Part 1 Knowledge Management Framework

Proj. leader Tomas Hellström, FD (Fenix)

The aim for this part of the project is to conduct a considerate literature study of central and essential work within the Knowledge Management literature, to document this in an accessible way and to participate in conceptual discussions with the rest of the project members.

Knowledge Management (KM) has until recently especially dealt with information management and IT-solutions for knowledge intensive firms and thereof often become an activity associated with IT consultants and software producers. Lately however, the field has "matured" into a very complex "hybrid-discipline" that involves representatives from i.e. philosophy, anthropology, linguistics, psychology and business economy. A central question for these newcomers has been: -"which assumptions about practical knowledgesharing (actual behaviour) are made in the IT-solutions for KM that are sold by consultants?"

It is important to note that this is not a pure academic question. Practicians as well as academics collaborate in a very natural way within the frame for this hybrid-discipline to clarify the basic condition for KM. The academics see the consultants KM-solutions as real experiments where knowledge theory assumptions can be tested in the organisations and the KM-practicians can refine their methods effectively and with theoretical refinement through acquire reflections from a wider prospective than before. Because of these reasons the KM-literature has grown fast and has been given great accessibility on the WWW.

The aim for this part of the project is to provide an valid international frame of reference for project participants, practicians and other researcher who are active in the main project (prevent that "the reinvention of the wheel ") and to give conceptual support continuously to different project activities.

Part 1 will be in process continuously during the main project and will mainly focus on conceptual questions. In this case it means that with the background of common discussions between industry representatives and academics build a conceptual and methodological framework for the mainproject and to develop an understanding for what the field Knowledge Management is about today. Thus this project activity contains two tasks:

• Project activity 1 will primarily support conceptual development and critical discussions about the existing nomenclature within Knowledge Management for the whole project and its total duration. This includes besides critically discussing the existing framework for Knowledge Management, also the support of the project development of new conceptions and models. For this purpose seminars will be arranged for the project members (industrialists and academics) and open seminars will be held where anyone who is interested can participate. Internationally active within the field will also be invited to discuss questions related to the project. The material for this study will be searched for both on organisations and interest groups homepages on the WWW, in newsgroups and via more traditional media such as academic- and business literature.

• Within the frame for part 1 of the project a state-of-the-art study on the field Knowledge Management will be conducted partly for the purpose of initially validating an international durable frame of reference for all of the participants in the project (prevent the "reinvention of the wheel") and partly for the purpose of continuously giving support to the different project activities in terms of specific knowledge foundations. This assignment will be especially intensive during the projects first part when it is important that all of the members start off with a common understanding of what the problem area has to offer in terms of questions and answers.

The projects specific results will be:

• Active participating in the main project activities and in the project parts.
• Review papers which summaries the results in terms of the knowledge management field 's different circumstances to action and renewal in organisations.
• A set of State-of-the-art reports which summaries the field of Knowledge Management.