Executive Summary
Until recently there has been little disagreement within Knowledge
Management (KM) over the idea that KM activities derive their authority
from organizational management and ultimately from the CEO. This view
has given rise to the often-repeated principle that KM strategy should
be aligned with organizational or corporate strategy.
This report presents the alternative view, derived from KMCI's New Knowledge Management research program, that
Knowledge
Management and its strategy must be autonomous in relation to
operational management and its strategy, if it is to avoid a conflict
of interest and the undermining of KM itself. It argues further that KM
is a fiduciary responsibility of Boards of Directors and, where
relevant, legislatures, and that the KM function should derive its
authority from and be directly responsible to such Boards and
legislatures. This in turn implies that KM as currently
practiced in organizations rests on an insecure foundation, one that is
likely to lead to its failure due to conflicts of interest introduced
by corporate management.
In view of this conclusion,
KMCI
announces its commitment to further develop and seek adherents to a
Governance-based approach to KM and to advise against further pursuit
of the currently dominant Management-based approaches. The main
body of this report will set the Governance-based approach in the
context of KMCI's overall approach to The New Knowledge Management
(TNKM) and then will develop the basis for the Governance-based
approach through an analysis of three of the components of TNKM.
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