Seventh Knowledge Management Roundtable
Convened On November 30, 2000
At World Bank
Washington, DC
Resources:
Agenda
Participants
Organization List
Alexander, Myers,
Watson
NYT Nov 19, 2000
(Please contact to ICASIT for slide Presentations)
Brief:
The World Bank hosted the seventh event in the Capital region's Knowledge Management Roundtable (KM RT) series on November 30, 2000.
Held in conjunction with the School of Public Policy's International Center for Applied Studies in Information Technology (ICASIT) at George Mason University and Virginia's Center for Innovative Technology (CIT), the KM RT seeks to broaden the application and advance the effectiveness of KM practice in organizations in the region. CIT (www.cit.org) seeks to increase the Commonwealth's economic competitiveness and quality of life by advancing the development of Virginia as a technology state and by creating and retaining technology-based jobs and businesses.
As part of its efforts to achieve these results, CIT provided a grant to ICASIT (www.icasit.org) to help initiate a shared KM culture among organizations in Virginia by identifying organizations in Virginia interested in KM and convening the first KM Roundtable that was held in March 1999 (KM Roundtable, March 1999). Subsequently, a KM RT has been convened nearly every quarter: KM Roundtable, June 1999, KM Roundtable, September 1999, KM Roundtable, February 2000, KM Roundtable, May 2000 and KM Roundtable, August 2000. Over the past year the KM RT has transitioned to become a regional advocate for KM processes in both private and governmental organizations.
With this event, seven meetings have been held since initiation of the KM RT 2 years ago, and an average of 45 individuals have participated in each event. The November 30, 2000 meeting (Agenda) was attended by 59 participants (Participants). Based upon attendance at this meeting at the World Bank, some 190 practitioners representing 85 organizations are now involved in the KM RT program. (Organization List).
In the interest of experimentation and increased learning, this report differs from those posted for KM RT events in the past for, in addition to presenting graphics used by individual speakers, three unedited reports provide as many views of the proceedings. Two doctoral students from George Washington University, Jeffrey Alexander and Rudy Watson, had been asked in advance to take notes, and a third, unsolicited but equally welcome, set of comments arrived after the meeting from Kent Myers. This commentary has already been sent as his newsletter #13 to The Global Network of Systems Thinkers.
Each of these sets of notes provides somewhat differing perspectives and collectively significantly enhances the likelihood that the panelist's presentations will continue to influence our understanding of KM. Each set of notes reporting the meeting may be perused in its entirety or as a series of five collated sets, each reporting the presentation of the five speakers (see below). The topics for presentations here, as with previous presentations, may also be accessed by key word on the ICASIT KM page.
Virgil Frizzell, Director for KM with ICASIT, provided a brief history and overview of the Knowledge Management Roundtable and introduced Stephen Denning, the Program Director for KM at the World Bank. Denning, who is very well known and widely heard in KM circles, presented a brief outline of KM at the WB and of what he has learned about the importance of storytelling to organizational learning. Denning has recently presented the latter in a book entitled "The Springboard: How Storytelling Ignites Action in Knowledge-Era Organizations." Earlier in the month, Jeffery L. Seglin presented an overview of storytelling (NYT Nov 19, 2000), including parts of a conversation with Denning, in his monthly column. Only after adjournment, did we learn that November 30, 2000 was Denning's last full-time day with the World Bank.
Frizzell than introduced the day's panel that addressed the topic "The Value Proposition for KM: justifying the KM investment" moderated by a manager keen to enhance his organization's appreciation for the strategic and financial importance of KM.
The moderator, Robert D. Nelson, currently leads business development for a Marriott International application called The Source. The Source, which will be available in all Courtyard, Fairfield Inn, SpringHill Suites, Residence Inn and TownePlace Suites properties by the end of the year, will create a single entry point for all the operational information the hotels need, including both internal and external information as well as franchise and managed information. At Marriott, Nelson also has served as a liaison between the Information Resources (IR) department and Brand Strategy teams and helped align IR strategies with Brand Strategies. Prior to joining Marriott, Nelson worked for Price Waterhouse and the Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association.
Thomas J. Beckman, who serves as Chief KM Consultant to the IRS' Prime Alliance Modernization Program, has considerable expertise and experience in KM, intellectual capital development, BPR, performance measurement, and other subdisciplines of management science. He has written several articles on KM, including a chapter in "Knowledge Management: The Foundation for Electronic Government" entitled "Creating Business Value from KM: The Fusion of Knowledge and Technology," which is in press. Beckman has also made many presentations on KM, including a half-day tutorial "Measuring and Valuing KM, Intellectual Capital, and Organizational Learning," at the KMWorld 2000 Conference.
Dr. William E. Halal, who serves as Professor of Management at George Washington University, Washington, DC, is an authority on emerging technology, strategic management, and institutional change. He has consulted for GM, IBM, AT&T, MCI, BC/BS, foreign companies, and various government agencies. Halal's publications have appeared in journals such as The California Management Review, Business in the Contemporary World, Knowledge Management Review, and Technological Forecasting, as well as popular media like The New York Times and The Christian Science Monitor. He has authored five books including The Infinite Resource, which includes chapters by 20 corporate CEOs and politicians of leading knowledge organizations. Halal is a Founding Member of the KM RT.
Susan S. Hanley serves as a Consulting Director at Plural, a strategic interactive consulting and development firm focused on multiplying the eBusiness strengths of its clients. Prior to joining Plural, she worked at AMS for more than 18 years. In 1995, she became the first Director of Knowledge Management and helped develop AMS' KM consulting practice. Hanley is a frequent writer and speaker on the topic of building communities of practice and measuring the value of KM. Her byline articles have appeared in Knowledge Management Review, Management Consultant International, DM Review, and Information Week. She is also a featured author in the books "Knowledge Management and Virtual Organizations" and "Knowledge Management: The Foundation for Electronic Government." Hanley earned an MBA from the University of Maryland at College Park and a BA in Psychology from the Johns Hopkins University; she is a Founding Member of the KM RT.
Cynthia Taylor Small, the KM Business Leader for the Information Technology Center at The MITRE Corporation, has been a member of MITRE's corporate KM Team since its inception in 1998. Over the past year, she led the KM Team's development of the corporate KM measurement framework as well as capture of the KM metrics baseline. Small, who has held numerous engineering management positions, received a BA from the College of William and Mary and an MS in Technology of Management from American University. In addition to her responsibilities at MITRE, she also is a Ph.D. candidate of the School of Information Technology and Engineering at GMU, where she is doing research in the area of KM and complex adaptive systems.
The participants and panelists alike contributed robustly to the questions & answers, comments & discussion period that followed the main part of the meeting.
We would like express sincere gratitude to the speakers for making excellent presentations and providing us with their PowerPoint files, especially to Nelson for organizing and leading the panel and providing significant insightful commentary not well reflected in this report, to Lesley Shneier, a KM officer in operational core services for KM at the World Bank, for making all arrangements concerning venue and comestibles, Alexander, Myers, and Watson for providing commentary on the presentations and helping create a lasting and more edifying record of the meeting, and David Melia for adroitly integrating all the pieces of this report on ICASIT's website.
Please send comments on this report format, suggestions for improvements to the KM RT, and suggestions for topics, speakers, and venues for future KM RT events to Virgil Frizzell, Director for KM with the School of Public Policy's International Center for Applied Studies in Information Technology (ICASIT) at George Mason University: vfrizzel@osf1.gmu.edu.