----- Original Message -----
From: Mark W. McElroy <mmcelroy@vermontel.net>
To: <jmaloney@collaboratory.com>
Cc: Rod Welch <rowelch@attglobal.net>; <ohs-dev@bootstrap.org>
Sent: Wednesday, November 22, 2000 12:53 PM
Subject: Re: Knowledge Theory
> John Maloney wrote:
>
> > Rod,
> >
> > Thanks for copying me on this exchange. I have followed it with
interest.
> >
> > Mark, you've done a nice job of capturing and leading a lot of the
thought
> > in this area.
>
> Thank you.
>
> > While I don't have a problem with the principles in general, I think it
is
> > only fair to state some of the predicates of the "knowledge theory."
> >
> > If the 'knowledge theory' is simply an academic exercise or ontology,
then
> > fine.
> >
> > However, from my review it seems as if there is a belief or predicate in
the
> > large-scale, unbounded, and mechanized production of useful knowledge.
This
> > is a false & dangerous presupposition.
>
> I agree, althought there's nothing mechanized about the KMCI model or my
own
> ideas, so far as I know. In fact, we've tried very hard to stay away from
such
> reductionism and have placed our bets, instead, on the existence of
knowledge
> nonlinearities, if you will, in human social systems. Still, the fact
that we
> base our thinking on the view that there are knowledge life cycles in play
does
> not equate to mechanistic thinking. Even wildly unpredictable and
emergent
> systems can be characterized by such cycles. In complexity science
they're
> called "strange attractors."
>
> > Michael Porter defines "innovation" simply as productivity growth.
Indeed,
> > the lifecycle approach, systems thinking, quality management, Collective
IQ,
> > etc., are all proven mechanisms to advance productivity and productivity
> > growth (innovation).
>
> Productivity is an economic term invented long after living systems were
> "innovating," last time I checked. If that's Porter's notion of
innovation then
> I disagree with him. If it's only productivity we're all after, then we
might
> as well forget about sustainability because the former is often achieved
at the
> expense of the latter. I'm not interested in the econometric bias to
knowledge
> and innovation if its only about productivity.
>
> > The refinement and continuous pursuit of these methods is honorable and
> > valuable.
> >
> > The danger is these methods are linear and deterministic.
>
> Or "can be" linear and mechanistic.
>
> > True creativity is neither. In fact, structured, robotic, 'production'
> > settings as described, most often stifle randomness, chaos, agility and
the
> > true context of creativity. Complexity science & OL simply do not
provide an
> > adequate explanation or methodology for the highly erratic and
capricious
> > nature of dazzling originality and spectacular invention.
>
> Well I guess we disagree there. First, the explanation you say is missing
from
> complexity theiry is precisely the one that I think complexity theory
offers.
> CAS theory, in particular, is nothing if not a theory on how capricious,
> unpredictable and ninlinear learning happens in living systems. That's
its
> jaw-dropping beauty. As for OL, I would tend to agree with you there. In
fact,
> I have argued that practitioners of OL should spend more time thinking
about CAS
> theory as a source of inspiration for understanding HOW organizations
learn.
>
> > Today, most business activity and thinking is still concerned with
linear
> > mechanical habit. Thus, these "production" offerings have an important
place
> > in today's lexicon and toolkit.
> >
> > However, new wealth-producing processes require a much higher degree of
> > individual intellectual & creative effort. In this environment,
knowledge
> > management must strive to enhance & expand zones of collaboration,
sharing,
> > learning, play, context, content, expression and community for
individuals.
> > It does not involve rigid, cybernetic processes of identification,
> > codification, control, production and maximization, for example. The KM
> > pursuit is an environment of effortless sharing and unconscious
> > collaboration. The objective is to maximize the efficiencies &
effectiveness
> > of mental concentration, cognition and imagination, not "production" of
> > knowledge.
>
> Yes. I agree with all of that. In fact, I declared that view as
comprising a
> "second generation" of thinking on KM in a paper published a year ago in
KM
> magazine, and which is freely available on my website.
>
> > In the future, "knowledge theory" will be quite simply and directly
about
> > the state of knowing. It will have less and less to do with control,
> > systems, production, processes, mechanics or methodologies.
>
> Agreed.
>
> > Another example is agriculture. By far, the vast majority of the earth's
> > population concerns themselves from dawn 'til dusk with producing
foodstuff.
> > We don't. Because of this, and the extremely low probability that I will
> > starve, allows me to write this message. You'll agree that our society
has
> > totally mastered the production of food.
>
> Well, I would agree that we have totally mastered the practice of
unsustainable
> food production, yes. Thank you for substantiating the distinction I made
in my
> Porter comment above.
>
> > We never think about the production
> > of food. It is the envy of the world. Yet, >60% of Americans are
morbidly
> > obese. This excess accounts for the vast 'disease care' system that
could
> > bankrupt our economy. 800,000 Americans die prematurely each -year-
because
> > of obesity. If this was by war or by accident, it would be a national
> > catastrophe. These are just examples of the side effects of a
"production"
> > system that has run amok. Close parallels can be drawn to this
dysfunctional
> > production process and enterprise excess of "knowledge production."
Quite
> > honestly, it is more important to create meaning than to "produce
> > knowledge." More companies suffer from knowledge indigestion than
> > starvation. A "production" system exacerbates this problem.
>
> Exactly. All of which adds up to my general idictment of industry as
> practitioners of unsustainable innovation on a massive scale. I argue
that not
> only are businesses subject to measures of sustainability, but so are
their
> innovation processes and practices, as well.
>
> > Look at how lean, lightning-fast start-ups whip their far larger
competition
> > mostly because they enjoy an open, fast moving culture of close
> > collaboration, urgency, *customers* and collective goal seeking, for
> > example. Knowledge production isn't on their radar.
>
> Agreed. They practice "first generation, supply-side KM." Very shallow.
>
> > Anyway, thanks again for this message and this important work, research
and
> > thought. It is a real contribution. As this work evolves, the following
1945
> > quote from the great Nobel Laureate economist Friedrich August Von
Hayek is
> > even more prescient:
> >
> > "Every individual has some advantage over all others because he
possesses
> > unique information of which beneficial use might be made only if the
> > decisions depending on it are left to him."
> >
> > It is from "The Use of Knowledge in Society," which I recommend.
>
> Thanks, John, for the feedback and pleasant dialogue.
>
> Regards,
>
> Mark
>
> >
> >
> > Cheers,
> >
> > John
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > Sent: Saturday, November 18, 2000 7:45 AM
> > To: Rod Welch
> > Cc: institute@kmci.org; ohs-dev@bootstrap.org; Maloney, John T.
> > Subject: Re: Knowledge Theory
> >
> > Rod:
> >
> > My name is Mark W. McElroy. I'm Chairman of the KMCI Institute's
Governing
> > Council
> > (its board). Thank you for your response to our broadcast announcement.
> > Please see
> > my comments below in response to your queries.
> >
> > Rod Welch wrote:
> >
> > > It appears that KMCI's curriculum can provide guidance. Has KMCI
settled
> > on a
> > > definition that distinguishes knowledge from information, and can you
> > suggest an
> > > example of work being done that illustrates this idea? This comes up
> > because
> > > ontology is thought by some to be a distinguishing feature of KM.
Some
> > people
> > > call this categories or subjects, and some speak of an evolutionary
> > > epistemology, while others point to the idea of taxonomy.
> >
> > Rod, a core team of KMCI principals, myself included, developed an
> > ontological model
> > of knowledge over a year ago. Since then we have enhanced it slightly,
but
> > its
> > composition and use have changed little. We refer to it as the KMCI
> > knowledge life
> > cycle model, or KLC model. You can obtain a copy of this model at my
own
> > website at
> > the following URL:
> > http://www.macroinnovation.com/images/KMCILifeCycleModel.pdf
> > In general, the KMCI perspective on knowledge versus information is
deeply
> > rooted in
> > the KLC model and hinges heavily on the notion of validation as
performed by
> > self-organized communities of knowledge (aka, communities of interest,
> > practice,
> > etc.). Knowledge by our definition is information that has been
validated
> > by a
> > social system; information, on the other hand, is invalidated and can be
> > thought of
> > as "knowledge claims" only -- potential knowledge -- but not knowledge,
per
> > se.
> > Knowledge is also, therefore, relative to its holders. Knowledge to me
may
> > only be
> > information to you, because I've validated it but you haven't.
> > Organizational
> > knowledge evolves in the same fashion. This is where communities of
> > knowledge come
> > into play. Communities create new knowledge and serve as the validating
> > intermediaries between individually-held knowledge and
organizationally-held
> > knowledge. This is why communities play such an important role in our
KLC
> > (we call
> > them "groups").
> >
> > As for work being done in this area, there's lots of it. First of all,
our
> > perspective is strongly aligned with attempts to aplly systems thinking
to
> > organizational learning, including Peter Senge's efforts, and the
separate
> > but
> > related work being done in the complexity science arena (i.e., complex
> > adpaptive
> > systems theory). For example, in my case I have been developing a
> > methodology
> > designed to enhance organizational knowledge production using principles
> > taken from
> > the KMLC model and complexity theory. This includes construction of an
> > on-line
> > simulator developed using system dynamics tools from High Performance
> > Systems and
> > which, again, can be found on my website:
> > http://www.macroinnovation.com/simulation.htm I would also point to all
of
> > the work
> > being done my may others in the community building arena such as Etienne
> > Wenger and
> > others.
> >
> > > On 000113 I asked the president of KMCI, Ed Swanstrom, about these
> > matters, and
> > > he indicated that KMCI is working hard to formalize KM, but has not
yet
> > > resolved the foundational matters that Doug's DKR team is
addressing....
> > >
> > > http://www.welchco.com/sd/08/00101/02/00/01/13/115201.HTM#3098
> > >
> > > Doubtless, KMCI has made a lot of progress since last January. Will
all
> > this be
> > > covered in the course you are offering that explains a theory of
> > knowledge?
> >
> > Yes, that is our intent. It's all bundled under the heading of "2nd
> > generation KM."
> >
> > > Any help is greatly appreciated. By copy, I am alerting the OHS/DKR
team
> > about
> > > your important work, and look forward to hearing from you.
> >
> > Thank you, Rod.
> >
> > Regards,
> >
> > Mark
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