From traditional knowledge management in hierarchical organizations to a network centric paradigm for a changing world

At the beginning of the 21st century, all organizations need to address the continually changing social and economic landscape in which they operate. In this landscape organizations need to be responsive, flexible and agile and acquire the capability to leverage information and use collective knowledge to make appropriate decisions quickly and effectively. The practice of knowledge management allows knowledge workers to participate in dynamic processes that generate and use collective knowledge. However the complexity that arises from a continually changing global environment highlights the need for knowledge management to move in new directions both in practice and theory. This paper proposes approaches to knowledge management that incorporate concepts from complexity theory leading to the adoption of a network-centric paradigm in organizations, complementing or replacing traditional hierarchical bureaucracies. Introduction At the beginning ofthe 21st century, all organizations, whether government, industrial, commercial or civil, need to address the continually changing social and economic landscape, in which they operate. A central theme of this change is the emergence of information and knowledge as major elements of wealth creation processes including the growth of intellectual and social capital (Sveiby, 1997). The current corporate interest in knowledge is based on a realization that emerging economic theories, coupled with social and industrial restructuring, demand a more rigorous approach to the exploitation of knowledge, and knowledge making capabilities, as organizational resources (Drucker, 1998). As knowledge workers, modern employees are participating in dynamic processes that generate and use collective knowledge in a changing organizational landscape (Ivari & Linger, 1 999; Pfaff & Hasan, 2007). The practice of knowledge management (KM) is now distinguished from information systems and information management (Hart & Warne, 2005; HB189, 2004). As encapsulated in the Australian Standard (AS 5037, 2005), KM manifests itself in organizations through a variety of interpretations and implementations depending on the enterprise, the pressures for innovation and the market context. KM must contend with the increasing complexity that comes with the continually changing global environment, and the related need to negotiate, test, refine and share complex responses to the resulting challenges. This signals the need to re-evaluate organizational structures and processes to ensure that they appropriately enable these new activities at all levels. We propose approaches to KM incorporating concepts from Complexity Theory leading to the adoption of a network-centric paradigm in organizations, complementing or replacing traditional hierarchical bureaucracies. In this paper we depict information as data in any media that is available and may be processed to be interpreted by people and thus potentially inform. Knowledge, on the other hand, can be distinguished as the human capability to interpret information and use it creatively, both individually and cooperatively, to add value to human activities and products. This accords with the Macquarie Dictionary definition of 'social capital' in terms ofthe investment in institutions, quality relationships and interactions that enhance wealth making processes. Issues raised by these changing environments are: * Transformations in what constitutes wealth and what is valued; * The shrinking distances around the world and global competition; * The compression of time, which increases the tempo of our lives; * The alteration in the distribution of power, including the power that is accrued by custodians of information. Traditionally, wealth creation was based on land, capital and labour. Now, information and knowledge are major ingredients (Benkler, 2006). Creating wealth is about adding value by turning these new ingredients into products and exchanging them through open global markets. …