Enabling Knowledge Creation: How to Unlock the Mystery of Tacit Knowledge and Release the Power of Innovation - Tapa dura

"Did I say I liked this book? My copy is already marked up, dog-eared, and tabbed with sticky notes. It resonates in a way few of the books in our evolving literature do, and at a time that KM practitioners are getting uneasy with the mechanistic approaches of information and organisational technology change agents. As I prepare for a new challenge in a new company, I am charged with some new language, fresh insights, and some new possibilities for opening up conversations and managing context. It's a good time for us all to have this book." Patti Anklam (director of knowledge management at Nortel Networks Global Professional Services. Patti was formerly with Compaq Professional Services), Knowledge Management, 9 June 2000

... not only carefully written and an interesting read, but it is also very practical and action oriented. The book is full of extremely useful frameworks and suggestions as well as case studies of successful companies in Japan, Europe, and the United States. It will clearly become a standard handbook in the knowledge management field. (Michael A. Cusumano, Sloan Management Review Distinguished Professor, MIT Sloan School of Management and co-author of Microsoft Secrets and Competing On Internet Time)

Von Krogh, Ichijo and Nonaka write from the deep and accurate conviction that the most important but hardest part of enabling knowing is nurturing the tacit dimensions of knowledge. (Dorothy A. Leonard, William J. Abernathy Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School)

Recommended in Manageris, April 2000

When The Knowledge-Creating Company (OUP; nearly 40,000 copies sold) appeared, it was hailed as a landmark work in the field of knowledge management. Now, Enabling Knowledge Creation ventures even further into this all-important territory, showing how firms can generate and nurture ideas by using the concepts introduced in the first book.
Weaving together lessons from such international leaders as Siemens, Unilever, Skandia, and Sony, along with their own first-hand consulting experiences, the authors introduce knowledge enabling―the overall set of organizational activities that promote knowledge creation―and demonstrate its power to transform an organization's knowledge into value-creating actions. They describe the five key "knowledge enablers" and outline what it takes to instill a knowledge vision, manage conversations, mobilize knowledge activists, create the right context for knowledge creation, and globalize local knowledge.
The authors stress that knowledge creation must be more than the exclusive purview of one individual―or designated "knowledge" officer. Indeed, it demands new roles and responsibilities for everyone in the organization―from the elite in the executive suite to the frontline workers on the shop floor. Whether an activist, a caring expert, or a corporate epistemologist who focuses on the theory of knowledge itself, everyone in an organization has a vital role to play in making "care" an integral part of the everyday experience; in supporting, nurturing, and encouraging microcommunities of innovation and fun; and in creating a shared space where knowledge is created, exchanged, and used for sustained, competitive advantage.
This much-anticipated sequel puts practical tools into the hands of managers and executives who are struggling to unleash the power of knowledge in their organization.