Knowledge Management and Organizational Learning: Fundamental Concepts for Theory and Practice

This chapter investigates several issues regarding the nature, domain, conceptual foundations and practical challenges of knowledge management and organizational learning. The chapter first identifies and contrasts two fundamental philosophical orientations to knowledge management — the personal knowledge orientation and the organizational knowledge orientation — and illustrates the distinctive kinds of knowledge management practices that result from the two orientations. It then summarizes three essential organizational processes in knowledge management: (1) maintaining learning loops in all organizational processes; (2) systematically disseminating knowledge throughout an organization; and (3) applying knowledge wherever it can be used in an organization. A general model of organizational learning — the Five Learning Cycles model — is introduced to represent how individuals, groups and the overall organization are linked in an organizational learning process. Key challenges in managing each of the five learning cycles are discussed, and examples of appropriate managerial interventions are proposed for each learning cycle. Concluding comments suggest how knowledge management processes reflect a fundamental shift in management thinking and practice from traditional concepts of command and control to more contemporary concepts of facilitation and empowerment.