Knowledge Management
Introduction by
Julie Gravallese, guest editor
Embracing knowledge management (KM) principles propels
modern organizations to new heights. According to the Harvard
Business Review, Andersen Consulting and Ernst & Young
have been able to grow 20 percent annually in recent years due
mainly to KM initiatives. The value of managing knowledge is hardly
a new concept. The craft guilds that flourished in England during
the first half of the millennium thrived because of their "regulation"
of knowledge; the KM of the day manifested itself in the apprenticeship
system. The economic well-being of localities depended to a large
extent on the strong, albeit hardly democratic, craft guilds.
As we peer into the new millennium, we realize again the value
of organizational knowledge, a human-created "product"
of information, experiences, values, processes, and cultures.
The management of this complex "product" is as much
about culture as it is about technology. The Gartner Group refers
to KM as "a cultural, social, and human systems discipline
as well as a technology-enabled program." Increasing numbers
of corporations are realizing the significant benefits to be gained
by proactively establishing KM practices, providing their staff
with the best tools and infrastructure, and creating a learning
environment for their employees.
Over the past two years, KM has grown in importance for nearly
all business venturese -- ours and our sponsors' included. The
practice of KM can be traced to both commercial business practices
and government initiatives such as business process reengineering
and total quality management. But today, it has dramatically transformed
enterprise thinking and become a critical factor in strategic
planning for government and private business. According to the
Gartner Group, the early adopters of large-scale KM intentionally
have been global consulting organizations. The market forces and
strategies of these companies have helped enable rapid worldwide
implementation of their innovations. KM, for such companies, is
the price of leadership. And, the enterprises most likely to invest
heavily in KM are those seeking competitive advantage, in particular
those for which competitive advantage is based on rapid delivery
of high-quality, high-value products and services. Clearly, MITRE's
sponsors have a compelling need for high-quality, high-value products
and services.
In this issue, we focus on the multidimensional aspects of KM.
Collected here is a range of articles illustrating MITRE's commitment
to ensuring KM is firmly ensconced as a corporate business practice.
You will read about Knowledge Partners, a MITRE initiative to
enable rapid discovery, creation, and use of global experts and
knowledge to solve problems of national and international concern.
Also, you will learn about the MITRE-developed KM model, KM assessment
approach, and framework for a KM-enabled enterprise improvement.
But the content does not stop there -- read about a MITRE-developed
KM intranet usage profiling tool, a KM fair, KM and risk assessments,
knowledge mapping, and benchmarking.
Collaboration and sharing are integral parts of any KM model,
and we believe that by emphasizing these traits we can move our
enterprise and our sponsors' missions toward untold successes
in the new millennium.
For more information, please
contact guest editor Julie Gravallese using the employee directory.
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April 2000,
Volume 4
Number 1
Knowledge
Management
Issue!
Knowledge Management Model Guides KM Process
Forming Knowledge Partners
Benchmarking Sustains Competitive Innovation
Knowledge Fair Provides Informal Forum
for Exchanging Information
Knowledge Mapping Aids Discovery of Organizational
Information
New Knowledge Management Tool Profiles
Web Usage Demographics
Risk Assessment Streamlined Using Knowledge
Management Tool
Download a PDF of this issue [1.1MB]
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