Papers by Bill Kilpatrick
Our planet faces many impending crises as a consequence of growing populations and rising affluen... more Our planet faces many impending crises as a consequence of growing populations and rising affluence. Governmental bodies at any level seem unable to provide the leadership to mitigate these. It seems to be up to those in the community who are most directly affected to take the leadership. Yet, without access to knowledge and understanding, individuals and communities are powerless against administrative juggernauts that are all too often beholden to a few powerful individuals rather than the communities they are supposed to represent and support. However, the Internet and newly invented social and cloud computing technologies provide individuals with fingertip access to humanity's knowledge base; tools for extracting, evaluating, and sharing knowledge that is relevant to local needs; as well as tools for socially coordinating that action to promote and guide action. This paper reviews some of these tools and discusses how they can be applied for good or ill.
Our planet faces many impending crises as a consequence of growing populations and rising affluen... more Our planet faces many impending crises as a consequence of growing populations and rising affluence. Governmental bodies at any level seem unable to provide the leadership to mitigate these. It seems to be up to those in the community who are most directly affected to take the leadership. Yet, without access to knowledge and understanding, individuals and communities are powerless against administrative juggernauts that are all too often beholden to a few powerful individuals rather than the communities they are supposed to represent and support. However, the Internet and newly invented social and cloud computing technologies provide individuals with fingertip access to humanity's knowledge base; tools for extracting, evaluating, and sharing knowledge that is relevant to local needs; as well as tools for socially coordinating that action to promote and guide action. This paper reviews some of these tools and discusses how they can be applied for good or ill.
VINE, 2009
Purpose-To learn to avoid pitfalls there is need to accept and understand failures. This anonymou... more Purpose-To learn to avoid pitfalls there is need to accept and understand failures. This anonymous case study aims to report a major organisational failure due to the absence of effective knowledge management, where both the reasons for, and organisational consequences of, the failure are fairly clear. Design/methodology/approach-Within a theoretical framework of organisational autopoiesis, the case study compares knowledge management styles from two eras in the history of one engineering project management company: as it grew from an acquired site with a single project to a multi-divisional leader in its regional market, and then as it failed in its original line of business to the point where it divested most of its assets. Findings-In the first era, the executive and line managers were permissive, allowing project teams to work out local solutions for business problems as they arose producing successful and profitable solutions. The decline began and accelerated when management strengthened hierarchical command and control that stifled knowledge sharing and solution development at the work face and exceeded line managers' limits of rationality. Research limitations/implications-This study has the limitations of any historical study of a single case, exacerbated by a need to maintain the anonymity of the surviving company. Originality/value-Few studies so clearly highlight the critical importance of personal knowledge and its sharing in knowledge intensive organisations for maintaining successful operations. Success may have many parents, but in this case the internal comparisons identify specific factors that caused a successful organisation to disintegrate.
Engineering Asset Management, 2006
Complex engineered products are all knowledge intensive. It is crucial for suppliers and operator... more Complex engineered products are all knowledge intensive. It is crucial for suppliers and operators of such "fleets" of equipment to manage and minimize product costs and risks. Many schedule delays, cost overruns, accidents, excessive operating costs, and premature product failures result from ineffective management of product data, information, and knowledge. This paper reviews solutions based on integrating structured authoring and product lifecycle management systems and data warehousing implemented by a large project engineering and management organization and the development of an alliance organizational form to support the product to reduce costs, risks and hazards through comprehensive and coherent management of project data, information and knowledge.
Purpose – To learn to avoid pitfalls there is need to accept and understand failures. This anonym... more Purpose – To learn to avoid pitfalls there is need to accept and understand failures. This anonymous case study aims to report a major organisational failure due to the absence of effective knowledge management, where both the reasons for, and organisational consequences of, the failure are fairly
clear.
Design/methodology/approach – Within a theoretical framework of organisational autopoiesis, the case study compares knowledge management styles from two eras in the history of one engineering project management company: as it grew from an acquired site with a single project to a
multi-divisional leader in its regional market, and then as it failed in its original line of business to the point where it divested most of its assets.
Findings – In the first era, the executive and line managers were permissive, allowing project teams to work out local solutions for business problems as they arose producing successful and profitable solutions. The decline began and accelerated when management strengthened hierarchical command and control that stifled knowledge sharing and solution development at the work face and exceeded
line managers’ limits of rationality.
Research limitations/implications – This study has the limitations of any historical study of a single case, exacerbated by a need to maintain the anonymity of the surviving company.
Originality/value – Few studies so clearly highlight the critical importance of personal knowledge and its sharing in knowledge intensive organisations for maintaining successful operations. Success may have many parents, but in this case the internal comparisons identify specific factors that caused
a successful organisation to disintegrate.
Keywords Knowledge transfer, Project management, Knowledge management, Business failures
Paper type Case study
International Journal of Business and Systems Research, 2009
It is difficult for large and geographically dispersed organisations to manage personal knowledge... more It is difficult for large and geographically dispersed organisations to manage personal knowledge for easy discovery and sharing, especially in the areas of identification, indexing and codification of the knowledge held in people's heads and the cultural issues of discovery, mutual trust and sharing. We have prototyped a methodology based on mind mapping and a relational database to codify, index and map staff knowledge. This includes an interview process to build trust while eliciting career histories, plus a relationally based S. Nousala et al.
Our planet faces many impending crises as a consequence of growing populations and rising affluen... more Our planet faces many impending crises as a consequence of growing populations and rising affluence. Governmental bodies at any level seem unable to provide the leadership to mitigate these. It seems to be up to those in the community who are most directly affected to take the leadership. Yet, without access to knowledge and understanding, individuals and communities are powerless against administrative juggernauts that are all too often beholden to a few powerful individuals rather than the communities they are supposed to represent and support. However, the Internet and newly invented social and cloud computing technologies provide individuals with fingertip access to humanity’s knowledge base; tools for extracting, evaluating, and sharing knowledge that is relevant to local needs; as well as tools for socially coordinating that action to promote and guide action. This paper reviews some of these tools and discusses how they can be applied for good or ill.
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Papers by Bill Kilpatrick
clear.
Design/methodology/approach – Within a theoretical framework of organisational autopoiesis, the case study compares knowledge management styles from two eras in the history of one engineering project management company: as it grew from an acquired site with a single project to a
multi-divisional leader in its regional market, and then as it failed in its original line of business to the point where it divested most of its assets.
Findings – In the first era, the executive and line managers were permissive, allowing project teams to work out local solutions for business problems as they arose producing successful and profitable solutions. The decline began and accelerated when management strengthened hierarchical command and control that stifled knowledge sharing and solution development at the work face and exceeded
line managers’ limits of rationality.
Research limitations/implications – This study has the limitations of any historical study of a single case, exacerbated by a need to maintain the anonymity of the surviving company.
Originality/value – Few studies so clearly highlight the critical importance of personal knowledge and its sharing in knowledge intensive organisations for maintaining successful operations. Success may have many parents, but in this case the internal comparisons identify specific factors that caused
a successful organisation to disintegrate.
Keywords Knowledge transfer, Project management, Knowledge management, Business failures
Paper type Case study
clear.
Design/methodology/approach – Within a theoretical framework of organisational autopoiesis, the case study compares knowledge management styles from two eras in the history of one engineering project management company: as it grew from an acquired site with a single project to a
multi-divisional leader in its regional market, and then as it failed in its original line of business to the point where it divested most of its assets.
Findings – In the first era, the executive and line managers were permissive, allowing project teams to work out local solutions for business problems as they arose producing successful and profitable solutions. The decline began and accelerated when management strengthened hierarchical command and control that stifled knowledge sharing and solution development at the work face and exceeded
line managers’ limits of rationality.
Research limitations/implications – This study has the limitations of any historical study of a single case, exacerbated by a need to maintain the anonymity of the surviving company.
Originality/value – Few studies so clearly highlight the critical importance of personal knowledge and its sharing in knowledge intensive organisations for maintaining successful operations. Success may have many parents, but in this case the internal comparisons identify specific factors that caused
a successful organisation to disintegrate.
Keywords Knowledge transfer, Project management, Knowledge management, Business failures
Paper type Case study