Challenges and Issues in Knowledge Management

Edited by:
Anthony F. Buono, Bentley University
Flemming Poulfelt, Copenhagen Business School

A volume in the series: Research in Management Consulting. Editor(s): David Brian Szabla, Western Michigan University.

Published 2005

Challenges and Issues in Knowledge Management – the fifth volume in the Research on Management Consulting series – presents sixteen chapters that explore these various perspectives, focusing on knowledge management within the context of the management consulting industry, the dynamics associated with knowledge sharing and dissemination, methodological approaches to studying knowledge in organizations, and reflections on knowledge management and management consulting. As the chapters underscore, it is important to ensure that KM initiatives are aligned with the needs of the organization and its members, that the KM system is “owned” by organizational members with particular emphasis on executive sponsorship and team member acceptance, and that it be understood as an ongoing process rather than simply another management objective or faddish consulting tool. The focus, therefore, should be on how knowledge processes can be facilitated, leveraged and utilized in organizational value creation.

CONTENTS
Introduction. Anthony F. Buono and Flemming Poulfelt. Part I: Knowledge Management and the Management Consulting Industry. Managing Organizational Knowledge Networks in a Professional Services Firm: Interrelating Knowledge Management and Intellectual Capital, Jan Mouritsen and Per Nikolaj Bukh. Knowledge Management in Practice: Examining Knowledge as Modes of Production, Anne Bang. The Fallacy of Simplistic Notions of the Transfer of “Best Practice”, Sue Newell. “Knowing” in the Consultancy Firm: Exploring Knowledge, People, Context and Tools in Action, Elena Bou and Alfons Sauquet. Co-evolution of Knowledge Management Processes: Project Experience in a Global Engineering Consulting Firm, Antti Ainamo. Part II: Dynamics of Knowledge Sharing and Dissemination. A Dispersed Repertoire: Exploring Struggles to Knowledge Dissemination within Consultancies, Stefan Heusinkveld and Jos Benders. In Search of Knowledge Sharing in Practice, Lotte Henriksen. Merging Knowledge: A Study of Knowledge Management in a Consulting- Firm Merger, Markus Ejenäs and Andreas Werr. Knowledge-Sharing Behavior and Post-Acquisition Integration Failure, Kenneth Husted, Jens Gammelgaard and Snejina Michailova. Part III: Methodological Approaches to Studying Knowledge in Organizations. Organizational Photography: A “Snapshot” Approach to Understanding Knowledge Sharing, Nicoline Jacoby Petersen and Sille Østergaard. Video-Views of Knowing in Action: Analytical Views “In Situ” in an IT Firm’s Development Department, Sisse Siggaard Jensen. Complex Project Management in Small High-Technology Firms: Small Firms as Learning Models? Mette Mønsted. Part IV: Reflections on Knowledge Management and Management Consulting. Flaws in the “Engine” of Knowledge Creation: A Critique of Nonaka’s Theory, Stephen Gourlay and Andrew Nurse. Ten Years of Knowledge Management: Ramifications for Consultants, Nicolas Rolland, Alice Guilhon and Georges Trepo. The Wonderful World of Knowledge Management: Does Knowledge Management Really Add Value? Peter Holdt Christensen. Knowledge and Consultancy. Hans Siggaard Jensen. Contributors.