Working knowledge

And while knowledge management itself bas been called faddish in some quarters, we do maintain that the movement is here to stay There is little doubt that knowledge is one of any organizations most important resources, or that knowledge workers' roles will grow in importance in the years ahead. Why would an organization believe that knowledge and knowledge workers are important, yet not advocate active management of knowledge itself?

Our model for the future of knowledge management is the quality movement. Both concepts began similarly as managerial enthusiasms given extensive coverage by the business press and gurus. And just as quality precepts became embedded in many firms' cultures and daily operating procedures, we believe the best outcome for the knowledge management movement will be a similar embeddedness. Knowledge management should become part of everything an organization does, and be part of everyone's job. If companies are successful in managing knowledge, they may even forget that they are doing it.

Thomas H. Davenport is the Director of the Andersen Consulting Institute for Strategic Change, a research center in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He is also a Professor at the Boston University School of Management and a Distinguished Scholar in Residence at Babson College.

Laurence Prusak is Executive Director of the IBM Institute for Knowledge Management in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He has taught in several leading universities on the topic of knowledge management and is frequently quoted in such periodicals as Fortune, Business Week, and CIO.