What is the Knowledge Management approach of Collison and Parcell? Description
The Knowledge Management method from Chris Collison and Geoff
Parcell is a framework that can be used for learning, capturing, sharing
and exploiting knowledge, experience and good practices.
Knowledge Management is an oxymoron – nobody can really manage an asset which
resides in the heads of employees, and is shared primarily through conversation.
What you can do, though, is: to manage the environment in which knowledge
can be created, discovered, captured, shared, distilled, validated, transferred,
adopted, adapted and applied. To create business value.
For creating an environment within which knowledge rapidly flourishes we need:
- The right conditions. A common reliable infrastructure and an
organization that is willing to be entrepreneurial.
- The right means. A common model, tools and processes for learning.
- The right actions. Where people instinctively seek, share and
use knowledge.
- The right leadership. Where learning and sharing is expected
and role-modeled.
The methodology provides a number of tools, interventions and facilitation
techniques to help organizations to learn before, during and after activities.
The benefits from these learning interventions can be multiplied if they are
shared more widely as good practices – either through people-networks (communities),
or through the capture and codification into regularly updated “knowledge
products”.
Origin of the Knowledge Management method by Collison and Parcell. History
Originally derived by the knowledge management team of BP in 1998 from
good practices in the US Army and other learning organizations, the methodology
was published in 2001 in the book “Learning to Fly, lessons from one of the
world’s leading knowledge companies”, Collison & Parcell. Once published,
the methodology produced a community of practice – now in excess of 700 people
from a wide variety of public and private sector organizations. In 2005 a
new version of “Learning to Fly” was published to demonstrate the transferability
of the approach, carrying stories of application from ten other organizations.
Applications range from the United Nations to De Beers, from the BBC to primary
schools in New South Wales. Elements of this knowledge management approach
can be found today in a large number of organizations and business schools.
Including Henley and Cranfield Management Schools.
Usage
of the Knowledge Management framework by Collison and Parcell. Applications
- Preventing wheel reinvention, particularly in large, international organizations.
- Accelerating the integration process following an acquisition or merger.
- Identifying, capturing and sharing good practice in organizations.
- Dealing with cultural barriers that hold back organizations – e.g. “Not
invented here”
- To build, nurture and support networks and communities of practice.
- Creating a culture of continuous improvement and learning.
- Involving leadership in the right behaviors to reinforce knowledge-sharing.
Steps in this Knowledge Management method. Process
See the diagram on the right.
- People and teams agree on a set of goals. Then they use knowledge
to deliver against their targets, ultimately creating value. Where do you
begin to intervene with knowledge management?
- Focus on the "Using Knowledge circle". What if you could inspire
your organization to learn before, during and after any significant activity.
Simple learning processes like assisting a colleague, retrospects (post
project reviews) and after action reviews make their contribution here,
and help to elicit new knowledge - knowledge which would have remained in
the heads of the individuals concerned.
- All this learning activity needs to be connected to some kind of "knowledge
bank". If you want to learn before doing, you will want to make a withdrawal.
And when you have learned lessons which you want to contribute, you'll need
to make a deposit.
- That's where the ability to capture and distil knowledge becomes important.
But that's not the whole story. It is impossible to capture everything,
so it's important to link the people and network who hold key knowledge
and insights, and to encourage them to own and update any knowledge
which is made explicit - captured as information.
- The environment or culture within your organization surrounds
the model, which is critical to get started and sustain knowledge-sharing.
This will be reflected in the right leadership behaviors, and the way in
which Knowledge Management becomes embedded into core processes so that
ultimately it becomes an "unconscious competence".
Strengths of this Knowledge Management framework. Benefits
- Delivering more, from less! Isn’t that what is being asked of all of
us?
- Improve identification and transfer of good practices.
- Learning and improving leading to faster cycle times in product development
and continuous improvement.
- Preventing the repetition of mistakes, and wheel-reinvention.
- To identify and overcome a not invented here culture.
- To improve the level of sharing and take-up of new ways of working.
- Credible approach. Proven in BP and a wide range of organizations, ranging
from primary schools to corporate giants, from the UN to agile, networked
non-government organizations.
Limitations of the Knowledge Management philosophy by Collison and Parcell.
Disadvantages
- Requires a willingness to deal with the underlying culture and process
issues – it's not just a technology quick fix – it's a holistic approach.
- Easier to demonstrate the immediate benefits in larger, distributed
organizations. Although benefits are there for SMEs too.
- Deceptively simple.
- Knowledge management is often misunderstood by technology vendors peddling
information management technology. There may be some management preconceptions
to overcome.
Assumptions of Knowledge Management. Conditions
- Organizations achieve benefits if they work more effectively and efficiently.
- Companies that provide time-based services to clients may have to look
more closely at where value is created to derive benefits from better management
of knowledge.
Book: Collison
& Parcell - Learning to Fly -

See also: Chris
Collison's website
Recent topics
|
The Value of Knowledge in a New Job
Knowledge is an interesting thing: in one respect, once we have it, we never lose it. In another respect, when a change occurs our previous knowledge ...
|
|
|
|
|
|
Success Could Be your Failure?
Make sure that your KM efforts are sustainable over the long run. Once you have proven successes, you will have plenty of people knocking at your doo...
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ways to Make Knowledge Capture Happen
It seems to me that the most effective way to get people to capture and transfer knowledge is to make it an objective on their performance review, fed...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Knowledge to Use Knowledge
Knowledge is found everywhere in organizations. A successful organization has knowledge on how to use pertinent knowledge spread over different hea...
|
|
|
|
|
|
Knowledge Management Social Capability
Culture and people factors can be merged into Knowledge Management Social Capability, and technology and leadership factors can be merged into Knowled...
|
|
|
|
|
|
Global KM Acceptance
KM is now globally accepted. In India and other advanced countries for last 2-3 years, there has been a sea-change in terms of accepting KM seriously....
|
|
|
|
|
|
Are People ready to share?
Very appropriately mentioned about the technology vendors. In my last 10 years of working on KM, I agree that culture is a limitation. If people are r...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Barriers that Hinder Effective Knowledge Sharing
Effective Knowledge Sharing, Pitfalls to Avoid, Knowledge Management Implementation
According to Chris Collison, there are seven common barriers or syndromes that hinder effective know...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
How to Identify and Map Knowledge
Knowledge Identification, Knowledge Capturing, Knowledge Storage
In his article “Knowledge Mapping: The Essentials for Success”, Wesley Vestal provides following six...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Positive Effects of Age Diversity on Company Productivity and (Tacit) Knowledge Sharing
Tacit Knowledge Transfer, Workforce Productivity, Incentive Management
Backes-Gellner and Veen (2013) outlined the main advantages of having a diverse workforce within a c...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Critical Activities to Build a Learning Organization
Implementing Organizational Learning, Best Practices
Learning organizations are distinguished because they are undertaking certain activities to foster t...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Capturing Learned Lessons
How to Capture Organizational Learning? Best Practices
Knowledge from bad and good experiences will lead you and your organization to better future perform...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
How Culture Levels Explain Failures in Organizational Learning and Innovation
Improving Organizational Learning, Organizational Innovation, Changing Organization Cultures
Schein (as cited by Bertagni et al., 2010) tries to elaborate on the question why organizational inn...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
What are Smart Creatives? Traits
R&D, Product Development, Service Development, Strategy, Innovation, HR, Career Management
To accommodate the strategic demands of the internet age, clever, creative knowledge workers are nee...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
People Development Approach for Successful Knowledge Management
Knowledge Management, Career Management, Talent Management, Employee Induction, Human Resource Development
People play an important role in Knowledge Management (KM). We all know that. Indeed, the success of...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Organizational Problems with Knowledge Workers
Knowledge Intensive Organizations, Knowledge Management
Nowadays, many companies engage in a destructive circle of hiring expensive knowledge workers, then ...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Knowledge Management Scope
Knowledge Management, Level of Know-how
Research by Deishin Lee (HBS) and Eric Van den Steen (MIT) shows that recording mediocre know-how ca...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Components of Learning Agility
Organizational Agility, Organizational Learning, Knowledge Management
One of the critical factors for achieving organizational agility is learning agility, which refers t...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Knowledge Management Focal Point
Knowledge Management Focus
Research by Deishin Lee (HBS) and Eric Van den Steen (MIT) shows that information about successes is...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Management of Knowledge Workers
Innovation, IPP, Litigation
Hans K, Hvide and Eirik G. Kristiansen study how complementarities and intellectual property rights ...
|
|
|
|
|
|
Innovation and Knowledge Management
The Importance of Innovation and Knowledge Management
Authors: Dr. Siddhan and Dr. Abdul Halam
A presentation in which the importance of Knowledge Ma...
|
|
|
|
|
|
Knowledge Management and Organizational Learning
Models, Implementation, Overview, Examples
An extensive presentation explaining both the concept of Knowledge Management and Organizational Lea...
|
|
|
|
|
|
Knowledge Transfer and Knowledge Sharing
Knowledge Management, Knowledge Sharing, Knowledge Transfer
Preentation that is an introduction into the concept of Knowledge Transfer, including its fundamenta...
|
|
|
|
|
|
How to Improve Knowledge Sharing in Knowledge-intensive Organizations
Knowledge Management, Knowledge Sharing Motivation, Knowledge Sharing Platform. Tacit Knowledge
This presentation elaborates on the concept of knowledge sharing, thereby focusin on a knowledge-int...
|
|
|
|
|
|
Knowledge Management Systems Architecture
Knowledge Management, Knowledge Creation, Knowledge Systems, Knowledge Architecture
This presentation is about knowledge development and management, including the following sections:
|
|
|
|
|
|
Overview of Existing Types of Knowledge
Knowledge Management, Knowledge Types, Tacit, Implicit, Explicit, Declarative, Procedural Knowledge
This presentation provides an overview of the different types of knowledge that exist. The presentat...
|
|
|
|
|
|
Why Continuous Learning is Key to Your Life and Career
Your Personal Growth and Development, Career Management
2015: FACEBOOK OR 12MANAGE?
At the end of the year, we at 12manage were discussing the ma...
|
|
|
|
|
|
Introduction to Knowledge Management: Foundation Principles and Building Concepts
Knowledge Management, Knowledge Sharing, Learning Organization
1. What is Knowledge?
1. What is Knowledge Management? Definition
2. Knowledge Foundation ...
|
|
|
|
|
|
Introduction and Summary of SECI
Initial Understanding of SECI. Start of workshop/training
Knowledge Management
Is utilizing tacit (the unseen huge part of the iceberg), as well as expli...
|
|
|
|
|
|
E-knowledge networks
Knowledge Management
The emergence of new technologies has increased the ability of organisations to share knowledge, not...
|
|
|
|
|
|
Professor Evans Explains Why Fast Change Requires New Ways of Learning and Thinking
Action Learning, Coping with Change, The Need of Change, The Need for New Ways of Learning
In this historic video Action Learning Professor Reg Evans shows that it is very important to unders...
|
|
|
|
|
|
How to Integrate Internal Organizational Knowledge with External Online Communities
Knowledge Management, Knowledge Creation, Knowledge Sharing, Interaction, Knowledge in Organizations
Due to many online and web-based technological developments in today´s digital economy, sharing know...
|
|
|
|
|
|
Knowledge Management, Organizational Learning and Intellectual Capital
Intellectual Capital, Knowledge Management, Organizational Learning
Presentation about organizational knowledge, learning and intellectual capital. The presentation inc...
|
|
|
|
|
|
Knowledge Sharing and Organizational Learning through Communities of Practices
Knowledge Sharing, Organizational Learning, Communities of Practices, Special Interest Groups
Knowledge management in Communities of Practice (CoPs)
This presentation is about organizationa...
|
|
|
|
|
|
Three Levels of Knowledge Management
Initial Understanding Knowledge Management, Organizational Learning
According to Jury (2007), knowledge management can be categorized into three different levels, and o...
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Difference Between Organizational Learning and Knowledge Management
Initial Understanding of the Difference Between OL en KM
Dr. Edward Rogers puts forth that organizational learning and knowledge management are often conside...
|
|
|
|
|
|
Knowledge Management Diagram
Knowledge Management
Download and edit this 12manage PowerPoint graphic for limited personal, educational and business us...
|
|
|
|
|
|
Knowledge Transfer in the E-world
Knowledge Management, Knowledge Transfer, Internet, Intranet, E-Business, CRM
This is a presentation about Knowledge Transfer (KT), specifically focused on KT in the e-world. The...
|
|
|
|
|
|
News about Knowledge Collison
|
|
|
|
|
News about Knowledge Management
|
|
|
|
|
Videos about Knowledge Collison
|
|
|
|
|
Videos about Knowledge Management
|
|
|
|
|
Presentations about Knowledge Collison
|
|
|
|
|
Presentations about Knowledge Management
|
|
|
|
|
Books about Knowledge Collison
|
|
|
|
|
Books about Knowledge Management
|
|
|
|
|
More about Knowledge Collison
|
|
|
|
|
More about Knowledge Management
|
|
|
|
|
|
Compare with Knowledge Management:
Organizational Learning
| Organizational
Memory |
Bridging Epistemologies
| SECI model |
Action Learning |
Intellectual Capital Rating |
Levels of Culture
| People CMM
| MAGIC
Return to Management Hub: Change & Organization | Communication & Skills | Human Resources
| Knowledge & Intangibles
More Management Methods, Models and Theory
|
|
|
Special Interest Group Leader
|
|
|
|
|
|
|