Leveraging collective intellect by building organizational capabilities

摘要

This paper approaches knowledge management from a definitely practical angle. Based on experiences in Monsanto, several important aspects are addressed. The notion of value creation through insight generation is seen as crucial. Leveraging collective intellect heavily relies on learning. By using the completeness-of-information and clarity-of-understanding dimension more light is shed on adding value through learning. A knowledge management methodology consisting of six components (‘maps’) is presented that has been used in Monsanto to deal with knowledge management problems. The enabling role of information technology is highlighted. In the concluding section some guidelines for knowledge management actions are stated, which will help users to avoid the many traps that can occur when dealing with knowledge in organizations.