it deserves. --Timothy Murphy ... Read more

Book Description

We are now in the 'third wave' of Knowledge Management - the first was focused on the potential of new technology, while the second focused on the nature of knowledge and how people 'know' and learn. The focus in the third phase is two-fold: building individual and team productivity, and proper alignment of Knowledge Management efforts in helping deliver on strategic goals of the organization.

Knowledge Management- a Blueprint for Delivery explores and builds on current ideas about the dynamics of knowledge in organizations, answering such questions as: 'What is knowledge management?' and 'What does it mean for today's companies and organizations?'

Written by two leading knowledge management practitioners, this book looks beyond academic theory and software company hype to focus on the roles that knowledge and information play in creating high-performance organizations.

Built on their extensive experience of Knowledge Management programme design and delivery, Knowledge Management- a Blueprint for Delivery:

Book Description

In this book a distinguished economist suggests a conceptual framework for studying strategic learning, one of the key theoretical developments in current economics. He discusses the interactive learning problem; reinforcement and regret; equilibrium; conditional no-regret learning; prediction, postdiction, and calibration; fictitious play and its variants; Bayesian learning; and hypothesis testing. ... Read more

Book Description

Today's organizations are in the learning business. Employees must take in a constant supply of new information and apply it to their work regardless of their position.

Organizational learning is the process of forming and applying collective knowledge to problems and needs. Organizations learn through five main activities: 1) systematic problem solving; 2) experimentation with new approaches; 3) learning from their own experience; 4) learning from the experiences and best practices of others; and 5) transferring knowledge quickly and efficiently throughout the organization.

Organizational learning requires constant reexamination of the effectiveness of one's ideas while engaging in a long-term effort to change the behaviors and practices of individuals, groups, and the organization as a whole. This pocket guide can aid you in these tasks. It is intended as a handy, easy-to-use reference that will help you identify useful learning strategies which you can then adapt to your particular circumstances. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Organizational Learning Made Easy
The learning organization is one of those terms that people like to use but often really don't know what it means. Well now help is here! Look no further than The Manager's Pocket Guide to Organizational Learning. In fact, I had been looking for such a book when happily I came across this one. And it's a delight. Author Stephen Gill boils the concepts down into neat, easily and easily actionable ideas. Gill, a noted consultant with three decades worth of experience, creates a tripartite prism for coming to grips with organizational learning: individual, team, and whole organization. After deftly explaining that while learning begins with individuals, it is the application of that learning as it spreads to groups and whole organizations that gives rise to organizational learning. Learning, as Gill states, is imperative for organizations to grow and thrive.

The power of this book echoes in its strategies for learning, which Gill groups into his three frameworks. In "Strategies for Individual Learning," we discover the importance of the personal learning style as well as work﷓life balance. "Strategies for Group Learning" emphasizes alignment with organizational goals and the importance of creating a shared vision. Action learning is also integral to this strategy; adults often learn best by doing. In "Strategies for Whole Organization Learning," there is an exploration of the causal loop to show how feedback reinforces the learning process. Gill also includes a case study on the World Café process that provides just enough detail for consultants (internal or external) to include it in their arsenal of knowledge tools. It's a powerful resource that integrates questions with discovery as a means of making connections for performance growth and improvement. Benchmarking, too, plays a strategic role because it enables individuals to learn from example as well as evaluate the virtues and practicality of their own practices.

A subsequent chapter on evaluation opens with reflective questions that organizational learners need to ask themselves: What are we doing? How well are we doing it? How can it be improved? Gill then offers tips on measurement and a good piece of advice: involve customers in the process. Who better to evaluate an organization's ability to learn that its customers; after all, as consumers they are critical (if not ultimate) judges of organizational effectiveness? The organizational self-audit at the conclusion of the book is invaluable. The audit itself seeks to measure individual, team, and organization processes as a means of gaining a holistic picture of the learning process.

Gill also includes chapters on communications and knowledge management, both essential to the proliferation of and nurturing of organizational learning. Key sections also contain assessments and action planning tips for those who want to improve their learning capacities as well as those of their teams and organizations.

Don't be put off by the series title "pocket guide." There's nothing small in this book except size. Organizational Learning is of big ideas that will enable individuals to grow, teams to develop, and organizations to thrive by following the principles of organizational learning. It's a must-have for anyone interested in this vital and important topic. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Recommended for all levels of managerial responsibility.
Business managers involved in the information community will find this an important book examining the concept and evolution of 'knowledge management'. From reviews of major issues and background to knowledge applications, Knowledge Management provides a text which will be as useful for college-level business courses as for the working manager. ... Read more

Book Description

Book Description

When organizations commit resources to training or implement new policies, they want to see measurable results. Using real-life examples and step-by-step instructions, this consummately practical guide shows human resources professionals how to quantify outcomes in three major areas: performance, learning, and perceptions. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Insightful!
Richard A. Swanson and Elwood F. Holton, III, based this book on valuable material, drawn from various organizations' positive reactions to their Results Assessment System. However, the book's writing actually obscures the value of their material and method. This would be just a subjective matter of style if the book were dull and boring. But that is not the case. The writing is disjointed and unclear, severely handicapping the reader's ability to discern much of what the authors are trying to convey. Nevertheless, we [...] recommend that human resources professionals all pick up this book, simply to extract the authors' system for measuring employee performance and learning. The system itself is - the creators should thank their lucky stars - a much more valuable resource than this documentation of its logistics and performance.

Very usable!
This book is the most useful resource I've encountered in the assessment arena for training and organization development efforts. The book outlines three areas of assessment: PERFORMANCE (system outputs and financial results), LEARNING (knowledge gained by participants & expertise that can be demonstrated by trainees), and PERCEPTION (reactions from both participants and stakeholders). The processes are described for each area using straightforward language, and sample templates show how deliverables could look for each type of assessment. Overall, the structure of the book is logically assembled with references to research supporting the main ideas. I especially found useful the discussion on performance drivers, measurement of outcomes, critical outcome technique, and the certification of core expertise. The book also contains usable information on drawing conclusions from assessment data, key questions to be answered when planning an assessment, and advice on conducting practical, credible assessments. Finally, the assessment framework described in the book makes sense from a business perspective and should help almost anyone be more effective as a practitioner. If you are planning or designing an initiative that involves changing how people do work, you'll likely find benefit from using the framework, tools, and techniques outlined in this book.

This book is a must !
This book is a must for every Human Resource Development (HRD) professional! Swanson and Holton make the case for the need to measure performance results, not just stakeholder reactions, if HRD is to be seen as a legitimate business partner and contibutor to organizational performance. To this end, the authors have written a book for the everyday HRD practitioner, not the theorists. They present a comprehensive system for assessment of HRD interventions built around a logical five-step process. A full compliment of simple, yet powerful, tools is presented, which will enable any HRD practitioner to conduct reliable and meaningful assessments of performance results.

In the future, HRD must sit at the table, not only as a contributing business partner, but as an organizational leader in performance improvement as well. This book is a starting point for HRD leadership. I've used it - it works!

It Works!
Finally an evaluation measurement system that works! I have used this approach as a foundation for creating, redesigning and managing two corporate universities in Fortune 100 companies. The RESULTS method worked where the traditional approaches didn't. The Kirkpatrick approach was too complex to implement and our senior management customers wouldn't buy into it.

The RESULTS model worked so well that in both situations, our HRD budgets increased even as the organizations were cutting costs. The RESULTS model provides a simple, easy to implement, business framework for rationally calculating return-on-investment decisions about training, organization development, and performance improvement projects. You may know that your work as a performance-improvement professional adds value, but not feel that you are getting the recognition you deserve. Use this approach to prove your contribution to your organization's bottom line.

Even if you think no one cares, your internal customers are making these decisions all the time when they approve, slash, or don't approve your budget and projects. Why not give your customers real numbers to work with rather than let them use their imagination? You will find that your credibility increase exponentially. Systematic Human Resource Development is a solid, cost-effective business investment.

My only critique is that there isn't more data showing how well the approach works. ... Read more

Book Description

Designed for executives and front-line managers alike, "Organizing for Learning" is structured around three major themes: Organizational Learning and Knowledge Creation, The Power of Theory, and A Systemic Approach to Creating Enduring Change.

Through his insightful and systemic exploration of these topics, author Daniel Kim offers concrete ideas and suggestions for building a work culture where learning can thrive. ... Read more

Book Description

This book provides a welcome synthesis of the debates surrounding the two different concepts of 'organizational learning' and the 'learning organization'. Hitherto these concepts have represented separate constituencies, literatures and perspectives, despite,thier intersecting concerns.

Here international experts explore the links between the two fields of inquiry and develop an integrated framework of concepts and theories that draw in current insights from manaement cognition; theores of knowledge and learning; management parctice; and work psychology.

The book provides a meeting place between the two communities of academics and practitioners that does not assume a one-way traffic in concepts and theories. This is a valuable resource for academics and practitioners in management and corporate strategy, as well as all those involved in management training and development.

Book Description

Book Description

An organization's culture lies at the heart of its ability to perform. In the knowledge economy, new rules are emerging and organizations must rethink how they will compete by leveraging their tacit knowledge - their intangible assets - in order to create and sustain a strategic advantage. In this book, Hubert Saint-Onge and Charles Armstrong, two corporate leaders who have been in the forefront of using knowledge management to gain strategic advantage, focus on knowledge-based customer relationships, innovative internal structures, and self-initiated learning cultures, in order to explain the building blocks that must be in place to create and sustain a knowledge-based culture within organizations-a culture that they argueis integral to a high-performance organization.

An organization's culture lies at the heart of its ability to perform. In the knowledge economy, new rules are emerging and organizations must rethink how they will compete by leveraging their tacit knowledge - their intangible assets - in order to create and sustain a strategic advantage. In this book, Hubert Saint-Onge and Charles Armstrong, two corporate leaders who have been in the forefront of using knowledge management to gain strategic advantage, focus on knowledge-based customer relationships, innovative internal structures, and self-initiated learning cultures, in order to explain the building blocks that must be in place to create and sustain a knowledge-based culture within organizations-a culture that they argueis integral to a high-performance organization.

This book provides a blueprint for creating and leading organizations with strong knowledge-based cultures to achieve breakthrough performance. Using the idea of conductivity, the authors describe the successful organization of the future as one that increases the quality and flow of knowledge within the organization and within its network of suppliers, customers, and other collaborators. The narrative is based on the thoughts, experience, and models of Hubert Saint-Onge and Charles Armstrong, who have successfully led high-performance companies in the financial services sector and the engineering and manufacturing sector. Each chapter includes practical examples from their experience and from other successful leaders.

* Hubert Saint-Onge has been named one of the top ten knowledge management practitioners internationally (Forbes)
* S.A. Armstrong, a manufacturing company run by co-author Charles Armstrong, has been cited as one of the most innovative knowledge-era companies in North America
* Filled with real-life stories of how both authors have implemented their ideas in the banking, insurance, and manufacturing industries ... Read more

Book Description

This handbook provides a comprehensive overview of the concept of Organizational Learning and related issues of knowledge in organizations. It explains its origins, current applications and where it may be going. It provides a full account of varied disciplinary approaches, and discusses major issues in the field. With contributions from leading international experts, the book will be an invaluable resource for scholars, students and professionals. ... Read more

Book Description

The second in the readers' series, Resources for the Knowledge-Based Economy, Knowledge In Organisations gives an overview of how knowledge is valued and used in organisations. It gives readers excellent grounding in how best to understand the highest valued asset they have in their organisations.

Describes the importance of knowledge to today's organizations.
Offers insight into how knowledge can be obtained and cultivated.
Provides a variety of persepctives, including sociology, economics, and management science. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A collection of classical and major articles on KM
This book is a collection of fundamental articles published in academic reviews (the titles of the chapters do not correspond with the published articles, it may confuse the reader). Yet for academics many texts are well-known, for practitioners they laack of managerial recommandations. Nonetheless, the selection is good, it includes the major text of Polanyi on tacit knowledge which is almost impossible to find elsewhere. I recommand this book for scholars, managers who need a theoretical review of litterature, and teatchers looking for a basic and comprehensive book for a knowledge management class. ... Read more