Knowledge Sharing in Practice

In this volume organizational learning theory is used to analyse various practices of managing and facilitating knowledge sharing within companies. Experiences with three types of knowledge sharing, namely knowledge acquisition, knowledge reuse, and knowledge creation, at ten large companies are discussed and analyzed. This critical analysis leads to the identification of traps and obstacles when managing knowledge sharing, when supporting knowledge sharing with IT tools, and when organizations try to learn from knowledge sharing practices. The identification of these risks is followed by a discussion of how organizations can avoid them.

This work will be of interest to researchers and practitioners working in organization science and business administration. Also, consultants and organizations at large will find the book useful as it will provide them with insights into how other organizations manage and facilitate knowledge sharing and how potential failures can be prevented.

1 Introduction.- 1 Theoretical background.- 2 Theories on Managing Knowledge.- 3 Organizational learning.- 2 Practices of knowledge-sharing.- 4 Knowledge acquisition: Knowledge-sharing with the organization as the knowledge provider.- 5 Knowledge reuse: Knowledge-sharing with the individual as the knowledge provider.- 6 Knowledge development: Communities as knowledge providers.- 3 A critical analysis.- 7 The management trap.- 8 The Individual Learning trap.- 9 The ICT trap.- 10 Epilogue.- References.- Endnotes.