1. 1 KM Background Old, but new.. arising in response to social, economic and technological trends:- i.e. globalisation, ICT, valuing human capital Vast information But how do we capture (tacit) things we value and cannot codify: i.e. leadership, judgement, innovation New organisations Old : highly structured and information based New: coordinated collection of capabilities Prusak, L (2001) Where did knowledge management come from? IBM Systems Journal Vol 40, 4

2. 2 Best Advice Arising “There is...two-way traffic between the worlds of theory and practice. Reality is far more blended, messier and more interesting.”

3. 3 KM Draws on Knowledge Sociology Networks and groups learn as well as individuals Social facts (beyond theory, we learn from what people actually do and why they do it) Psychology What’s going on in the head (tacit and explicit) and cognitive processes driving sense-making and behaviour Economics Understanding why performance differs – learning by doing – sharing what is tacit and undocumented

4. 4 We Can Learn From... Information Management More use than availability Quality Assurance Good tradition of ‘shared ownership’, buy-in, goal orientation and process Embedded and near invisible: the day job Human Capital Increasingly seeing people as an investment rather than expense More social capital (networks, groups and teams) than human capital (individual capabilities)

5. 5 Future Maintain tolerance for ambiguity and complexity whilst striving for more rigour Become more invisible – embedded as in the quality movement tradition