Effective Knowledge Work

Addresses the following questions: What is knowledge work? What are strategies and methods for increasing productivity, quality, effectiveness and value of knowledge work? Can knowledge workers be managed, and if yes, how? What are adequate methods for measuring performance of knowledge workers?

Landmarks of Tomorrow forecasts changes in three major areas of human life and experience. The first part of the book treats the philosophical shift from a Cartesian universe of mechanical cause to a new universe of pattern, purpose, and process. Drucker discusses the power to organize men of knowledge and high skill for joint effort and performance as a key component of this change. The second part of the book sketches four realities that challenge the people of the free world: an educated society, economic development, the decline of government, and the collapse of Eastern culture. The final section of the book is concerned with the spiritual reality of human existence. These are seen as basic elements in late twentieth-century society. In his new introduction, Peter Drucker revisits the main findings of Landmarks of Tomorrow and assesses their validity in relation to today’s concerns. It is a book that will be of interest to sociologists, economists, and political theorists.

This influential book establishes the enduring vocabulary and concepts in the burgeoning field of knowledge management. It serves as the hands-on resource of choice for companies that recognize knowledge as the only sustainable source of competitive advantage going forward. Drawing from their work with more than thirty knowledge-rich firms, Davenport and Prusak--experienced consultants with a track record of success--examine how all types of companies can effectively understand, analyze, measure, and manage their intellectual assets, turning corporate wisdom into market value. They categorize knowledge work into four sequential activities--accessing, generating, embedding, and transferring--and look at the key skills, techniques, and processes of each. While they present a practical approach to cataloging and storing knowledge so that employees can easily leverage it throughout the firm, the authors caution readers on the limits of communications and information technology in managing intellectual capital.

Knowledge Management is a wide, critical and strategic issue for all the com- nies, from the SMEs to the most complex organizations. The key of competiti- ness is knowledge, because of the necessity of reactivity, flexibility, agility and innovation capacities. Knowledge is difficult to measure itself but what is visible, this is the way of improving products, technologies and enterprise organizations. During the last four years, based on the experience of most of the best experts around the World, CIRP (The International Academy for Production Engineering) has decided to prepare and structure a Network of Excellence (NoE) proposal. The European Community accepted to found the VRL-KCiP (Virtual Research La- ratory – Knowledge Community in Production). As its name indicates it, the aim of this NoE was really to build a «Knowledge Community in Production ». This was possible and realistic because the partners were representative of the most important universities in Europe and also because of strong partnerships with laboratories far from Europe (Japan, Australia, South Africa, USA, etc...). Based on such powerful partnership, the main issue was to help European manufacturing industry to define and structure the strategic knowledge in order to face the strategic worldwide challenges. Manufacturing in Europe currently has two essential aspects: 1. It has to be knowledge intensive given the European demands for high-tech products and services (e.g. electronics, medicines).

While there is significant interest in knowledge management as it applies to legal environments, there are very few books specifically focused on this topic. In Effective Knowledge Management For Law Firms, Matthew Parsons expertly fills this gap by drawing on his work with a leading commercial law firm, Mallesons Stephen Jaques. He examines how law firms can implement a knowledge strategy to support their business strategy, rather than getting beguiled by fads and technology. Parsons first outlines the terrain, including what knowledge management means, the business and economics of law firms, and how lawyers work as knowledge workers. He then introduces a methodology for creating and implementing law firm knowledge strategy, which combines for the first time the interrelated aspects of recruiting, training, research, document production, information management, and digital knowledge strategy. Parsons goes beyond theories to provide detailed, practical help for the analysis, implementation, and measurement of performance-increasing initiatives. This book will be an invaluable resource for all those involved with the management and leadership of law firms and knowledge management initiatives.

Organizations are facing major disruptions in technology, consumer preferences, and in the makeup of their workforce, and as a result, they will need to adapt to these rapidly changing times to stay effective. Organizations that are able to tap into the collective knowledge of their employees and leverage their insights will have an advantage over those that lack this connectivity. Implementing a knowledge management (KM) strategy can help organizations improve operational effectiveness, innovation, and adapt to changes, but the majority of KM implementations fail due to misalignment with the organization's existing culture. Organizational culture can enable effective KM, or it can be a barrier to its implementation. The Handbook of Research on Organizational Culture Strategies for Effective Knowledge Management and Performance defines the relationship between organizational culture and knowledge management and how they impact one another. This handbook also identifies critical business practices to assist organizations in transitioning to work from home while maintaining a strong corporate culture that includes beneficial knowledge-sharing behaviors. Covering topics including knowledge management, organizational culture, and change management, this text is essential for managers, executives, practitioners, leaders in business, non-profits, academicians, researchers, and students looking for research on how organizations can thrive and adapt due to emerging global disruptions as well as local or internal disruptions.

Unlock your company’s true potential by eliminating knowledge work waste that’s hiding in plain sight. Back in 1987, Nobel laureate Robert Solow quipped, “You can see the computer age everywhere but in the productivity statistics.” This costly condition soon became known as the “productivity paradox.” Why does it persist today? Why do knowledge workers spend a third of their days on needless correction, avoidable work and overservice, despite existing office technology that could help, even automate, their actions? And why does nobody notice? The answers—and solutions—are in this book. The Knowledge Work Factory uncovers the well-intentioned waste that hides in plain sight within virtually every organization. It reveals the ingrained perceptual biases that trick our brains into accepting the status quo and missing breakthrough opportunities. It draws stunning parallels to industrial production, which cracked this very code over 100 years ago. Most importantly, it gives you an easy-to-follow, one-stop guide to boost efficiency, productivity, and morale among the very knowledge workers who struggle under the burden of the productivity paradox. Discover your organization’s true, untapped capacity. Maximize the productivity of every single knowledge worker. Uncover “better-than-best practices.” Reap benefits that drop straight to the bottom line. The power is in your hands—with The Knowledge Work Factory.

Inhaltsangabe:Abstract: Today, in a typical software project, people do not document at all or invest a large amount of time to create documentation, which at the end proves to be not useful or undiscoverable for others. The goal of documentation is to conserve knowledge and make this knowledge accessible for others, thereby easing collaboration. However, this goal is rarely achieved. The whole process of producing documentation and searching for valuable information is highly ineffective and means a lot of wasted time. Often, in a shorthand approach, Word, Exel and Powerpoint files are used for documentation. Among these documents, information is not interconnected. As a consequence relevant information is hard to find. Full text searches take a long time and deliver poor results. Imagine searching all documents of a file server of a medium cooperation using the Windows Explorer search functionality. The search will probably run several hours and hardly deliver any useful results. If any information is found, it is hard to tell if the document is up to date, who changed the document last and what was changed. There is no automated mechanism to inform interested people about updates on any document or information. Another approach is using proprietary knowledge management technology and collaboration software, like knowledge repositories. In the late nineties companies started to implement knowledge management strategies with heavy use of technology. The problem herein is that people have to be trained to use the knowledge management technology, learn and understand the underlying principles and additionally the handling of specific software. If the knowledge management technology is complex, it imposes an entry barrier. Using knowledge management technology will then be burden for a software development team. Since the pressure in a software development is high, it is unlikely that a team will be willing to invest much time for learning the technology and hence the pay off will never be realized. Furthermore if the basic principles and processes of a chosen technological approach turn out to be inadequate for a specific situation there is often no chance to adapt the knowledge management technology quickly. This finally can lead to a situation that the technology is not used at all, because at the end it is easier for workers to simply ask someone else they know. Aim of this Book: This book will show if and how web technology can be used in [...]