The dissemination of knowledge management

Our study on a community of knowledge management (KM) practitioners in the aerospace industry reveals challenges in the dissemination of KM concepts and tools. In this paper, we identify four reasons: (1) disparity of the community’s stated purpose and the actual motives of its members; (2) multidisciplinary nature of KM; (3) unique characteristics of the aerospace industry and its engineering culture and (4) adoption of preferred or recommended solutions provided by chosen reference groups rather than a grounded approach. In particular, we address the issues in promoting recommended ideas and tools by chosen reference groups in work organizations without fully understanding work practices. Categories and Subject Descriptors K.4.3 [Computers and Society]: Organizational Impacts; K.7.2 [The Computer Profession]: Organizations General Terms Human Factors, Management Keywords Knowledge Management, Work Practice, Communities of Practice, Reference Groups, Diffusion, Aerospace Industry

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2009
• Where: GROUP
• Authors: Hiroko Wilensky, David F. Redmiles, Norman Makoto Su
• Keywords: Aerospace Industry, Applied Computing, GROUP 2009, Knowledge Management, Reference Groups