Saturday, May 21, 2005

Busting KM Myths

The link below has a solid article about KM myths and tries to bust them. This short article can be useful if trying to show how a KM initative can help an organization - but it is only a short treatis and thus cannot be the only thing used.

Enjoy

http://www.smh.com.au/news/Management-Focus/Busting-knowledge-management-myths/2005/04/18/1113676690541.html?oneclick=true

Employee Loyalty and Retirements

In an article found at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/5/prwebxml238577.php, the author makes a good case for KM as it relates to the loss of organizational knowledge because of retirements.

The author also makes the following statement "Despite the potential loss of workforce knowledge and experience, workers remain committed to their employers. According to the survey results, more than two-thirds (70 percent) of respondents said they expect to retire from the organizations at which they're currently employed, and half (49 percent) said they expect to remain in their current positions until that time. The vast majority (88 percent) said they are willing to acquire new skills, nearly half (46 percent) said they are willing to relocate for their employers, and more than one-third (39 percent) said they are willing to work longer hours. Yet four in 10 (41 percent) said their companies are doing only a fair or a poor job of providing the training they will need to meet the skills challenges they will face prior to retirement. "

I would question the conclusions drawn from this statement. Are people willing to do things like work more hours or relocate for their employer out of loyalty or fear of job loss. The high rate of people who expect to retire from their current employer may not say that because of loyalty but because of the fact they consider themselves "short timers" and will retire at the first available moment.