TABLE OF CONTENTS As we come to the end of this exploration of the various organizational and operational perspectives on KM, it's time to review the journey so far. As a unitary discipline, it is still very much in its infancy: while we can go far back in time to discussions about the nature of knowledge, and subsequently track the impact and evolution of data processing information technologies throughout the twentieth century, knowledge management as a distinct discipline - in many ways, a synthesis of information management, human resource management, organizational design principles, behavioural science, and other influences - began only in the early 1990s.
The initial wave of excitement principally based on web technologies has long subsided, with ongoing practical work complemented by a growing and increasingly mature academic and business literature analysing the dynamics of knowledge in organizations.
While in this book we have covered these elements, we hope that we have moved forward into what we have observed as a third wave of KM: focused first on practical benefit (how does this activity help deliver on core objectives?, the 'so what?' question, and the link to organizational strategy: how can what we have learned about the dynamics of knowledge in organizations, and the practice of mobilizing it, be put to use in improving overall organizational performance and building organizational learning and memory).
This final section is split into three main elements:
A review of the five-step framework and the various actions...
