Building a Knowledge‐driven Organization

Citation

Insogna, D. (2005), "Building a Knowledge‐driven Organization", The Learning Organization, Vol. 12 No. 2, pp. 219-220. https://doi.org/10.1108/09696470510583575

Robert Buckman, former CEO of Buckman Labs has written an engaging book that details his company's transformation toward becoming what he terms “a knowledge‐driven organization”. Unlike most recent books in the KM genre, this one focuses on key knowledge leadership issues, such as building a knowledge‐based culture and using organizational rewards to promote knowledge sharing throughout the company. At its core, this book addresses the sensitive issue of how knowledge and power are related. Not only in knowledge is the basis for power, conversely, it offers insights into how leaders may use power to move a company toward becoming a knowledge‐based organization. Specifically, knowledge is the power to endure, adjust and flourish in a challenging atmosphere. In today's business world, one where information is often kept private by individuals in order to maintain personal power – how can people be taught to share knowledge effectively? If individual specializations and the team atmosphere are in conflict, how can an organization be built in which knowledge is shared more freely? This is the concern of this reader‐friendly book. Its author, chairman and CEO emeritus of Buckman Laboratories, seeks to inform us about one of the most difficult components of knowledge management – creating a compelling vision of a knowledge‐based organization that will be perceived by individuals as being engaging. Through years of practice in implementing corporate strategies around knowledge sharing Buckman has proposes that individual workers are the ones who pose the most complex piece of any knowledge system. He clarifies precisely how to obtain commitment from workers and develop their skills to effectively play a role in a knowledge system. Buckman describes how to convert an ordinary, diverse group of personalities and information sources into a rich base of knowledge that can be shared with key people, at the right place and at the right time. He explains all of this in his own engagingly informal, yet straightforward, writing style. His casual writing style enables the book to speak to a broad audience in a way that will enable people from various professions to understand the principles behind Buckman's core strategies and philosophies.

This brings us to the focal point of Buckman's philosophy, which is to build a knowledge sharing culture based on six core principles. He effectively guides us through the implementation process by informing us to first focus on the most vital needs of the business, and advises that a KM system should support the overall business strategy. Second, KM leaders should concentrate on fostering trust by highlighting a company's important virtues. Third, knowledge sharing and best practices can commence once the first two steps have been put in place. Fourth, Buckman states that having the knack to solve customer dilemmas quickly is essential in building a knowledge sharing culture. Fifth, the workers are permitted to resolve the crisis they come on without obstruction by top management. Once workers are able to resolve a crisis independently, they can move on to the final phase of his recommended process, one in which customer views and comments can be incorporated into the development of the latest products and processes.

Buckman provides several examples of companies that have built a successful knowledge sharing culture system. He argues that any organization can build this viable and workable type of culture. The main ingredient behind this philosophy and system is that both supervisors and subordinates alike have to be able to refocus their actions from hoarding knowledge to sharing it. He argues that doing so will enable organizations to take faster actions than the competition in responding to customers’ needs. As Buckman puts it, “Solving customer problems by applying our knowledge to them is how we generate our income streams”.

The author suggests that the greatest challenges that a company faces are not technical challenges, but political ones. Buckman enlightens the reader regarding how to efficiently devise and shape a knowledge‐friendly corporate culture. He states that businesses that aspire to succeed and position themselves for the future will have to be organized around how to create, share, capture, and apply knowledge, rather than around structures and processes.

Buckman backs his chapters with “real world” experimentation, trials, and research. The book has possesses valuable key concepts and easily understood diagrams and models. Finally, Buckman gets the reader's attention by inferring the need for managers to have a greater feeling of responsibility for transforming their respective organization. He creatively establishes an organizational mindset in the reader and develops an innovative approach for solving customer problems quickly, sharing best practices, increasing production and maximizing results.

This book is intended for first‐time or seasoned managers as well employees who play a role in the company's decision‐making process. It also is intended for consultants and academics alike who want to learn more about how companies should operate and establish KM philosophies. The most substantial advantage you will obtain from this book remains in the discovery of how to be customer‐focused in knowledge sharing.