Knowledge management: money and ego: February 18, 2002 issue of New Thinking

February 18, 2002 New Thinking:
Knowledge management: money and ego

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February 18, 2002

Knowledge management: money and ego

By Gerry McGovern

The knowledge management organization claims that knowledge is its most valuable asset. If that is the case, then knowledge needs to be valued. Those within the organization who deliver the most knowledge value should get the most reward; those who deliver the least should get the least reward.

In many organizations knowledge management has remained a fuzzy, warm feeling, instead of a hard, ROI-driven business asset. Warm feelings and anthem-sounding vision and value statements have a place. In the last issue, 'Knowledge management: encouraging knowledge sharing,' we saw how meaningless they can be.

Enron's vision and values statement did not exactly match how it behaved in practice. As Business 2.0 magazine recently wrote, "What ruined Enron wasn't just accounting. It was a culture that valued appealing lies over inconvenient truths."

Knowledge management is a relatively new term. It focuses of processes that move knowledge throughout the organization so that this knowledge can be put to effective use. For hundreds of years, organizations had a system to do this very thing. It was called apprenticeship.

Apprenticeship has declined or disappeared within the modern organization for two principal reasons:

It was seen as too expensive
People are staying with organizations for shorter periods

Knowledge management processes seek to replace apprenticeship processes. However, knowledge management often doesn't answer the vital question: What's in it for me? An apprentice worked for low wages because they knew they were learning a skill and would have a future with the organization if they learned that skill well.

Too often, staff look at knowledge management systems cynically. They make statements like: 'They're trying to suck what I know out of me so that they can replace me.' 'They're asking me to write up this report but they're not giving me any extra time to do it.' Too often, they're at least partly right.

Throughout history, people have shared knowledge for two fundamental reasons: money and ego. There has rarely been a writer who will not share with a publisher their manuscript if that publisher offers a big enough advance. There has rarely been a journalist who will not give their article to a newspaper that promises them a fat check.

There has rarely been a student who refuses to answer a question they know when asked by the teacher. Why? Because answering the question makes them look good. This is the bottom line. People like to be helpful, sure. But most of us will stop being helpful if we do not see a monetary or ego reward. And there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.

I've seen quite a few intranets over the years. Most were badly organized and contained poor quality content. Consequently, they were little used. Intranets should be the heart of knowledge management. Why are they failing?

Because nobody is actually been paid to maintain the quality of the content on the intranet
Because when people are asked to contribute quality content on an ongoing basis, they resist and claim that: 'It's not part of my job responsibility. I'm not rewarded for it. I'm not measured on it.'
Because getting published on the intranet brings with it as much credibility as getting published on the toilet door: 'Who reads it, anyway?'

"Hi, John,
The CEO just read that piece you wrote for the intranet. Thinks it's brilliant. Looking good for a promotion!

Best

Mary."

Money and ego …

Gerry McGovern

Next issue: Knowledge management: can information be counterproductive?
Previous issue: Knowledge management: encouraging knowledge sharing
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January 14, 2002: Prof. Curt Schroeder, who teaches web design at the university, stated that, "Every serious webmaster, web designer, online editor, web developer or student-in-training will find these books will make them stop and critically think about their web design work. There is so much useful information here, and it's very readable. Content Critical and The Web Content Style Guide must become part of every professional's personal library. My students are now required to read these textbooks." More

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People like to be helpful, sure. But most of us will stop being helpful if we do not see a monetary or ego reward.

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