# Literature/2002/Wilson

Authors :
* A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z &

## Authors
### w: Thomas D. Wilson

* Professor Emeritus, University of Sheffield, UK

## Abstract

Examines critically the origins and basis of 'knowledge management', its components and its development as a field of consultancy practice. Problems in the distinction between 'knowledge' and 'information' are explored, as well as Polanyi's concept of 'tacit knowing'. The concept is examined in the journal literature, the Web sites of consultancy companies, and in the presentation of business schools. The conclusion is reached that 'knowledge management' is an umbrella term for a variety of organizational activities, none of which are concerned with the management of knowledge. Those activities that are not concerned with the management of information are concerned with the management of work practices, in the expectation that changes in such areas as communication practice will enable information sharing.

## Excerpts

* Knowledge management (whatever it is) also shows signs of being offered as a Utopian ideal ....
* It can be seen that the term [knowledge management] did not occur until 1986 and from 1986 to 1996, there were only a few occurrences in each year. From 1997 to date, however, the growth has been exponential, but the data for 2002 suggest that the rate of growth has slowed considerably.
* ... tacit knowledge is hidden knowledge, hidden even from the consciousness of the knower. This is why Polanyi used the phrase 'We know more than we can tell.' A phrase parroted even by those who mis-use the idea and believe that this hidden knowledge, inaccessible to the consciousness of the knower, can somehow be 'captured'.
* The literature of 'knowledge management' claims that the 'people' dimension is more important than the technological (in spite of the fact that most of the same literature is heavily oriented towards technology use).

## Wikimedia
### w: Knowledge management

| w: Tacit knowledge w: Implicit knowledge w: Explicit knowledge | w: Implicature w: Metaphor w: DIKW |

## Chronology

* Blair, David (2002). "Knowledge Management: Hype, Hope, or Help?" Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, vol. 53, no. 12, pp. 1019-1028. $^{[^]}$
* Wilson, Thomas D. (2002). "The nonsense of 'knowledge management'," Information Research 8(1), paper no. 144 (October, 2002). $^{[^]}$
* Literature/1995/Nonaka $^{[^]}$
* Literature/1991/Nonaka $^{[^]}$
* David Bohm (1980). Wholeness and the Implicate Order. London: Routledge. $^{[^]}$
* Lakoff, George & Mark Johnson (1980). Metaphors We Live By. University of Chicago Press. $^{[^]}$
* Werner Abraham (1975). A Linguistic Approach to Metaphor. Lisse, Netherlands: Peter de Ridder Press. $^{[^]}$
* Douglas, Mary (1975). Implicit Meanings: Essays in Anthropology. Routledge. $^{[^]}$
* Grice, Paul (1975). "Logic and Conversation," pp. 41-58, in: Cole, Peter & Jerry L. Morgan eds. (1975). Syntax and Semantics, Vol. 3: Speech Act. New York: Academic Press. $^{[^]}$ cf. w: Implicature
* Polanyi, Michael & Harry Prosch (1975). Meaning. University of Chicago Press. $^{[^]}$ cf. w: Metaphor
* Ricoeur, Paul (1975). The Rule of Metaphor: Multi-Disciplinary Studies in the Creation of Meaning in Language. Robert Czerny, Kathleen McLaughlin & John Costello, trans., London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1978. $^{[^]}$
* Robertson, Stephen E. (1975). "Explicit and Implicit Variables in Information Retrieval Systems." Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 26(4): 214-22. $^{[^]}$
* Geertz, Clifford (1973). The Interpretation of Cultures: Selected Essays. New York: Basic Books. $^{[^]}$
* Literature/1958/Polanyi $^{[^]}$
* Black, Max (1954). "Metaphor." Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, 55, pp. 273-294. $^{[^]}$
* Richards, I. A. (1936). The Philosophy of Rhetoric. Oxford University Press. $^{[^]}$
* Empson, William (1930). Seven Types of Ambiguity, 2nd ed., London: Chatto & Windus, 1949. $^{[^]}$
* Ogden, C. K. & I. A. Richards (1923). The Meaning of Meaning: A Study of the Influence of Language upon Thought and of the Science of Symbolism. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd. $^{[^]}$

## Reviews

* Lucas McDonnell (2007) "Is knowledge management just nonsense?"