The Tribal Knowledge Paradox

Download or read book The Tribal Knowledge Paradox written by Leonard Bertain Ph. D. and published by . This book was released on 2011-02 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book tells a story about an employee of a company that goes through Len Bertain's War on Waste. It describes the War on Waste and the role that all employees, not just the story hero, play in business success. But it adds another dimension with the inclusion of the role that knowledge, particularly Tribal Knowledge, plays in any corporation. But the real theme of this book is the discussion that of the "Tribal Knowledge Paradox." The owner of the business in the fictionalized story is the student of the book's illustrious consultant who leads him to an understanding of what it is. But why call it "The Tribal Knowledge Paradox?" What does Tribal Knowledge have to do with The War on Waste? It turns out that effective change requires an honest engagement of all people and a consequent understanding of the company Tribal Knowledge. But the real issue of the book is how companies deal with the Tribal Knowledge and the people who possess it. That is where the paradox arises. Tribal Knowledge is the collective wisdom of the organization. It is the sum of all the knowledge. It is the knowledge used to deliver, to support, or to develop value for customers. But it is also all the knowledge that is wrong, imprecise, and useless. It is knowledge of the informal power structure and process or how things really work and how they ought to. It is knowledge of who constrains the process and who facilitates it. It is the knowledge that is squirreled away by employees who feel a need to protect their jobs by not sharing the information needed to do a job. This is part of the totality of the Tribal Knowledge that is often abused by management. But a subtle issue has been discovered over the 25 years of delivering the War on Waste and that is the change of strategy that occurs from a War on Waste. How and why strategy changes is revealed. Enjoy the story.