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Zand, D. (1981). The management of knowledge. In _Information,
organization and power_. (pp. 3-17). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Zand's model of knowledge management starts with advice to managers on
how to be a knowledge manager. This advice sounds a great deal "be a
critical thinker." It's remarkable the impact repackaging has on
ideas. Zand's writing sounds very progressive but isn't it, in a way,
stuff people would already know if they knew how to think. Take, for
example, the "New perspectives" and "Unusual groupings" sections.
These essential say, "Manager, encourage your group to think about
things differently. Give them opportunities to evaluate the known from
different angles to see what new knowledge floats out."
Great. What is it that is so special about these sorts of repackagings
that create management textbooks. This sort of thinking should be
taught in elementary school but is not because granting critical
thinking skills to children apparently makes them difficult. Pshaw! My
mother once said, thinking she was joking, "I can either raise my
children smart or polite."
Elsewhere in the paper:
In such organizations, withholding, diverting, or ridiculing
existing knowledge becomes the greatest source of current error.
Isolating, ostracizaing, or punishing those who present adverse
information and analysis becomes the major source of future error.
Replace "organizations" with "families" or "governments" or "nations"
or "classes" or "universities". See where that gets you.
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