Notes from September 29, 2004 Meeting

Panel Discussion

KM Knowledge, Skills and Proficiencies

What skills, experiences and knowledge are required of knowledge management professionals? How does technology impact these professionals?

Chuck Lanigan, MA introduced this topic.

During the industrial revolution, basic literacy and socialization were all the training employees needed to perform effectively in the workplace, and the public education system evolved to supply these. In the past fifty, and especially the past twenty years, information technology, collaborative web, and KM technologies have changed the nature of the workplace and the skills required of workers to function there.

While information technology and computing are an integral part of KM, the skills and proficiencies required of what Peter Drucker termed 'knowledge workers' go beyond basic literacy and computing skills.

Question: What skills and proficiencies are required of workers for employers to gain the maximum ROI from KM initiatives. How should schools (and employers) educate and train prospective and current workers to acquire these?

Employers say that problem solving, decision making, and common sense are important skills. Writer Neil Postman says we need to do a better job of teaching people to ask good questions. What are other possible related skills and proficiencies? Recent initiatives and surveys suggest:

· Metacognition (executive management of thinking processes, knowledge acquisition and problem-solving)

· Ability to deal with change and ambiguity

· Ability to relate to others

· Understanding how info. technology relates to business processes

· Accountability

· Oral and written business communication skills

· Client focus and customer service orientation

· Creative thinking and innovation

· Flexibility and resilience

· Being goal and results oriented

· Having teamwork and collaborative skills, understanding of group dynamics

· Time and task management, personal organization

References:

Postman, Neil, Building a Bridge to the 18th Century; How the Past Can Improve Our Future, Vintage Books, 1999

Drucker, Peter, The Age of Social Transformation, The Atlantic Monthly, 1994

Resnick, L., Education and Learning to Think, 1987

Zuboff, Shoshanna, In the Age of the Smart Machine: The Future of Work and Power, Basic Books, 1988

Sample Initiatives, Old and New:

British Columbia Centre for Curriculum Transfer and Technology (C2T2) (closed on March 31, 2004)

The Business/Academic Partnership to Develop the Information Technology Workforce in Greater Philadelphia, What Do Today's Information Technology Graduates Need to Know to Meet the Needs of Knowledge-Based Companies?, 1999

Education Development Center, Inc., Techforce Initiative, IT Pathway Pipeline Model: Rethinking Information Technology Learning in Schools, January 2000

European Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Committee for Scientific and Technological Policy, The Knowledge-based Economy: A Set of Facts and Figures, 1999

IT Workforce Education Cluster at Catalyst Connection of Western PA (Now Defunct?)

Open Mind Initiative at the U.K. Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce, http://www.thersa.org