Building knowledge-based communities of practice: lessons learned from a knowledge management success

摘要

Despite what the tools vendors would like us to believe, when it comes to knowledge management, technology is an enabler, not a solution. Knowledge management is really about people and the processes through which they share information and build knowledge. In their latest book, Working Knowledge: Managing what your Organization Knows, Tom Davenport and Larry Prusak suggest that firms should try to use existing management approaches and initiatives to 'jump start' knowledge management programmes. That is precisely what we did at American Management Systems (AMS), an international business and information technology consulting firm. We capitalised on a culture in which sharing what you know has long been the key measure of success, formalised previously informal communities, provided incentives and rewards for participation, and leveraged collaborative technology to provide an infrastructure to make it all work.Capturing our collective intellectual capital and making it accessible to our engagement teams is vital to our ability to deliver business success for our clients. Being able to effectively leverage our knowledge is critical to our company's success. For AMS, knowledge management is a strategic imperative.This paper presents key insights into building and sustaining online, virtual, knowledge-based communities based on practical experiences with the AMS Knowledge Centers, worldwide "virtual communities" of people throughout the company, connected by interest and expertise in a specific discipline. These lessons learned fall into the following basic themes:1. recognising individual achievement;2. building group identity;3. motivating and rewarding participation;4. celebrating successes;5. delivering value.The results of our knowledge management initiatives are highly leveraged engagement teams with AMS's collective knowledge at their fingertips. Through our virtual communities, we can deliver on our commitment to connect our engagement teams with our global expertise. This is knowledge management: people, processes and technology working together to deliver value.